There is no denying that anxiety, fear, and violence are rising sharply in the country. That’s why citizens are clamoring for the government to take action to maintain security. However, a large group of people in Texas took it upon themselves to protest against the AI surveillance camera program in front of Austin City Hall. Citizens feel anything but safe with the police, especially if they had the chance to track everyone’s location at any given moment.
The local government in Austin has been working for some time on a system to install cameras in public areas. These include parks, streets, hospitals, government buildings, and other locations. However, according to this program, AI surveillance will be so handy to keep the citizens of Austin, Texas, safe. At first glance, this is excellent news for everyone’s safety. But the discontent among the citizens stems from the fact that the AI cameras they want to use are capable of targeting any person or license plate and gathering other types of sensitive information.
The biggest problem the population has with this program is that instead of protecting them, it would make them more vulnerable to being targeted. It would increase cases of racial profiling and give ICE more tools. For this reason, citizens gathered in front of Austin City Hall to demand that the government stop this program in defense of the 4th Amendment. Another complaint is that this program requires a significant investment of money for minimal improvement in city security. Among the comments, one user mentioned that these surveillance systems do help solve cases. However, user atxbigfoot replied to this comment saying, ‘Someone did the math and it helped APD solve .2% of their cases lol. I’m not sure how you define “having success”, but this is not worth the surveillance or budget expenditure imho.”
This plan also does not account for the possibility that sensitive citizen information can be leaked. Or, in the worst-case scenario, shared with people outside the government. As a result, more and more people are voicing their opposition, and even influencers are helping to organize protests to persuade the local government to reconsider these plans. However, the council is being evasive and postponing a response on this particular issue, almost as if it seems to be hoping that everyone will simply forget about it.
