New York City: A Post 9/11 Surveillance State

If you’ve ever taken a walk in New York City, chances are your face has been detected by facial recognition software. If you’re surprised you shouldn’t be, because after 9/11 anti-terrorism/crime digital surveillance tools have silently implemented into every New Yorker’s day to day life. New York City is a surveillance state. Police can collect facial recognition data from countless surveillance tools used within the city unbeknownst to city-goers. Since the twin towers fell, New York City and government agencies have paid for and created an abundance of surveillance tools. In the boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx Amnesty International has located 15,000 NYPD cameras, but police have access to 20,000 more private cameras. The NYPD has spent over 159 million expanding what’s called the Domain Awareness System. This system can take static pictures and use them to recreate our actions and movements throughout the day. Unfortunately these surveillance technologies are developing even further to eventually be able to track our moods and possessions. New Yorkers have traded anonymity and privacy rights for “security” for threats that haven’t transpired yet. These surveillance tech ICE has spent millions partnering with data firms that collect ID information from things like digital sign-in lists from buildings. They use this data to track and deport illegal immigrants.

Before 9/11 a New Yorker could walk around the city all day without the need for an ID, but now that’s unheard of. For many readers this may not feel like a big deal, but lack of identification disproportionately affects minority Americans. Only 5 percent of white Americans lack an ID compared to 10 percent of Hispanics and thirteen percent of blacks. This bars many New Yorkers from pretty much any large institution or building. After 9/11 Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian Americans were constitutionally targeted by surveillance systems at work, school, and even their places of worship and homes. This rapid development of surveillance technology accelerated even further once the pandemic hit. Public places like museums, parks and libraries are now barred by thermal imaging kiosks and requirements for reservations. On top of this these thermal imaging kiosks were found to have actual racial bias