The programs being designed and implemented across the country under the auspices of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) have drawn fire from Muslim community members and civil rights activists. They are criticized for unfairly targeting Muslims, being used for surveillance under the pretext of community outreach, and being based on an unfounded theory of radicalization.
Despite the heavy criticism CVE has been subjected to, there remain lingering questions about precisely which communities are targeted, what research (and which experts) agencies are relying on for their approaches, how (or if) government agencies are planning to safeguard civil liberties, which community leaders are being supported and for what reasons, etc.
By making the relevant government documents public, we hope to help answer some of these questions.
The two major goals of the project are (1) to make publicly available the different LEA policies governing the use of surveillance technology so that concerned Mississippians can identify deficiencies in oversight and civil liberties protections and advocate for policy reform; and (2) to make publicly available documents evidencing the acquisition of surveillance tech by local and state LEAs of which the public is generally unaware.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock have a launched a new public records campaign to reveal how much data law enforcement agencies have collected using automated license plate readers and are sharing with each other. Follow along with the requests on this page.
Police departments are increasingly tracking your face, your fingerprints, your tattoos — and even your DNA. Help the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock uncover how local agencies are tracking you and bring some much-needed transparency to the murky world of biometric surveillance.
Cell phone surveillance technology has outpaced policy and public awareness. MuckRock is investigating precisely how law enforcement across the country use cell phones to locate and track individuals.
As part of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project, Rebecca Williams is spending the 2020-21 academic year assessing risks to civil liberties posed by “smart city” technologies and developing recommended interventions for the public, governments, and vendors.