Would you want police to use facial recognition technology to identify you while you walk down the street? While it’s prohibited in King County, some cities have allowed police to access large surveillance networks that constantly scan people’s faces. 

The University of Washington Society + Technology initiative discussed concerns about such technology at an after-hours event called “Who’s Watching? Privacy and Urban Surveillance.”

On the evening of Jan. 12, chatter filled the event room at Halcyon Brewing Co. in Seattle before Monika Sengul-Jones, the initiative's director of strategy and operations, welcomed a panel of experts on tech surveillance and society. She introduced Information School and School of Law Professor Ryan Calo as the panel moderator. 

Calo (pictured above, at left) was joined by Martin Kaste (center), a national correspondent for NPR, and Brie McLemore (right), an assistant professor in the UW Political Science Department. 

The panel began with Calo asking Kaste about his work in New Orleans. Kaste shared some of what he’s learned from his recent reporting on facial recognition technology that the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) has used to identify suspects. 

Kaste spoke about how a former New Orleans police officer began a private entity called Project NOLA that has experimented with facial recognition using thousands of cameras mounted around the community. NOPD used the technology to identify people on New Orleans hot lists. 

“This system was never rolled out in an official way; it just kind of hit the fan, and the guy running it said, ‘We never hid it, and no one asked,’” Kaste said.

NOPD suspended its use of facial recognition technology last year after news reports brought it to light. Police have since regained access to live and playback footage from Project NOLA for other uses, but the city is still grappling with the issue. 

“For the last year or so there, the city has been sort of struggling with the policy side of this technology now existing and being run by a private entity,” he said.

Calo contrasted how people view government surveillance in America with views in other countries. When you ask people in Europe if they’re more worried about government or corporation surveillance, Calo said, they're far more concerned about corporations, whereas in the United States, it's flipped.

“We're more worried about the government. And, you know, maybe there's some historic reasons for each of these attitudes, but it's a pretty distinct attitude,” Calo said.

Kaste added, “And beyond that, we have a long tradition in this country of outsourcing price-sensitive tech and law enforcement often finds it much more politically palatable, or easier, maybe even cheaper, to get the information.”

McLemore’s research focuses on the integration of smart technologies into cities and the stakes it creates for all people, but particularly marginalized communities. She’s interested in law enforcement uses of these technologies. Calo asked her about the dynamic between the government and third-party tech-surveillance companies.

She shared that her research began by looking at smart street lights fixed with sensor cameras in San Diego that were intended to serve as climate change indicators. Although this technology was incredibly faulty and did not work, the San Diego Police Department discovered that it could use these cameras as surveillance technologies. 

“I was really interested in this technology that was actually not designed for the police at all, but still finds its way to be used by law enforcement. What does that tell us about technology more broadly?” she said.

McLemore discovered that third-party companies have found the police to be a lucrative, dependable consumer. “They always have money and they always want technology, so this is kind of a natural pathway for the corporations,” she said. 

This led to a conversation about access and the legal implications of privacy and tech surveillance. 

“To me, the big question over all forms of privacy in tech is: Is it more a fight, if there is a fight, about whether the information exists at all, or who controls it? Those are two very different things,” Kaste said.

The Society + Technology initiative is dedicated to advancing research on the social, societal and justice dimensions of technology across the University of Washington campuses. Calo is among its faculty co-founders.