Alvaro Bedoya on Facial Recognition and the Color of Surveillance

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This week on CounterSpin: Wherever they come down on it, many Americans think of surveillance technology—like facial recognition—as spurring a more or less Platonic argument about the relationship between the individual and the state and/or corporations. That’s a rich enough subject for debate.

But in 2016 America, the conversation can suffer from not being grounded in an understanding of how surveillance technology is actually being used right now. Whether we are being watched by private companies or by law enforcement and the state, our guest says, not everyone is watched equally.

Alvaro Bedoya is the founding executive director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law. He was chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. He’ll join us to talk about those issues and the “color of surveillance.”

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Transcript: ‘Everyone Is Not Watched Equally’

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And first, as usual, we’ll take a quick look back at the week’s press, including the killing of Berta Caceres, International Women’s Day, and rebranding discrimination as free speech.

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SOURCE LINKS:

• “Why I Walked Out of Facial Recognition Negotiations,” by Alvaro M. Bedoya (Slate, 6/30/15)
• “The Color of Surveillance,” by Alvaro M. Bedoya (Slate, 1/18/16)