Taylor Lorenz’s Power User Your Landlord Might Be Using Facial Recognition to Spy On You
Aug 22, 2025
Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), dives deep into the alarming rise of facial recognition technology in everyday life. He sheds light on how landlords are using these systems to surveil tenants, raising serious privacy concerns. Cahn also discusses the implications of child safety laws that exacerbate surveillance and the need for public advocacy. The conversation emphasizes building tech that prioritizes people over profit and questions the balance between security and civil liberties.
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How The Surveillance State Scaled
- The U.S. surveillance state grew in waves, accelerating after 9/11 with massive federal investment and data sharing networks.
- Private data brokers monetized personal data and began selling it to police and other agencies, expanding surveillance capitalism.
Fusion Centers Create Loopholes
- Fusion centers create intelligence-sharing hubs that let local, state, and federal agencies share data.
- They can be used to circumvent protections by having one agency run searches for another that lacks access.
Child Safety Framing Drives Surveillance
- Child-safety framing often pushes ID and tracking systems that require knowing who is online.
- Age verification proposals risk ending anonymous internet access and create broad surveillance infrastructures.
