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A walking tour of surveillance infrastructure in Seattle

Note : this guide is a work in progress and may change at any time! We’ve done our best to cite our sources, but this page has not been professionally fact-checked.

This workshop was first run as part of two pilot workshops with the Tech Equity Coalition, in partnership with the ACLU of Washington, in October 2019. A zine based on this work was included at the CtrlZ.AI zine fair and the HOT MESS digital exhibition in 2020.

Introduction

In this tour of downtown Seattle, we’ll practice spotting some of the layers of the "smart" city that are hidden in plain sight, collecting and storing data about our lives, as well as the kinds of thinking that justify their existence. Each surveillance technology in our field guide includes the following categories to help you "spot" surveillance technology in the wild: Address , Appearance , What it does , How the tech works , Social importance , Discussion and finally, References .

Tour route

This is the route we will be taking on the walking tour. Click on each stop to pop up its location, and feel free to explore it on Google Maps, e.g. with Street View. The route spans 1.3 miles. Below, we outline each of the surveillance tools/sites listed above.

Surveillance cameras

Address : Practically everywhere, but the above example is at 523 Union St.

Surveillance camera hotspots (red = more likely)

Appearance : Poles, ledges, overhangs, rooftops. They are often spotted watching parking lots, doors, banks, intersections, and government buildings. Indoors, they are typically spotted on roofs and near cash registers.

Different types of surveillance cameras.

What it does : The camera has a memory. It can record video or other data and add it to a store of records over all time. The camera can be controlled remotely: it can swivel, zoom, or change height.

How the tech works: Camera recordings can be analyzed for patterns and shared with other entities, both private (your neighbors) and public (the local police).

It might be connected to a network (via Internet or radio frequency), which lets it send video to anywhere, receive instructions from anywhere, and lets other people, who might be anywhere, watch the video stream.

Social importance : The camera can have different ways of seeing encoded in it, including kinds of gazes that enforce social agreements about what kinds of behavior and people are considered “normal” and these gazes can be propagated all at once to the whole network of enforcement that the camera hooks into.

Discussion

What are other ways to question the need to have cameras, or surveillance, at all? What sort of society would we build around this way of life?

What are your individual or communal experiences of “light shining more brightly on some than others”?

What if each camera were replaced by a person? How would that change how you feel?

References

Street-level surveillance overview (EFF)

Video surveillance system overview (ACLU)

What’s wrong with public video surveillance? (ACLU)

Amazon Go

Address : 2131 7th Ave

Appearance : Looks like it could be any other convenience store… but it’s not! Inside, you must scan an app to enter, and there are no cashiers.

Notice the gates where you must scan a QR code from your Amazon account to enter.

What it does : Amazon Go tracks your movement using overhead cameras to determine your browsing habits.

Overhead cameras in the ceiling of the store, tracking consumers’ movements in the store.

How the tech works : Amazon can use your purchases to know more about you using patterns. For example, if you buy Hanukkah decorations, they might know you’re Jewish. Or certain foods might be correlated with certain health issues. They can combine your in-store purchases with your online Amazon purchases for even more predicting power.

Social importance : Patterns can be harmful! They can reinforce stereotypes. For example, Google Photos labeled photos of Black people as "gorilla."

What is Amazon doing with their knowledge about you? There’s no oversight or transparency. Your data could be sold to third parties without your consent.

Discussion

What are the societal effects of targeting ads based on [race, gender]?

When you go into Amazon Go, what do you imagine you are consenting to? How does this differ from the reality? How could this be changed?

References

Facial recognition used at a convenience store in Seattle (another story)

How much is your data worth? “No cash needed at this cafe. Students pay the tab with their personal data.”

Automated license plate reader

Address : 699 Spring...