Links to Resources on Government Surveillance

Surveillance Research Topics

DNA Databases

Exhibit A: In last Thursday’s Times Joseph Goldstein reported that local law enforcement agencies, “largely under the radar,” are amassing their own DNA databanks, and they often do not play by the rules laid down for the databases compiled by the F.B.I. and state crime labs. —“Living With the Surveillance State”

• Police Agencies Are Assembling Records of DNA
• Justices Allow DNA Collection After an Arrest
• Why the Court Was Right to Allow Cheek Swabs
• DNA and Suspicionless Searches

Cop-Cams and CCTV

Exhibit B: Nothing quite says Big Brother like closed-circuit TV. — “Living With the Surveillance State”

• Police Surveillance May Earn Money for City
• The NYPD’s Domain Awareness System Is Watching You (New York Magazine)

Domestic Spy Drones

Exhibit C: Congress has told the F.A.A. to set rules for the use of spy drones in American air space by 2015. It is easy to imagine the value of this next frontier in surveillance: monitoring forest fires, chasing armed fugitives, search-and-rescue operations. — “Living With the Surveillance State”

• U.S. Border Agency Allows Others to Use Its Drones
• As Spy Drones Come to the U.S., We Must Protect Our Privacy (Scientific American)
• Domestic Drones Stir Imaginations, and Concerns
• The Dawning of Domestic Drones

Facial Recognition Technology

The federal government is making progress on developing a surveillance system that would pair computers with video cameras to scan crowds and automatically identify people by their faces, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with researchers working on the project. — “Facial Scanning Is Making Gains in Surveillance”

• The Face Scan Arrives
• Facial Scanning Is Making Gains in Surveillance
• Facebook Can ID Faces, but Using Them Grows Tricky

Raymond McCrea Jones for The New York TimesA GPS tracker. The Supreme Court recently ruled that such a device placed on a suspect’s car was an unreasonable search. Go to related article »

GPS Tracking

Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show. — “Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool”

• Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool
• GPS Tracking and Secret Policies
• Justices Say GPS Tracker Violated Privacy Rights
• Court Case Asks if ‘Big Brother’ Is Spelled GPS