Data brokers, platform algorithms, digital privacy, biometric systems, police surveillance tech. How decisions about you are made without you, and who profits.
4 pieces
Flock Safety, a private company, has deployed automatic license plate readers in more than 5,000 U.S. communities. Each camera reads every passing plate. The plates are stored in a national database that every Flock customer can query. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU, and academic researchers have documented how the network functions and who has access.
Palantir Technologies sells a single product to the U.S. federal government, repackaged across agencies under different names. The company has held continuous contracts with ICE since 2014, with…
An internal Facebook memo from 2018 confirmed the algorithm was systematically amplifying outrage because outrage drove engagement. Frances Haugen brought it to the Senate three years later. Meta's…
The data-broker industry generates roughly $250 billion a year selling personal information to anyone willing to pay. The largest players are companies you would not recognize: Acxiom, LexisNexis…