Surveillance system or public-safety tool? Seattle dismantles controversial wireless mesh network
When the mesh network was bought and installed in 2013, with
Either way, it took the
The mesh network, according to the
In
That policy never materialized. Now crews are tearing its hardware down and repurposing the usable parts for other city agencies, including
Erb said the city had hoped to remove the hardware earlier, but couldn't because of work-schedule delays. "
SPD declined several times to discuss the removal of the network.
"This is one good, granular victory," said
Surveillance equipment, he added, comes at a cost, "not just in terms of public dollars, but community trust -- the technology was rolled out, there was public outcry and it got the plug pulled. Clearly, that was the wrong way to go about it."
When the mesh-network debate first erupted in 2013, SPD spokesman
That versatility turned out to be a public-relations bug, instead of a feature.
Digital networks with surveillance potential, Narayan said, have a cost: "Not just in terms of public dollars, but community trust, willingness to attend a protest -- we know that people who know they're being watched will act differently. We're glad to see the mesh network taken away."
This isn't the first time SPD has been pressured to abandon a Homeland Security-funded tool. In 2013, it gave up its drones. Like the mesh network, they were quietly bought with federal money and became a flashpoint for public outcry.
"We live in a brave new world where data and algorithms can be used against you without transparency," Narayan said. "We don't know who collected data, sold it to a data packager, then sold it, for example, to an HMO that will raise your health-insurance premium based on your reckless driving."
The life cycles of the drones and the mesh network,
SPD "needed to respect the public process, explain the technology to the public in a transparent manner, listen to the public's concerns and obtain council approval via ordinance prior to installation."
In 2013, the city council passed a surveillance ordinance giving it more oversight in the acquisition of devices with surveillance capabilities.
Last year, that ordinance was amended and bulked up, requiring city departments to report their surveillance-enabled technologies already in use and present them for review by the council.
To date, city departments have identified 28 technologies -- from
So what, exactly, does that do?
"That's the point," Narayan said with a chuckle. "All we have now are vague descriptions -- it could be anything from a simple graphic representation of a spreadsheet to a complex analytic tool that establishes relationships to show that somebody might be a gang member."
The council's scrutiny of the city's surveillance tools, Narayan said, will probably begin in March.
In the aftermath of the drones and mesh-network controversies, he added, the
Removal of the mesh network is "a clear win for privacy," said
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