AI SURVEILLANCE AS A TOOL OF STATE REPRESSION

AI technology poses a significant threat to communities that are struggling for liberation. The technology is used to create large surveillance networks accessible to police, military, and private companies. Frequently this technology is installed without the consent or knowledge of the people it surveils. In the United States, AI technology is used to surveil Black and Brown communities and target people for arrest. Abroad it is used for bombing campaigns and genocide.

In August 2023, a GPS tracker was found on a vehicle registered to one of the codefendants known as the Traverse City 3, a trio of queer activists. On September 5, 2023, this same codefendant was indicted on RICO charges related to the movement to Stop Cop City in Atlanta, GA, along with 60 other people. Months later, the State charged the Traverse City 3 with multiple felonies, accusing them of participating in a demonstration at the offices of EOTECH in Traverse City, MI in July 2023. These cases are nothing more than attempts by the State to suppress dissent, a clear example of the State’s use of military and surveillance technology to repress political movements.

The warrants for the arrest of the Traverse City 3 were issued based on the tracked locations of cars registered in defendants’ names. The prosecution is using data obtained from Flock Cameras, which use AI technology to read license plates, collect data on physical car details such as bumper stickers, and allow government agencies to quickly locate a car in locations more than 100 miles apart. After spending over $100,000 in additional security the week after the protest, EOTECH collaborated with the police. The police worked with Flock Safety to track cars registered in the defendants’ names and issue arrest warrants, claiming a connection with the protest at EOTECH. Just as the weapons technology developed by EOTECH is used to do imperialist violence across the globe, surveillance technologies are used to suppress protest here in the so-called United States.

EOTECH manufactures holographic sights for guns—which are widely used by US police forces and all branches of the military—and has contracts with the US military as well as federal and police agencies. Public contract data showed that from 2001 to 2016, EOTECH was paid $24 million for their products. EOTECH gun sights are also used by domestic federal agencies such as the FBI. The widespread use of their technology indicates that EOTECH has likely directly contributed to both colonial military operations abroad as well violent police repression in the US.

Flock Safety, founded in Atlanta, manufactures multiple pieces of surveillance technology: automated license plate readers (ALPRs), gunfire locator systems, and video surveillance cameras. Their ALPR system was the first to create a nationwide database of surveilled license plate information. Identifying data collected by their video surveillance systems is sent to a searchable, national database. According to a February 2023 report from the University of Michigan, this information can be stored indefinitely, and there is little to no regulation at the federal, state, or local levels around who can access it, for how long, or why. Like other AI surveillance technology, Flock ALPRs are sometimes inaccurate and have misread license plates, leading to the targeting and violent arrest of individuals unrelated to particular crimes. By creating a large, indefinite nationwide database of sometimes faulty license plate data, they have created a tool of mass surveillance, where police and state agents can track the comings and goings of people through 4,000 cities and 42 states and manufacture justification for repression and arrest.

Flock has sought to install their cameras throughout the United States, with and without the approval of local governments. Their surveillance technology, while popular with police, has been controversial as people speak out against the proliferation of police surveillance. In 2022, the City Council of Ypsilanti, MI described Flock cameras as an “invasion of privacy.” Despite protests by local people and the city government, the cameras were still installed at entry and exit points to the city. Police and state agencies are not the only entities with access to the Flock database, as private individuals and businesses can also make accounts to access the database. People who are tracked are not able to find out which agencies, businesses, or individuals accessed their information.

More broadly, AI surveillance technology is a growing concern for activists locally and abroad. Security cameras generate huge amounts of data difficult for humans to review and sift through, but AI can be used to look through large amounts of data and generate patterns that are then used by state agencies. In the case of Flock Safety, this data is used to create a so-called vehicle fingerprint, which police can then use to search for vehicle locations across cities, states, and multiple years of data. Another example of this is the Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP), a database developed by Michigan State University, which collected state ID photos from 1998-99 onwards, and fed them through AI facial recognition software. This was done without the knowledge or consent of the public. Facial recognition technology has been shown to misidentify people, especially Black and Brown people. Police departments that use AI surveillance technology do so by collaborating with private companies like Flock Safety, often in secret and without public consent or legislative regulation.

Repression tactics of colonial states are seen first against the most marginalized people living within those states. In the United States, we can look to Project Greenlight in Detroit, MI. This surveillance project was started in 2016, claiming to be an effort to reduce crime. Initially, the city installed cameras in eight or nine gas stations. Since then, cameras have been placed in over 700 businesses including medical facilities and laundromats. This surveillance generates significant amounts of video data of people living in Detroit, a majority Black city. Detroit police reportedly use mobile devices to scan people and track them in real time. People who live near Project Greenlight installations are subjected to the constant green flashing of the light indicating nearby surveillance technology. This technology has not increased safety for people living in Detroit, rather they are subjected to frequent surveillance and police violence as a result of Project Greenlight.

Colonial states outside the United States have also implemented AI surveillance. Studying these surveillance measures and the connections between them is necessary because just as each struggle for liberation is intertwined, the tools for repression are shared between nation-states to curb dissent and expand surveillance.

US police forces are known to exchange tactics and training with foreign militaries, such as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In Palestine, Israeli government created a facial recognition database of Palestinians in occupied Hebron. This constant surveillance is psychologically disturbing to people experiencing it and can be used to track people, arrest them, and even prevent them from entering the very neighborhoods they live in.

The Israeli military is also using a piece of AI technology called Gospel in their ongoing genocide of Gaza. It claims that Gospel identifies so-called “targets” within Gaza. The technology produces large volumes of “targets” which are then submitted to analysts within the military to attack. Of course, the euphemism “targets” represents real places and people. While using this technology, Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. In response to broad international outcry against this genocide, Israel claims they are only targeting the Hamas resistance fighters, but, they say, civilian death is simply unavoidable. Medical experts estimate that the Israeli military has killed 186,000 Palestinian people during the invasion and bombing of Gaza. This includes more than 14,000 children, with at least 21,000 children missing. Within this context, the genocide is one of the first known large-scale uses of AI technology for targeting by a military. By claiming to use Gospel to identify “targets,” the Israeli government has used AI technology to help manufacture consent for indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian people as part of the ongoing genocide. Throughout the genocide, the United States has sent billions of dollars in weapons and monetary aid for weapons purchases to Israel. The United States and other countries are now looking into using AI military targeting software. If Gaza is any indicator, the results will likely be extremely violent and deadly.

The case in Traverse City, MI represents just one example of a collaboration between private companies and government agencies to repress activists using AI surveillance. Through this case, we see an escalation of state repression in line with other escalations, such as the use of RICO and domestic terrorism charges against music festival attendees in Atlanta, widespread police violence against protestors in the 2020 Uprisings, and violent repression of pro-Palestine student encampments this Spring. In this context, it is important to understand how this technology is currently being used and how it might be used for future repression.

In the face of severe repression, communities have always found ways to resist, to support and protect themselves against government violence. By understanding this technology and its role in surveillance, communities can build strategies for keeping each other safe. The increase in violent state oppression means learning from one another, and connecting the dots between repression tactics is only becoming more crucial. From Traverse City to Atlanta, Puerto Rico to Sudan to Palestine, an end to all occupying states and liberation to the land.

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