by Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project:
A federal watchdog has released a report detailing how federal law enforcement agencies are using more than 20 types of surveillance technologies without a warrant and with limited privacy protections.
(The Last American Vagabond) Three federal law enforcement agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could be doing more to ensure Americans’ privacy is protected from the federal government’s use of numerous surveillance technologies. Current efforts by the DHS are falling short of protecting Americans from biased technology and violations of civil liberties, according to a recently released report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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The report examined technologies which the agencies own and/or have agreements to search or view databases operated by third parties. In fiscal year 2023, the DHS used more than 20 types of detection, observation, and monitoring technologies, such as drones, facial recognition, and automatic license plate readers. Each of these technologies currently operate without the need for a warrant approved by a judge.
The authors of the report make 5 specific recommendations for the DHS, such as encouraging the agency to develop policies and procedures to assess and address bias risks for the surveillance technologies.
The GAO report, titled DHS Could Better Address Bias Risk and Enhance Privacy Protections for Technologies Used in Public, focused on the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Secret Service. The GAO said they focused on these agencies because of the “the large number of law enforcement officers” within them.
The GAO was created to be an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government which provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the US Congress.
The GAO took up this investigation due to federal law enforcement agencies increasing use of technologies like automated license plate readers and drones. The authors acknowledge that “the use of these technologies in public spaces—where a warrant is not necessarily required prior to use—has led to concerns about how law enforcement is protecting civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy.”
The GAO inquiry focused on three main areas — the use of the technologies in public spaces without a warrant; the extent to which the agencies’ policies assess the use bias and privacy violations by the technologies; and whether or not DHS federal law enforcement agencies protect privacy by having policies and procedures in place that limit the collection and use of information from these technologies.
The specific technologies examined include facial recognition, fixed and mobile automatic license plate readers, audio recording devices in light poles and other infrastructure, concealed and visible body cameras, cell site simulators also known as Stingrays, drones, radio frequency collection, surveillance towers, and traffic cameras.
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