By Bryan Clark, Dawn Clark, Justin K Comer, Fenek Coney, Katie Dennis, Joseph Dutcher, Will Gunnerson, Leah Otting, Tara McGovern, Alannah Swenka, Ryan Swenka, Bailey Welchhance, Maggie Welchhance and Dan Wohlers
When Ring advertised their new AI-powered Search Party function during the Super Bowl as a solution for finding lost dogs, people were rightfully concerned. “No matter how Ring and other surveillance tech companies may downplay it, there’s no world in which finding lost dogs is the final end-use for this technology,” Hayes Brown wrote in a recent MSNow article, “Ring is using lost dogs to make the surveillance state adorable.”
In both Iowa City and Coralville, as well as nationally, the use of Flock ALPRs (automated license plate readers) has been under increased scrutiny. These Flock cameras are similar to Ring doorbells in that they capture whatever appears in front of them but the AI technology behind Flock’s cameras is what has people all over the country concerned. Automated license plate readers are just one of many AI powered surveillance tools. Now, with Search Party, it’s on your doorbell camera, too…