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by tptacek 710 days ago
I just got my local government to drastically ratchet back surveillance powers they already had, through patient organizing and advocacy. It wasn't even all that difficult. This "governments will always seek more surveillance" thing isn't axiomatic; in a lot of cases, it's probably just lazy cynicism.
1 comments
causal 710 days ago
Curious to learn more about how you did this.

But I agree with your sentiment- we often surrender to the idea that ruthless evil has taken control without even trying to engage civically.

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tptacek 710 days ago
Background here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40227280

We got the cameras rolled back even further; we now, by municipal policy, don't trust the Illinois LEADS stolen vehicle hotlist, so cameras can no longer be used to stop "stolen" cars (too many of the stops we were doing were mis-listed), only cars with stolen license plates (for which there is no innocent explanation). We're also the only muni in Illinois that won't automatically share camera data with out-of-state LEOs.

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