Police technology is out of control!

Canadian police are quietly experimenting with dangerous new technology: facial recognition powered by our stolen images,1 spyware that breaks into our devices,2 bogus software that tries predicting when and where crime occurs,3 mass surveillance devices that spy on our phones,4 and racist pseudoscience that guesses how we look.5

The common factor in all these rights infringing exercises by Canadian law enforcement? New, untested digital technologies. More oversight of police technology is badly needed to protect people in Canada. 

Sign the petition – there must be NO adoption of dangerous new digital technologies without democratic oversight!

Click here to see petition text

Canadian law enforcement at the municipal, provincial, and federal level have shown themselves to be incapable of respecting the privacy interests of people in Canada through the repeated secret adoption of dangerous and untested new digital technology. 

To safeguard our rights, new transparent and democratically accountable oversight mechanisms must be introduced to vet and approve police use of new technologies.

This campaign is hosted by OpenMedia. We will protect your privacy, and keep you informed about this campaign and others. Find OpenMedia's privacy policy here.

Safety can’t come at the price of making us less safe. When it comes to investigating and surveilling citizens, Canadian law enforcement have too many dangerous and untested technologies at their disposal: 

  • predictive policing tools that attempt to forecast where crimes are most likely to occur, but actually just reinforce the over policing of already marginalized communities;6
  • biased facial recognition technology that’s powered by databases of our stolen images;7
  • social media monitoring tools that gather data on people exercising their protected right to peaceful protest;8
  • mass surveillance devices that trick our phones into connecting to them;9
  • spyware that breaks into our personal devices and harvests our sensitive data;10
  • and tools powered by racist pseudoscience that attempt to predict how we look.11

All of this technology puts people’s lives in danger. 

Time after time, Canadian police have adopted new digital technology with no proven benefits that plainly infringe upon our protected rights.12,13 Why? Because nobody is overseeing what technology they’re using. 

Police governance in Canada is broken. 

We need clear transparent and democratic control of what technology the police in Canada are able to use in order to make law enforcement in Canada safer and more equitable. 

Sign the petition calling for effective, democratic oversight of police technology now!

 

Sources

  1. RCMP's use of facial recognition tech violated privacy laws, investigation finds - CBC News
  2. RCMP use of spyware warrants update to Canada's privacy laws, MPs say - Politico
  3. Algorithmic Policing in Canada Explained - The Citizen Lab
  4. RCMP phone tracking continues despite privacy concerns - The Globe and Mail
  5. Edmonton police issue apology for controversial use of DNA phenotyping - CBC News
  6. See 3
  7. Toronto police used Clearview AI facial recognition software in 84 investigations - CBC News
  8. ‘Project Wide Awake’: How the RCMP Watches You on Social Media - The Tyee
  9. The RCMP has been tracking our phones for years. What can we do about it? - OpenMedia
  10. See 2
  11. EPS wants to keep using DNA phenotyping but add an oversight process - CTV News
  12. See 5
  13. VPD looks to develop policy for use of facial recognition technology - Vancouver is Awesome

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Press: Matt Hatfield | Phone: +1 (888) 441-2640 ext. 0  | [email protected]