Police are using illegal surveillance tools
The short version: Fight for the Future's Tech Speedrun flags police departments illegally deploying real-time facial recognition, a reminder that unchecked surveillance tech rarely stays within its stated limits.
Our Take
Fight for the Future's latest Tech Speedrun rounds up a grim week for digital rights, but the item that jumps out for us is police departments reportedly using real-time facial recognition tools illegally. That's the same pattern we track daily with ALPR networks like Flock: agencies deploy powerful tracking tech first, worry about legality and oversight later, and count on the public never finding out how it's actually being used.
Facial recognition and license plate readers are cousins in the same surveillance family — both marketed as narrow public-safety tools, both prone to mission creep, data sharing with federal agencies, and use far outside any warrant or policy. When a department will quietly break the law on face scanning, it's not a stretch to assume plate-reader data is getting the same loose treatment. Transparency is the exception, not the rule.
Credit to Fight for the Future for keeping a running tally on this stuff — check out banfacialrecognition.org if you want to push back on that front. And if you want to see what plate-reading cameras are already watching your streets, look at our map, then head to take action to push your local council for real oversight.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Fight for the Future, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.