EFF Unveils VR Tool To Help People Spot Surveillance Devices In Their Communities (eff.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched a virtual reality (VR) experience on its website today that teaches people how to spot and understand the surveillance technologies police are increasingly using to spy on communities. Spot the Surveillance, which works best with a VR headset but will also work on standard browsers, places users in a 360-degree street scene in San Francisco. In the scene, a young resident is in an encounter with police. Users are challenged to identify surveillance tools by looking around the scene. The experience takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. The surveillance technologies featured in the scene include a body-worn camera, automated license plate readers, a drone, a mobile biometric device, and pan-tilt-zoom cameras. The project draws from years of research gathered by EFF in its Street-Level Surveillance project, which shines a light on how police use, and abuse, technology to spy on communities.

Comments

"Spy"? "Abuse"?

[sabbede]

Cameras in public places aren't "spying", it's a public place patrolled by public safety officials (aka, cops). There is no expectation of privacy in a public space, so "monitoring" would be the more accurate and less inflammatory term.

And that there are cameras does not mean they are being abused. Recognizing a camera is one thing, but you cannot look at it and make a justifiable claim that it is being abused. Unless maybe you see it in a bathroom.