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The growing business of immigrant surveillance

Aug 2, 2023
Under the Biden administration, there’s been a rapid expansion of the electronic monitoring of immigrant families and individuals waiting for their immigration cases to move through the courts over several years. This investment in surveillance and case management tech is throwing private prison companies a lifeline.
A migrant charges his ankle monitor battery at an immigration facility in Texas. The use of ankle bracelets and GPS monitoring for recent border crossers with pending cases has ballooned under the Biden administration.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Some employers are using software to remotely monitor worker productivity

Jodi Kantor from The New York Times describes how companies are increasingly using new software tools to evaluate how hard their employees are working.
A new report from The New York Times delves into increasingly common monitoring software used to track employee productivity.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Mixing work and play on a company computer comes with risks

Aug 24, 2021
After being stuck at home for 18 months, it's tempting to use your work laptop for fun. But your employer may be watching.
With so many people working from home, more employers are monitoring what workers do on company computers and tracking the websites they visit.
Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

Chinese surveillance companies on U.S. blacklist still using Silicon Valley components

Dec 20, 2019
Blacklisted firms are still using essential components from the U.S., analysts and company statements suggest.
Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images

Volvo says driver-facing cameras are key to cutting crashes

Mar 21, 2019
The company is shifting its attention to accident prevention.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

New tech doorbells can record video, and that's an ethics problem

Jan 17, 2019
They might be recording a lot more than who's at the front door.
Part of the problem with doorbell cameras is that their owners are filming a lot more territory than the terms of service say they should, says Laura Norén, director of research at Obsidian Security.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Police and private security personnel monitor security cameras at the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative on April 23, 2013 in New York City.
John Moore/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

The U.S. government doesn’t want 5G tech that’s made in China

Nov 30, 2018
The thing that makes the technology so useful can also make it vulnerable.
WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images

The problem of governments using facial recognition software

"They know both the question and the answer," one CEO says.
A display shows a facial recognition system for law enforcement during the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2017.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The convenience store of the future is always watching

Jan 24, 2018
Sure, no lines sounds great, but is being constantly monitored worth the trade-off?
Shoppers scan the Amazon Go app on their mobile devices as the enter the store Monday in Seattle. Amazon opened the cashier-less store to the public after more than a year in beta.
Stephen Brashear/Getty Images