New DHS regulations take effect requiring mandatory biometric data collection from all non-citizens entering and leaving the United States at airports, land ports, seaports, and other authorized points of departure. The rule expands facial recognition technology and authorizes CBP to photograph—and …
Department of Homeland SecurityCustoms and Border Protection (CBP)Kristi Noemimmigrationsurveillancebiometricsprivacyborder-control
Amazon’s Ring announced partnerships with both Flock Safety and Axon, marking a dramatic reversal of its January 2024 commitment to limit police access to user footage. The partnerships enable law enforcement agencies to request Ring doorbell camera footage through third-party platforms …
RingAmazonFlock SafetyAxonImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)ringflock-safetyaxonsurveillancepolice-partnerships+3 more
On September 25, 2025, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced the unprecedented decision to “cease and disable” cloud computing and AI services to Israel’s Unit 8200 military intelligence unit, marking the first time a major U.S. technology company terminated service to the …
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit signs a $3 million contract with Magnet Forensics, the Canadian firm that acquired Grayshift in 2023 following its $1.35 billion acquisition by investment firm Thoma Bravo. The contract continues ICE’s …
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)Homeland Security InvestigationsMagnet ForensicsGrayshiftThoma Bravosurveillancemobile-forensicsimmigrationlaw-enforcementencryption
Flock Safety publicly admits that federal immigration agents have had direct access to automated license plate reader data through a previously undisclosed pilot program with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), giving federal authorities access to more …
Flock SafetyImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)Customs and Border Protection (CBP)U.S. Department of Homeland Securitysurveillancealprimmigration-enforcementicewarrantless-surveillance+1 more
The Institute for Justice files a federal lawsuit on behalf of Norfolk residents Lee Schmidt and Crystal Arrington, challenging the city’s deployment of 172 Flock Safety automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras as an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment’s …
Institute for JusticeLee SchmidtCrystal ArringtonNorfolk Police DepartmentFlock Safetysurveillancealprfourth-amendmentcivil-libertieswarrantless-surveillance+1 more
U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg granted preliminary approval on August 9, 2024, to a class action settlement requiring Oracle Corporation to pay $115 million and implement changes to its data brokerage practices. The settlement resolves the lawsuit filed in August 2022 alleging that Oracle …
OracleJudge Richard SeeborgIrish Council for Civil Libertiessurveillanceprivacydata-brokersoraclesettlements+1 more
Flock Safety’s automated license plate recognition network reaches unprecedented scale, with more than 5,000 law enforcement departments across the United States using interconnected cameras that perform over 20 billion scans of vehicles every month. The company now operates in more than 5,000 …
Flock SafetyGarrett LangleyACLUElectronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)surveillancealprmass-surveillancelicense-plate-readerswarrantless-surveillance+1 more
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces the city is terminating its contract with ShotSpotter, the controversial gunshot detection technology company, bringing to an end one of the largest and longest-running deployments of acoustic surveillance in American policing. The contract will expire on …
Amazon’s Ring announced it would discontinue its “Request for Assistance” (RFA) tool, which had allowed police departments and public safety agencies to request video footage from doorbell camera owners through the Neighbors app. The policy change, effective immediately, marked a …
RingAmazonringpolice-accessprivacy-protectionpolicy-changeamazon+1 more
Dataminr began providing the Los Angeles Police Department with real-time surveillance alerts about Gaza war protests just two days after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, demonstrating the company’s ongoing role in monitoring constitutionally protected political speech despite …
DataminrLAPDTalia Janesurveillancesocial-mediaprotestsgazapalestine+3 more
Oracle announced on August 15, 2023, that its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) received authority to operate Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) from the 18-agency Intelligence Community, marking a major expansion of Oracle’s access to the nation’s most classified …
OracleIntelligence CommunityDepartment of DefenseCIAintelligence-agenciessurveillancecloud-computingoracleclassified-information+1 more
An anonymous whistleblower provides 1.7 terabytes of stolen Cellebrite data to hacktivist collective Enlace Hacktivista, representing one of the largest breaches in the surveillance technology industry. The massive leak includes the entire Cellebrite suite of programs, including the company’s …
Three privacy rights advocates filed a class action lawsuit against Oracle Corporation on August 19, 2022, in the Northern District of California, alleging that the company operates a “worldwide surveillance machine” that has compiled detailed digital dossiers on approximately 5 billion …
OracleIrish Council for Civil LibertiesJohnny RyanMike Katz-LacabeJennifer Golbecksurveillanceprivacydata-brokersoraclelawsuits+1 more
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions Tornado Cash, adding the decentralized cryptocurrency mixer to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List with multiple cryptocurrency addresses as identifiers. This landmark action marks the first time OFAC has …
OFACTornado CashChainalysisLazarus GroupU.S. Treasurysurveillancecryptocurrencysanctionsprivacyofac+1 more
