AI Surveillance: The 'Freedom' That Catches Everyone Else
Unions are rightly concerned about AI surveillance enabling Trump's proposed 'Catch and Revoke' deportation program, as reported by The Intercept. They identify a critical threat: technologies like facial recognition and predictive analytics weaponized against immigrant communities. Yet, it's worth noting the same intelligence-gathering apparatus—from ubiquitous surveillance cameras to data
mining—has been developing under both Republican and Democratic administrations, often with little public protest until specific, politically unpopular applications emerge. This isn't a sudden Trump innovation; it's an escalation of existing capabilities, much like how the Patriot Act's enhanced surveillance powers, passed under Bush, were expanded and utilized under Obama. We fret over the
'politicization' of technology when it affects specific groups, but generally turn a blind eye to the quiet, continuous build-up of the surveillance state. One wonders if the public would be quite so alarmed if this AI were simply 'catching and revoking' the rights of, say, foreign journalists (like Shireen Abu Akleh, whose killing sparked little sustained US interest despite calls for
accountability from groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists) or activists abroad. The real scandal isn't merely the deployment of AI, but the bipartisan consensus to build a panopticon that can be repurposed by any administration, at any time, to target anyone.