Police can surveil protesters from their pockets and their homes
Protesters in Portland now have to contend with local law enforcement and federal officers. Technology may either help or hurt them. (Tito Texidor III/)Anjuli R. K. Shere is a doctoral researcher in Cyber Security at the University of Oxford. Jason Nurse is an assistant professor in Cyber Security at the University of Kent. This story originally featured on The Conversation.US police forces have been turning to technology to track down Black Lives Matter protesters. Content from social media platforms and affiliated sites has been instrumental in the authorities being able to identify protesters based on photos of their faces, clothes and hair, or on the fact that they posted while at the protests. Meanwhile, drones have been added to the police’s own means of capturing footage of the protests.Making technology-driven state surveillance part of the police’s response to democratic protest sets a dangerous precedent. There is a risk that the...