TikTok and Oracle formally launched “Project Texas” in July 2022, a comprehensive data isolation initiative designed to address U.S. national security concerns by migrating all American user data to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure and establishing new corporate structures to limit …
OracleTikTokByteDanceTikTok U.S. Data Security Inc.oracletiktoksurveillancedata-storagecloud-computing+1 more
On June 6, 2022, nine members of Axon’s thirteen-member AI and Policing Technology Ethics Board resigned in protest after the company announced plans to develop Taser-equipped drones for deployment in schools to respond to mass shootings. The resigning members—including founding chair Barry …
AxonBarry FriedmanWael Abd-AlmageedMiles BrundageRyan Calo+2 moreaxonethics-boardtaser-dronessurveillanceresignation+2 more
Chainalysis announces a $170 million Series F financing led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, bringing its valuation to $8.6 billion and cementing the company’s position as the largest enterprise SaaS company in the cryptocurrency industry. The funding round represents another …
Tornado Cash, the decentralized cryptocurrency mixer designed to enhance transaction privacy, integrates Chainalysis’s oracle contract to block OFAC-sanctioned addresses from accessing the dapp. This controversial move represents a significant compromise of the privacy tool’s core …
The U.S. Department of Defense granted Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) authority to operate (ATO) for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) and Special Access Program (SAP) missions on February 15, 2022, authorizing Oracle to host and process some of the Pentagon’s most …
OracleDepartment of DefenseU.S. Air ForceDefense Information Systems Agencyintelligence-agenciessurveillancecloud-computingpentagonoracle+1 more
Flock Safety announces $150 million Series E funding round led by Tiger Global, achieving a post-money valuation of $3.5 billion and cementing its status as a surveillance unicorn. Additional investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Meritech, and Initialized Capital, bringing total …
Flock SafetyTiger GlobalAndreessen HorowitzGarrett Langleysurveillancealprlicense-plate-readersunicorn-valuationpolice-surveillance+1 more
The reliability and accuracy of ShotSpotter’s gunshot detection technology face a major crisis in August 2021 as the Chicago Office of Inspector General releases a damning report on the system’s effectiveness, while the Michael Williams case exposes evidence that ShotSpotter analysts …
ShotSpotterMichael WilliamsChicago Police Departmentsurveillancetechnologypoliceaicivil-rights+1 more
Chainalysis announces a $100 million Series E financing led by Coatue, bringing its valuation to $4.2 billion and establishing the company as the dominant player in the cryptocurrency surveillance industry. The funding round comes just three months after a $100 million Series D round in March 2021 …
On May 18, 2021, Amazon extended its global ban on police use of Rekognition facial recognition software indefinitely “until further notice,” prolonging what was originally announced as a one-year moratorium in June 2020. The extension came just weeks before the original moratorium was …
AmazonAWSAndy JassyJeff Bezossurveillancefacial-recognitionamazonrekognitionpolice+3 more
Cellebrite announces it will immediately halt all sales of its digital intelligence solutions and services to customers in the Russian Federation and Belarus, following revelations that its technologies were used by state officials to persecute opposition activists, minority groups, and LGBTQI+ …
CellebriteEitay Macksurveillancemobile-forensicshuman-rightsrussiabelarus+1 more
PredPol, the controversial predictive policing software company, rebrands itself as Geolitica in 2021 as criticism of algorithmic bias in law enforcement intensifies. The rebrand represents an attempt to distance the company from growing scrutiny of predictive policing’s discriminatory impacts …
The Central Intelligence Agency awarded its Commercial Cloud Enterprise (C2E) contract to five major technology companies—Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, and IBM—on November 20, 2020. The multi-cloud contract, valued at tens of billions of dollars over a 15-year period, represents …
CIAOracleAmazon Web ServicesMicrosoftGoogle+1 moreintelligence-agenciessurveillancecloud-computinggovernment-contractscia+1 more
At Amazon’s Fall 2020 hardware event, Ring announced the Always Home Cam, a fully autonomous indoor security drone designed to fly preset paths through homes when triggered by Ring alarms or user commands. Ring President Leila Rouhi explained the product was created because “when …
RingAmazonLeila Rouhiringdronesurveillancealways-home-camamazon+2 more
Oracle’s BlueKai Data Management Platform exposed billions of records containing sensitive web tracking data through an unsecured cloud server discovered on June 19, 2020, in one of the largest data breaches of the year. The database, left accessible to the public internet without password …
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On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, Amazon announced a one-year moratorium on police use of its Rekognition facial recognition software, shocking civil rights activists and researchers who had spent two years fighting to stop the company from selling surveillance technology to law enforcement. The …
AmazonAWSJeff Bezossurveillancefacial-recognitionamazonrekognitionpolice+4 more
Whole Foods Heat Map Tracks Stores at Risk of Unionization Using Diversity and Demographics
On April 20, 2020, Business Insider revealed that Amazon-owned Whole Foods had created an interactive “heat map” system that tracked and scored all 510 of its stores based on their risk of …
Jeff BezosAmazonWhole Foodsunion organizingworker exploitationamazonsurveillancedata analytics+1 more
Ring announced it had established partnerships with more than 400 police departments across the United States, marking the first time the company publicly disclosed the scale of its law enforcement surveillance network. The announcement revealed that since Amazon’s 2018 acquisition, Ring had …
