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Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Atlas of Surveillance
The EFF and Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno launched the Atlas of Surveillance in July 2020 as a literal effort to watch the watchers.
Combining a variety of news gathering tools -- crowdsourcing, data journalism, and public records requests -- the Atlas of Surveillance is an interactive database and map that reveals what surveillance tech is used by more than 4,500 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The Atlas of Surveillance has two main aims:
The first goal is to create a searchable inventory of police tech that can be used by journalists, researchers, and members of the public to better understand what spy tools police have deployed in their communities and how individual technologies, such as face recognition and body-worn cameras, are spreading across the country.
The second goal is to involve as many people as possible in the information-gathering process. To achieve this we developed a crowdsourcing tool called Report Back that allows us to assign small research tasks (e.g. "Spend up to 20 minutes searching the internet for information about drones in Phoenix, Arizona" ). By working with journalism classes and volunteers, we are not only creating a greater resource, but we are also growing the body of people who know how to investigate surveillance technology.
As of December 2021, the Atlas of Surveillance contains more than 8,100 data points — each representing a technology acquired or used by a police agency. That's a roughly 50% increase in data collection since the launch. We also increased the number of agencies covered from 3,000 in mid-2020 to about 4,500 agencies today, including law enforcement from every U.S. state and territory. However, with approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S., we still have a long way to go...
We are also proud to collaborate with Data 4 Black Lives on its #NoMoreDataWeapons campaign to increase awareness of surveillance tech in regions with large Black populations and a history of over-policing.
In the coming year, we will continue to grow not only the Atlas but the body of contributors to the project. To learn more about opportunities to collaborate, don't hesitate to reach out.
Combining a variety of news gathering tools -- crowdsourcing, data journalism, and public records requests -- the Atlas of Surveillance is an interactive database and map that reveals what surveillance tech is used by more than 4,500 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The Atlas of Surveillance has two main aims:
The first goal is to create a searchable inventory of police tech that can be used by journalists, researchers, and members of the public to better understand what spy tools police have deployed in their communities and how individual technologies, such as face recognition and body-worn cameras, are spreading across the country.
The second goal is to involve as many people as possible in the information-gathering process. To achieve this we developed a crowdsourcing tool called Report Back that allows us to assign small research tasks (e.g. "Spend up to 20 minutes searching the internet for information about drones in Phoenix, Arizona" ). By working with journalism classes and volunteers, we are not only creating a greater resource, but we are also growing the body of people who know how to investigate surveillance technology.
As of December 2021, the Atlas of Surveillance contains more than 8,100 data points — each representing a technology acquired or used by a police agency. That's a roughly 50% increase in data collection since the launch. We also increased the number of agencies covered from 3,000 in mid-2020 to about 4,500 agencies today, including law enforcement from every U.S. state and territory. However, with approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S., we still have a long way to go...
We are also proud to collaborate with Data 4 Black Lives on its #NoMoreDataWeapons campaign to increase awareness of surveillance tech in regions with large Black populations and a history of over-policing.
In the coming year, we will continue to grow not only the Atlas but the body of contributors to the project. To learn more about opportunities to collaborate, don't hesitate to reach out.
https://atlasofsurveillance.org
https://atlasofsurveillance.org/atlas
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/atlas-surveillance-turns-dragnet-police-tech-2021-year-review?fbclid=IwAR1VZg-C9jOle_xJdUB-FSMpnkZCOAuwjvGM40qNrc1xDSSl12ze9EenzdY
The scale of this project, like law enforcement, is huge. Very thankful that, into the New Year, EFF takes on the task of watching the watchers, since our democratic enforcement of the enforcers can help save us from violent fascism.
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Hope you had an enjoyable Xmas! 
Yes, I did, thank you! I hope you had the same! 
