Surveillance technology is progressing faster than the laws designed to oversee it. Across the United States, police departments are using automated license plate readers, facial recognition tools, and predictive systems that quietly track the daily activities of millions of people. While these tools promise efficiency and safety, critics contend that they amount to warrantless mass surveillance, raising significant constitutional issues concerning privacy, accountability, and the boundaries of government power in the digital age.
Michael Soyfer, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to defending individual rights, focuses on the Fourth Amendment and the increasing use of surveillance technologies by local governments. Michael appears on the show with Kevin Ball to discuss the proliferation of Flock Safety cameras, the Institute for Justice’s lawsuit against the City of Norfolk, the challenges of applying decades-old legal precedents to modern technology, and what citizens, technologists, and policymakers can do to safeguard privacy amid pervasive data collection.
Kevin Ball, or KBall, is the vice president of engineering at Mento and an independent coach for engineers and engineering leaders. He co-founded and served as CTO for two companies, founded the San Diego JavaScript meetup, and organizes the AI inaction discussion group through Latent Space.
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