Author | Lightnews

‘Clearly Discrimination’: How a City Uses Fusus to Spy on Its Poorest Residents

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Reposted by Todd Feathers

Arthur Holland Michel @writearthur.bsky.social · Feb 12

Horrifying story from @gizmodo.com about how Fusus police tech enables wildly disproportionate surveillance of public housing residents in Toledo, Ohio.

@toddfeathers.bsky.social

Fusus’s technology allows police to tap into live feeds from public and privately owned surveillance cameras. In Toledo, Ohio, cops use the power to watch one particular type of location.

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

If you're a reporter in D.C. interested in doing a similar analysis, I may have some data for you.

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

👀

Tim Newman @tnewmsblues.bsky.social · Feb 11

The CEO of Axon, which owns Fusus, the company profiled in the incredibly important coverage below, is the lead witness for a House hearing on “reining in the administrative state” today. @toddfeathers.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/gizm...

Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · Feb 11

‘Clearly Discrimination’: How a City Uses Fusus to Spy on Its Poorest Residents https://gizmodo.com/clearly-discrimination-how-a-city-uses-fusus-to-spy-on-its-poorest-residents-2000561795

Fusus manuals, audit logs, and metadata

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

If your local police or sheriff's department uses Fusus, you can request an audit log to see where and when cops are surveilling your city. Here's the request I sent:

www.muckrock.com/foi/toledo-4...

Todd Feathers is making this request to Toledo Police Department of Toledo.

www.muckrock.com

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

This story is based on Fusus audit logs we obtained from TPD through a public records request. Here's an excerpt of the Toledo log:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Fusus_audit_log_excerpt.xlsx

docs.google.com

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

Here's a map showing the 12 subsidized housing complexes and where crime occurred from Jan 1 - Oct 8, 2024.

Red dots are homicides
Purple dots are reports of shootings (mostly Shotspotter alerts)
Orange dots are other crimes.

api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/tf...

A map of toledo with the 12 affordable housing complexes surrounded by half-mile yellow buffers. Crimes are represented on the map by red dots (indicating homicides), purple dots (indicating reports of shootings), and orange dots (indicating other crimes). The map shows that crime was distributed throughout Toledo and not primarily near the affordable housing complexes.

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

Meanwhile, residents of McClinton Nunn and other complexes say that sometimes they have to wait 15 minutes for police to respond to shootings and that when they report other crimes, police don't respond at all.

“You can watch all you want, but you gotta do something,” one resident said.

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

During September 2024, only two crimes were reported within half a mile of McClinton Nunn Homes. But TPD officers streamed 150 hours of live footage across 11 different days from just the four cameras watching over the developments’ playgrounds.

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

Take the playgrounds at the McClinton Nunn Homes, where thousand dollar camera systems watch over swing sets with no swings.

A photograph of a playground with a swing set and slide surrounded by tan, two-story apartment buildings. In the foreground is a silver telephone pole with a surveillance camera sticking out toward the playground.

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

That surveillance was disproportionate to the amount of crime near the complexes.

And contrary to police claims that the cameras would only be activated in emergencies, we found TPD officers often watched feeds from the complexes for hours on end at times when no crimes were reported in the area.

‘Clearly Discrimination’: How a City Uses Fusus to Spy on Its Poorest Residents

Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

We obtained audit log data showing that Toledo police spent more than 18,000 hours during a nine-month period watching live footage from the subsidized housing developments—more than twice as much time as they spent watching all the other Fusus-enabled cameras combined.

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

There are more than 700 Fusus-enabled cameras in Toledo. Some are owned by the city and mounted on government buildings or intersections. Others watch over gas stations, convenience stores, and motels.

275 of the cameras are on the properties of 12 subsidized, low-income housing developments.

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Feb 11

When Toledo police rolled out their Fusus system, allowing officers to tap into the live feeds of privately owned cameras, they promised to only use the power in emergency situations.

We obtained data that tells a very different story about when, and who, TPD watches.

gizmodo.com/clearly-disc...

Fusus’s technology allows police to tap into live feeds from public and privately owned surveillance cameras. In Toledo, Ohio, cops use the power to watch one particular type of location.

AI Financial Advisers Target Young People Living Paycheck to Paycheck

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Jan 15

And facial recognition is notoriously accurate at identifying people's ages based on facial features. So accurate.

Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · Jan 15

Texas argues that you can do age verification without any identification at all.

Texas is now suggesting that facial detection technology is a good way to avoid the identification problem.

[..........................]

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Reposted by Todd Feathers

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · Jan 15

The insight of a CEO is unmatched fortune.com/2025/01/14/w...

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Jan 14

cool, cool cool

www.wired.com/story/ai-fin...

AI finance apps are reaching Gen Z and millennial users with personalized chatbots that offer money advice—and upsell them big time.

www.wired.com

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Jan 10

For at least 25 safety or rights-impacting systems, agencies reported that “no documentation exists regarding maintenance, composition, quality, or intended use of the training and evaluation data.”

gizmodo.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agencies Lack Critical Information About Some of Their Riskiest AI Systems

From facial recognition tools to algorithms that identify diseases, agencies reported that they didn't know enough about what they're acquiring from commercial vendors.

100-plus cities in the U.S. banned homeless camping this year. But will it work?

Reposted by Todd Feathers

Delaney Rebernik @delaneyrebernik.com · Dec 28

I'm writing a piece for my Spine Tingler newsletter and iso folks with a professional POV on #rabbits and/or their symbolic use in #horror media. Any academics, creatives, trainers, handlers, vets, or misc experts out there up for a brief interview in the next week or two? #journorequest

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Reposted by Todd Feathers

talia jane ❤️‍🔥 @taliajane.bsky.social · Dec 26

Betteridge's law of headlines

NPR @npr.org · Dec 26

The burst of new laws follows a landmark Supreme Court ruling and reflects public frustration with record-high homelessness. But advocates say fines and jail time will only make the problem worse.

The burst of new laws follows a landmark Supreme Court ruling and reflects public frustration with record-high homelessness. But advocates say fines and jail time will only make the problem worse.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Todd Feathers

Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · Dec 19

At the scene of the Amazon strike:

The NYPD has now erected barricades to allow Amazon contractors to enter and leave the distribution center, helping Amazon break the picket line.

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Reposted by Todd Feathers

Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · Dec 19

On the scene of the Amazon strike in Maspeth, the NYPD is trying to break the picket, engaging in arrests of union members and engaging in physical confrontations with workers and their supporters.

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Reposted by Todd Feathers

Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · Dec 19

Hell Gate is on the scene at the protest of Amazon union members at the distribution center in Maspeth.

Just moments ago, NYPD officers pulled an Amazon worker out of his car after he stood up out of his seat and attempted to join the strike.

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Todd Feathers @toddfeathers.bsky.social · Dec 13

Question for folks who use screen readers/accessibility experts: When do you advise describing a person's appearance in alt text?

For example, I might purposefully choose an image of a Black scientist or a CEO for a story even though the story isn't about race. Should alt text specify that?