Algorithms Are Automating Fascism. Here’s How We Fight Back
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7w5v7/algorithms-are-automating-fascism-heres-how-we-fight-back-v27n3
In early August, more than 50 NYPD officers surrounded the apartment of Derrick Ingram, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, during a dramatic standoff in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen. Helicopters circled overhead and heavily-armed riot cops with K-9 attack dogs blocked off the street as officers tried to persuade Ingram to surrender peacefully. The justification for the siege, according to the NYPD: Ingram had allegedly shouted into the ear of a police officer with a bullhorn during a protest march in June. (The officer had long since recovered.)
Video of the siege later revealed another troubling aspect of the encounter. A paper dossier held by one of the officers outside the apartment showed that the NYPD had used facial recognition to target Ingram, using a photo taken from his Instagram page. Earlier this month, police in Miami used a facial recognition tool to arrest another protester accused of throwing objects at officers—again, without revealing the technology had be utilized.