👁️ Lights, Camera, Surveillance: Facial Recognition and the LA Protests

“I have all of you on camera.”

Those words from an LAPD officer hovering over Los Angeles protestors weren’t just intimidation — they were a glimpse into a surveillance system that’s growing more capable, and more controversial, by the day.

🎯 From Protest to Profile

In the wake of recent demonstrations against ICE raids in Los Angeles, the intersection of surveillance, facial recognition, and public protest has become a flashpoint.

While LAPD regulations restrict facial recognition searches to mugshot databases, federal agencies like ICE face no such limits.

Tools like Clearview AI — which scrape billions of faces from social media — can take aerial or bodycam footage and potentially match protestors with online profiles.

🛎️ Amazon Ring Enters the Scene

Amazon Ring, once marketed as a doorbell for deliveries, has quietly become a neighborhood-wide surveillance system. Though Ring no longer lets police request video directly through its Neighbors app, law enforcement can still subpoena footage — and use it to identify protestors captured near homes or businesses.

🔎 Even if you’re not being watched by police — your neighbor’s doorbell might be.

📡 Surveillance vs. Civil Liberties

The LAPD, according to internal sources, is actively reviewing footage from helicopters, fixed cameras, and bodycams — all within its legal authority. But facial recognition? That’s where the lines blur.

➡️ LAPD: Limited to mugshots

➡️ Federal agencies (like ICE): Access to social media-scraped images via Clearview AI

Meanwhile, protestors are using the same Ring platform to track ICE raids in real-time — flipping surveillance into community activism.

🧠 Why This Matters to You

Whether you’re a protestor, business owner, or concerned citizen, this story isn’t just about LA — it’s about who controls your image, your location data, and your digital footprint.

We’re entering a time when a doorbell can identify your face, a drone can trace your path.

If you haven’t discussed data privacy, smart camera policies, or employee surveillance risks with your tech provider — now is the time.

🔐 At Gigabit Systems, we help businesses and schools develop policies around:

• Smart camera placement
• Consent and data retention
• Surveillance system segmentation
• Access control and audit logs
• Facial recognition opt-out and monitoring

👇 Let’s start a conversation:

Would you install a Ring camera today — knowing what it can capture?

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