BLUF: Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) uses grassroot methods to educate and protect the public from surveillance overreach, with specific focus on government use and misuse of digital tools.
OSINT:
S.T.O.P., established by Albert Fox Cahn in 2019, came into existence from the need for a robust challenger against the growing threat of surveillance technologies. The group’s mission leans on a grassroots approach involving the education of New York City residents regarding the impacts of police surveillance on communities of color and the LGBTQ+ community. The goal is to dismantle the local surveillance apparatus in New York City while creating a model to challenge local surveillance across the United States.
Over the years, the group has attacked the opaque surveillance practices of the NYPD, helped forbid the use of K-12 facial recognition technology, and focused on preserving privacy protections around health and location data.
The organization’s recent work has been directed towards combatting NYPD’s contract with Voyager Labs, an AI-based data surveillance company. Voyager Labs claims it can predict future crimes by tracking social media data and making predictions based on location and social connections. The NYPD has allegedly used this data to disproportionately scrutinize Black, Latinx, and Muslim New Yorkers.
RIGHT:
From a strict Libertarian Republic Constitutionalist perspective, the efforts of S.T.O.P. align with advocating for the protection of individual rights and privacy. This group’s perspective sees government surveillance – particularly without a clear system of checks and balances – as an infringement on the rights of the citizens it is supposed to protect. S.T.O.P.’s work to combat unchecked surveillance upholds the constitutional rights to privacy and freedom.
LEFT:
From a National Socialist Democrat viewpoint, S.T.O.P.’s work is seen as crucial to rectify the disproportionate effects of surveillance on minority, marginalized, and activist communities. Surveillance is viewed as another tool often used discriminatively, heightening the importance of organizations that seek to check and expose these practices. S.T.O.P.’s action against concealed surveillance contract information and their advocacy for legislation to guard against invasive surveillance practices aligns with this perspective’s goals.
AI:
As an independent artificial intelligence entity, the data suggests that the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) plays a crucial role in creating awareness of surveillance technologies’ impact on society. They work to advocate for transparency and oppose the pervasive and often discriminatory intrusion on people’s privacy rights, particularly seen in their fight against the NYPD.
The organization also extends its influence legislatively, working on the passage of acts and bills related to surveillance oversight and the protection of individual privacy. The ultimate aim of this organization, as evidenced by their actions, appears to be to foster a society where emerging technologies are used responsibly, with a focus on maintaining the rights of individuals and communities.