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 137 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 114 National reporting or another state. Our County 15 Directly about our county or a neighboring jurisdiction. Statewide 14 Elsewhere in our state.

Technology

AI video analytics 6 Automated behavior detection, "suspicious activity" scoring, video search by description. Facial recognition 1 Face matching and identification systems. Flock Safety 138 The vendor Flock Safety specifically: its cameras, contracts, or conduct. License plate readers 143 Automated license plate recognition generally, any vendor.

Who it affects

Children & minors 2 Data collected on people under 18. Immigration enforcement 19 ICE, CBP, or 287(g) access to local surveillance data. Protest & speech 2 Surveillance of demonstrations, journalists, or political activity. Reproductive health 8 Tracking related to abortion access or clinic visits. Schools 1 Surveillance on or around school campuses. Stalking & domestic violence 12 Surveillance tools used to locate or stalk individuals, including by insiders.

What went wrong

Abuse & misuse 48 Documented cases of officers or agencies searching the system improperly. Data breaches 4 Leaks, hacks, or unsecured access to collected data. Data retention 33 How long records are kept, and what happens when policy says otherwise. Data sharing 52 Local data flowing to other agencies, states, federal partners, or private firms. False hits 14 Wrong-car and wrong-person stops caused by bad reads or stale data. Warrantless searches 15 Access to location history without judicial oversight.

Governance

Community pushback 75 Residents, councils, and campaigns opposing or removing systems. Contracts & cost 40 Procurement, pricing, renewals, and what taxpayers are paying. Courts & lawsuits 14 Litigation, rulings, and constitutional challenges. Does it work? 7 Evidence on whether these systems actually reduce crime. Laws & policy 36 Bills, ordinances, moratoriums, and regulation. Privacy 30 General privacy analysis and civil liberties commentary. Transparency & records 41 Public records fights, audit findings, disclosure failures.