The advancement of surveillance technology is outpacing the formation of laws governing it. In the United States, police departments are increasingly using tools like automated license plate readers, facial recognition, and predictive systems to monitor the daily movements of millions. These technologies promise efficiency and safety, yet they are also criticized as warrantless mass surveillance and raise constitutional concerns about privacy, accountability, and the boundaries of government power in the digital era.
Michael Soyfer, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to protecting individual rights, focuses on the Fourth Amendment and the increasing use of surveillance by local governments. Michael joins Kevin Ball to discuss the proliferation of Flock Safety cameras, the Institute for Justice’s legal action against the City of Norfolk, the challenges of applying decades-old legal precedents to modern technology, and how citizens, technologists, and policymakers can safeguard privacy in a time of extensive data collection.
Kevin Ball, also known as KBall, is the vice president of engineering at Mento and a coach for engineers and engineering leaders. He has co-founded and served as CTO for two companies and is involved in organizing tech community events such as the San Diego JavaScript meetup and an AI discussion group through Latent Space.
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