surveillance

COVID-19 and Uprisings for Black Liberation Used as a Pretext for Advancing Mass Surveillance

Kris Hermes, July 15, 2020 On the night of June 1, amidst mass uprisings against police violence and structural racism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deployed it’s most advanced spy plane, equipped with sophisticated long-range video cameras that can capture footage day or night, see through haze, and provide infrared thermal imaging, in order […]

Daily Beast, “Wearing Black? Feds Say You May Be An Anarchist, Newly Released Documents Show”

The Department of Homeland Security told law enforcement how to ID anti-racist protesters—by looking for people who were scouting marching routes. Counterprotesters at white supremacist rallies risk being characterized as “anarchist extremists,” even if they have nothing to do with the movement, Department of Homeland Security documents show. A September 2016 DHS report describes law […]

Inverse, “Masked Protesters Can’t Hide From this New Facial Recognition AI”

The recent clashes between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville and elsewhere have shone a spotlight on masked anarchist groups like Antifa. While debates rage over the group’s tactics and how they fit into the broader fight against the far right, one thing is certain: For as long as Antifa is around, anonymity will be […]

The Washington Post, “D.C. police infiltrated inauguration protest group, court papers show”

Authorities have alleged that members of Disrupt J20 were behind inauguration protests that turned violent. Some activists, wearing masks and dressed in black, smashed downtown store windows and burned a limousine, resulting in more than $100,000 in damage, officials say. Six officers were injured, including one who was knocked unconscious when a brick or piece […]

Esquire, “How the Government Is Turning Protesters Into Felons”

A New York Times article published two weeks after the inauguration about anarchist protests accorded just half a sentence to the fact that a Yiannopolous supporter in Seattle shot and seriously injured an anti-fascist activist, and has yet to face charges. Fifteen paragraphs down, a mere mention was given to the mass arrest of the […]

Vice, “UK Journalists Are Suing the Police for Spying on Them,” November 25, 2014