The story is from Minneapolis, these days, and was told to the New York Times. An activist who opposes the actions of the notorious immigration police (ICE) followed the vehicle of one of their agents in her car. Apparently aware of her presence, the agent turned down a few narrow streets, then stopped, got out of the car, walked towards her and addressed her by name, warning her that he had turned on the lapel camera. To her astonishment - how does he know her name - he calmly replied that he was using facial recognition software and the artificial intelligence would do the rest. Not only does he know her name, but also where she lives and works, what she writes on social media...
What citizens have approved as a tool to catch illegal migrants - criminals, is now being applied in the US to citizens who are just observing or protesting. The line between security operation and political surveillance is becoming invisible.
Facial recognition, databases, social media monitoring tools and cell phone tracking systems combine to create an "organism" that sees more than any police officer and remembers longer than any file. The state no longer has to ask who you are, the system already knows that. And what once required a court order, today is often reduced to the push of a button. Because everything is in some kind of institutional gray zone. Most of the data that feeds this system is public, and when it is not, citizens voluntarily give it to the system in exchange for some administrative privilege.
Such a jump in the control of citizens through data control did not happen so suddenly only thanks to technology that has rebounded dramatically in recent years. Huge money was needed for that, which was provided by Donald Trump's administration immediately after taking office. ICE's budget was increased from eight to thirty billion dollars, which enabled an unprecedented technological expansion.
Investments in artificial intelligence, big data and commercial surveillance tools have turned immigration policy into a laboratory for mass digital surveillance. By combining technology and the repressive apparatus, an incredible speed of information gathering has been obtained, which results in just as fast decision-making. The only thing that is late is responsibility.
What follows now is normalization. The system was created with, it seemed to everyone, a valid reason, to restrain criminals. The fact that, by the way, it can also serve to control all citizens is a collateral benefit. And some of the scenarios sound terrifying.
Facial recognition technology has become so effective and accurate that it can be used in mass gatherings. And artificial intelligence can then equally effectively process everyone present there, connecting them to their public profiles and, more importantly, to the mobile devices they use, which can then be used for tracking.
After all, similar methods are already being used by social media that we have clicked on to allow them to track our movements and interactions, on the basis of which they create advertisements that target some of our needs. Surveillance has become the new normal.
