Topics

Browse by topic

Every article in the index is tagged along four axes: the technology involved, who it affects, what went wrong, and how governments and courts responded. Combine tags on the main index to narrow further.

Media type

Article 95 Written reporting, the default format for most of the index. Video 6 A video, e.g. a YouTube news segment, rather than a written article.

Where

National 81 National reporting or another state. Our County 13 Directly about our county or a neighboring jurisdiction. Statewide 7 Elsewhere in our state.

Technology

AI video analytics 5 Automated behavior detection, "suspicious activity" scoring, video search by description. Facial recognition 1 Face matching and identification systems. Flock Safety 96 The vendor Flock Safety specifically: its cameras, contracts, or conduct. License plate readers 101 Automated license plate recognition generally, any vendor.

Who it affects

Children & minors 2 Data collected on people under 18. Immigration enforcement 13 ICE, CBP, or 287(g) access to local surveillance data. Protest & speech 1 Surveillance of demonstrations, journalists, or political activity. Reproductive health 5 Tracking related to abortion access or clinic visits. Schools 1 Surveillance on or around school campuses. Stalking & domestic violence 8 Surveillance tools used to locate or stalk individuals, including by insiders.

What went wrong

Abuse & misuse 33 Documented cases of officers or agencies searching the system improperly. Data breaches 3 Leaks, hacks, or unsecured access to collected data. Data retention 22 How long records are kept, and what happens when policy says otherwise. Data sharing 33 Local data flowing to other agencies, states, federal partners, or private firms. False hits 9 Wrong-car and wrong-person stops caused by bad reads or stale data. Warrantless searches 12 Access to location history without judicial oversight.

Governance

Community pushback 50 Residents, councils, and campaigns opposing or removing systems. Contracts & cost 26 Procurement, pricing, renewals, and what taxpayers are paying. Courts & lawsuits 9 Litigation, rulings, and constitutional challenges. Does it work? 6 Evidence on whether these systems actually reduce crime. Laws & policy 23 Bills, ordinances, moratoriums, and regulation. Privacy 24 General privacy analysis and civil liberties commentary. Transparency & records 32 Public records fights, audit findings, disclosure failures.