A look at the tools recently introduced for use by the City.
FLAW PATROL
“Increased patrols do not protect anyone … they are actively harmful to poor and oppressed people who are routinely harassed, brutalized, and surveilled by the police in Boston and across the country.”
CAUGHT ON CAM-SHARE
BPD seeks access to private security cameras, experiments with new surveillance network The Boston Police Department wants to deputize your surveillance system. After a crime, police canvass for private security cameras. Sometimes, they obtain a warrant for the tapes or data, or simply ask for the owner’s consent to access footage. But since last November, […]
FLAME WAR
Council greenlights social media surveillance despite lack of BPD transparency With the dawn of a new kind of surveillance upon us, it’s critical to trace the advent of social media monitoring in Mass back to its roots. There is a demonstrable history of the Boston Police Department and other city agencies utilizing sophisticated observation methods, […]
LICENSE TO CONNIVE
Boston still tracks vehicles, lies about it, and leaves sensitive resident data exposed online Prior to two weeks ago, when this reporter alerted authorities that they had exposed critical data, anyone online was able to freely access a City of Boston automated license plate reader (ALPR) system and to download dozens of sensitive files, including hundreds […]