The Cops Are In Your Head - Poster of the Week
- politicalgraphics
- Apr 10
- 3 min read
The Cops Are In Your Head
Josh MacPhee
Risograph, 2018
New York, NY
CSPG’s Poster of the Week reworks a poster from the Paris 1968 protests to draw attention to the connection between present day mass surveillance technologies and state violence. Since the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, the federal government has radically expanded the mass surveillance of Americans. Today, the federal government AND the private sector work together to harvest massive amounts of personal data in order to maximize profits and control American civil liberties.
Data analytics companies like Palantir and Babel Street collect Americans’ personal data into government databases. Cell phone data collects precise GPS locations of people, AI-powered license plate readers track people using traffic cameras, and facial recognition technology— that has been proven to have significant error rates reflecting racial bias—stores images that can be later used against individuals.
These examples from ICE are particularly disturbing:
Agents take photos of people and use a facial recognition app called Clearview AI to scan for matches. Individuals cannot decline to have their photo taken and their photo is stored in a database for 15 years, even if there was no match.
A Palantir-made app called ELITE that shows locations of people who may be “deportable.” The Trump administration has also given $30 million to Palantir to track “self-deportations” and locate immigration cases that they want prioritized for deportation, such as overstaying a visa.
ICE also now has access to data collected by Health and Human Services, including dates of birth and home addresses.
They also use tools such as Graphite–a technology banned by other foreign governments that allows users to gain access to encrypted messages on a targeted device simply by sending a message to the number.
In addition, earlier this year, the Trump administration’s Department of Defense blacklisted the AI company Anthropic when the company refused to agree to a contract that would enable the federal government to use AI resources to conduct domestic mass surveillance and use AI-controlled weaponry. Shortly after, the administration contracted with OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT. OpenAI has made questionable claims that it will not permit domestic surveillance or AI-weaponry.
Closer to home, supermarket companies have been collecting shopper data for years,
especially through shopping apps like Instacart or rewards programs. Companies now have data on shoppers’ locations, demographics, their internet search history, and their shopping habits. Some stores are even collecting biometric technology to scan shoppers’ faces and eye movements. They’re using algorithms to maximize their profits by making products as expensive as people are willing to spend and calling it “dynamic pricing" (aka surveillance pricing). While exploiting the average shopper’s wallet is bad enough, surveillance pricing is part of a larger world of mass data brokering that has created profiles of millions of Americans.
Whether in the supermarket or on the streets, resistance to mass surveillance is actionable. The first step is to educate yourself and others on how your personal data is being used.
Educational Resources:
Stay aware of local governmental policies that would enable further mass surveillance
References:
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