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The Intercept published an investigation on January 10, 2019 revealing that beginning in 2016, Ring provided its Ukraine-based research and development team with virtually unfettered access to a folder on Amazon’s S3 cloud storage service containing every video created by every Ring camera …
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Amazon’s Anti-Union Training Video Leaked - Exposes Systematic Union Suppression Program
On September 26, 2018, Gizmodo published a leaked 45-minute union-busting training video that Amazon had distributed to Whole Foods team leaders, exposing the company’s systematic program to identify …
Jeff BezosAmazonWhole Foodsunion organizingworker exploitationamazoncorporate accountabilitysurveillance
On July 26, 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released results of an independently verified test demonstrating that Amazon’s Rekognition facial recognition software incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with mugshots from a database of arrest photos. The test, which cost …
ACLUAmazonAWSJohn LewisJimmy Gomezsurveillancefacial-recognitionamazonrekognitionracial-bias+4 more
The Internal Revenue Service announces a Virtual Currency Compliance Campaign to address tax noncompliance related to cryptocurrency use, heavily relying on Chainalysis blockchain surveillance software. The IRS Cyber Crimes Unit (CCU), a five-year-old division of IRS Criminal Investigation, deploys …
In June 2018, at the height of the Trump administration’s family separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, Amazon Web Services officials met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives in Redwood City, California to pitch Rekognition facial recognition technology for …
AmazonAWSImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)Department of Homeland SecurityJeff Bezossurveillancefacial-recognitionamazonrekognitionice+4 more
Ring launched its standalone Neighbors app on iOS and Android devices, marking its first major product release since Amazon’s acquisition two months earlier. The free app allows users to share photos and videos of alleged suspicious activity, creating a crowdsourced surveillance network …
RingAmazonringneighbors-appsurveillancecommunity-monitoringamazon+2 more
On May 4, 2018, Axon Enterprise acquired VieVu LLC, its primary competitor in the police body camera industry, for $7.1 million ($4.6 million cash and $2.5 million in stock) plus performance-based milestone payments of 141,000 additional shares. The acquisition eliminated meaningful competition in …
AxonVieVuSafariland GroupNYPDMiami-Dade Police+1 moreaxonvievubody-camerasmonopolysurveillance+2 more
Amazon announced its acquisition of Ring, a maker of smart doorbell cameras and home security systems, in a deal Reuters reported cost over $1 billion. The acquisition marked one of Amazon’s largest purchases and represented a major expansion into home surveillance infrastructure. Ring, …
AmazonJeff BezosJamie SiminoffRingamazonringsurveillanceacquisitiondoorbell-camera+2 more
Anduril Industries was incorporated on June 16, 2017, by Palmer Luckey (Oculus VR founder), Trae Stephens (Founders Fund partner and former Palantir executive), Matt Grimm, Joe Chen, and Brian Schimpf (CEO). The company was seeded by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and pitched low-cost border …
Amazon Web Services announced the launch of Amazon Rekognition at its re:Invent developer conference in Las Vegas on November 30, 2016. The cloud-based facial recognition service marked Amazon’s entry into surveillance technology, offering image and video analysis capabilities including face …
AmazonAWSAndy Jassysurveillancefacial-recognitionamazonrekognitionlaw-enforcement+2 more
The ACLU of Northern California released a report revealing that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram had provided special data access to Geofeedia, a surveillance technology company that marketed its location-based monitoring tools to law enforcement agencies for tracking Black Lives Matter protesters …
ACLUGeofeediaTwitterFacebookInstagramsurveillancesocial-mediablack-lives-matterprotestscivil-rights+3 more
Twitter exercised its contractual veto power to block U.S. intelligence agencies from accessing Dataminr’s social media surveillance platform, marking a rare instance of a tech company refusing to facilitate government intelligence gathering. The decision came as Dataminr was conducting an …
The FBI engages Israeli mobile forensics company Cellebrite to crack the iPhone 5C used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, after Apple refuses to create software to bypass the device’s security features. Following the December 2015 terrorist attack that killed 14 people, the FBI …
Chainalysis secures its first federal government contract, a $9,000 data software deal with the FBI, marking the beginning of the U.S. government’s systematic use of blockchain surveillance technology. In 2015, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are Chainalysis’s only federal …
ShotSpotter’s acoustic gunshot detection system undergoes major expansion across the United States during 2015, with significant deployments in New York City and Sacramento representing the technology’s growing adoption by major metropolitan police departments.
PredPol’s predictive policing software reaches widespread adoption across the United States, with almost 60 police departments using the technology by early 2015. Major cities including Los Angeles, Atlanta, and numerous smaller jurisdictions have implemented the algorithmic crime prediction …
Michael Gronager, Jonathan Levin, and Jan Møller found Chainalysis in late 2014, creating the first startup dedicated to Bitcoin tracing for government agencies and financial institutions. The company emerges from Gronager’s work investigating the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange collapse, …
The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules in Riley v. California that police generally may not, without a warrant, search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been arrested. Chief Justice John Roberts writes the landmark opinion, declaring that “cell …