Source: ReclaimTheNet.org
Police are increasingly tapping into the data.
Driverless cars have video cameras that record everything around them. Companies use the cameras and footage to improve the safety and operability of these vehicles.
However, these companies, including General Motors’ Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo, promote the potential of these vehicles and conceal the fact that the footage these vehicles capture can be accessed by the police.
A memo obtained by Motherboard, through a freedom of information request, reveals that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) has previously used footage from autonomous vehicles for investigations.
“Autonomous vehicles are recording their surroundings continuously and have the potential to help with investigative leads,” the memo on autonomous vehicles reads.
“Investigations has already done this several times,” it adds.
SFPD’s use of AV footage is similar to how Amazon’s home security and doorbell company Ring partners with law enforcement agencies across the country, making a network of surveillance cameras in American neighborhoods accessible to the police….