CALL TO ACTION: Stop ai mass surveillance at Austin parks and pools…
Austin City council is considering spending $400K per year from the Parks and Rec Dept budget on “mobile video surveillance units” from out-of-state ai surveillance company LiveView Technologies. These unites have ai capabilities and can even talk to people to tell them to “stop loitering.” (Aren’t parks… for loitering?)
They are planning to park these ai-enabled unites (which feed their video into a cloud database) in the parking lots of our Austin parks and pool for “deterrence” against car break-ins and “criminal activity.”
…mass surveillance is a dangerous door to open, and CCTV cameras would be a cheaper and safer way to deter crime.
HOW TO HELP: The contract is up for a vote on the 2/5 City Council Meeting Agenda. Before the vote, the contract AKA “Item 3” will be discussed at the 2/3 work session meeting!
If you can testify at the Tuesday 2/3 work session against Item 3, please sign up here.
Signups for in-person or virtual testimony opens at 5 PM on Jan 30. If you miss the online sign-up window, you can sign up as late as 9:40 AM at the physical kiosk at City Hall outside of the Council Chamber (in-person testimony only).
If you can’t make it on Tuesday at all, please consider testifying on Thursday Feb 5 - our last chance to stop the contract!
We’re concerned about:
1) the impact of this video surveillance data getting into the hands of ICE, DHS, DPS, etc and about the data being hacked.
2) Spending taxpayer money on a out of state vendor when CCTV is a safer, cheaper “deterrence” alternative
3) The impact to families, young people, and POC who will be surveilled when trying to use public facilities
4) Mass surveillance, such as ai assisted cameras in public spaces, is violation of the 4th amendment to the US Constitution
If you can’t make it on Tuesday during work hours, please join us for a press conference & rally on Tuesday, Feb 3 at 5 PM at Austin City Hall. RSVP here.
Speakers include representatives from Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, Workers Defense Action Fund, Austin Justice Coalition, League of Women Voters, Hands Off Central TX
PS: The coalition has signed 13 organizations (as of Monday noon) onto an open letter condemning the LiveView Technologies contract. It will be presented to Austin City Council on Tuesday during the work session. View the letter and sign-on organizations here.