Eric Adams criticised elected officials for being “afraid” to back facial recognition technology and other surveillance techniques.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams has declared in an interview with Politico that “Big Brother” style surveillance is actually a good thing.
Speaking to Politico last week, Adams, who is entering his second year as Mayor of the Big Apple, attacked his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, noting that New Yorkers felt they were living in a “state of lawlessness” that they had to “stabilise.” Combined with a reduction of morale amongst the police force, Adams is looking to further tackle crime, including through technological means.
Adams championed the use of new technologies to “detect guns,” along with the deployment of facial recognition cameras. The NYC Mayor criticised elected officials who were concerned that surveillance could lead to a “Big Brother”-style state.
“It blows my mind how much we have not embraced technology, and part of that is because many of our electeds are afraid. Anything technology they think, ‘Oh it’s a boogeyman. It’s Big Brother watching you,’” he told Politico. “No, Big Brother is protecting you.”
Image: Marc A. Hermann / MTA
At least two companies developing in police technology have been lobbying officials to get more involved in the NYPD, with Adams telling Politico that his plans to use technology to track guns are currently held up after a court ruling, but are still “in the hopper” for next year.
Albert Fox Cahn, the head of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, warned that Adams’ plans could result in a crackdown on “every aspect of dissent” in the city.
“These are technologies that would be chilling in anyone’s hands. But to give an agency with such a horrifying record of surveillance abuse even more power, at a time when they face dwindling oversight, is a recipe for disaster,” Cahn added.
Despite his insistence on working to tackle crime, it seems Adams himself believes he is above the law.
As Valiant News recently reported, Adams was issued a summons by the City of New York on May 10 after he failed a health inspection, with the health inspector spotting “fresh rat droppings” in a townhouse he owns.
However, he ignored the summons and the $300 fine, and now is fighting the claims in court, arguing that he shouldn’t have to pay given his role in helping fight New York’s “never-ending” war on rats.
SOURCE: https://valiantnews.com/2022/12/nyc-mayor-goes-full-dystopian-big-brother-is-protecting-you/
