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Charlotte Talks: Surveillance State Of Mind

flickr/Jonathan McIntosh
Surveillance in New York City's Financial District.

Monday, Nov. 11, 2019

What are we willing to give up for public safety? Our privacy, apparently. Surveillance technology is watching, whether we like it or not.

"Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission" by Barry Friedman

From facial recognition and doorbell cameras to voice assistants capturing our conversation at home, surveillance has become increasingly prevalent. Particularly nefarious is that we often don’t know we’re being watched.

Every piece of surveillance technology is built with a purpose. Facial recognition is implemented at airports, for example, to verify a traveler is exactly who they say they are. Voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, are used to complete tasks hands-free. The problem is personal data is being gathered, often without the consumer's knowledge, and being sold to advertisers or accumulated in police databases.

Barry Friedman is the Director of The Policing Project at NYU School of Law and author of "Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission." He joins Mike Collins to discuss the tension between efficiency, privacy and the future of surveillance on "Charlotte Talks."

Guest

Barry Friedman, Director of the Policing Project at New York University School of Law and author of "Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission" (@barryfriedman1)

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Jesse Steinmetz is a senior producer of Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. Have an idea for the show? Email him at jsteinmetz@wfae.org.