If you really want to be scared this Hallowe’en, spare a moment to ponder six ways that the state engages in widepread and indiscriminate surveillance, from social media monitoring to license plate and toll-transponder readers to IMSI catchers, biometrics and more.
The EFF is fighting surveillance in each of these domains; the article explains how you can resist surveillance and call for change today.
If you’re planning on dressing up and enjoying yourself this weekend, you might think that a layer of paint and a wig is enough to make you unrecognizable. Unfortunately, that’s just not the case. Government spending on surveillance technologies for domestic law enforcement—like IMSI catchers, biometrics, and cameras of all kinds—has increased exponentially in recent years, despite the fact that in the last 20 years, crime rates in the United States have steadily and significantly declined (PDF).
Invasive street level surveillance technologies are popping up in towns across the US—and around the globe. A Halloween costume is no match for these technologies when it comes to protecting your privacy. Here are a few of the disturbing surveillance technologies that local law enforcement is increasingly adding to its arsenal, and how you might encounter them on a typical day. As we walk through these technologies, try to imagine what you’d have to do to go a single day without surveillance.
6 Spooky Ways Local Law Enforcement Is Watching You
[Elliot Harmon and Nadia Kayyali/EFF]