[ad_1]
“The mass of social care is a clear example of what makes our society so much safer, not more secure,” says Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, about the data leak. “Both corporations and governments are tremendous at protecting the sensitive data they collect.”
Police drones have received a lot of attention lately, especially as they represent a new generation of air vehicles capable of covert surveillance and new types of behavior, including flying indoors. In contrast, law enforcement agencies have used helicopters for decades in aerial surveys and monitoring. But the images released by DDoSecrets show how effective they can be at capturing very sharp and accurate videos close to the ground from cameras mounted on helicopters. Helicopters can also carry heavier surveillance equipment than can be placed on basic quadcopters or other types of low-cost drones.
“People think police helicopters are traffic helicopters, but they are much more than that,” DDoSecrets wrote in Other. “They carry technology that allows them to look at people who have no idea who they are looking at. It’s important for people to understand what police technology is capable of and what it can be capable of soon. Otherwise, they cannot be discussed or informed. ”
This widespread use of helicopter surveillance raises concerns among privacy advocates about drones. UAVs are much cheaper and easier to purchase and operate than helicopters and can still be equipped with a wide range of sensors.
“Camera and zoom technology are becoming cheaper and lighter,” says Matthew Feeney, director of the Emerging Technologies Project at the Cato Institute. “We should always think of aerial vehicles like drones as a platform for other surveillance tools, such as cameras, stingrays, thermal imaging and face recognition software.”
In the case of the leaked helicopter video, Best warned that a large portion of the footage has been stamped since 2019 and that retention limits should be a crucial priority for police departments. Similar discussions they explained that removal policies are needed when dealing with camera images of the police force. It may save some footage from a leaked helicopter because it’s still important for active research, but many of the files capture hours in real time and focus on seemingly unrelated activities, places, and people.
Proponents of privacy in particular emphasize their commitment to securing air police surveillance data, as these images can be valuable in a variety of ways for persecutors, attackers looking for blackmail material, domestic or foreign terrorist groups, or those conducting espionage operations.
Some of the leaked footage from Dallas and Atlanta reflects the types of use you can expect from police helicopters: crowd surveillance over stadium parking lots on match day, for example, or agents pulling a car. But the other scenes in the footage are of untargeted quality.
“I haven’t specifically heard that helicopters are used this way,” says Fight for the Future’s Greer. “It’s not surprising, but it’s disturbing. At least in an urban setting, you think police helicopters show up when something specific happens, but you also hear that they are used anecdotally for intimidation, such as neighbors flying very low in neighborhoods that are primarily colored people. ”
In Minneapolis, for example, they have neighbors constantly reported Intense police helicopter traffic from protests and riots in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd. And although helicopters are a popular technology, the use of them in law enforcement surveillance has long been a privacy concern. In 2004, a New York City Police Department helicopter nearly caught him taking a massive afternoon bike ride without Manhattan’s permission. a four-minute footage enabled for night vision of a couple having sex on a secluded attic terrace.
WIRED more great stories
[ad_2]
Source link
