Surveillance technology reloads

Technology-bolstered cameras causing privacy concerns in Canada and U.S.

What "ZeroEyes" looks like when detecting a firearm through public surveillance

Gun surveillance technology is picking up steam in America after Toronto police three years ago scrapped a project because it potentially violated charter rights.

A public train authority in Pennsylvania plans to pilot "ZeroEyes” technology this month, a program which gives surveillance cameras the power to alert police within five seconds of seeing a firearm.

In 2019, the Toronto Police Services Board scrapped similar plans to launch gun detection technology, citing privacy concerns.

Then Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said the public-audio-monitoring technology called "ShotSpotter" may have violated Canadians’s right against unreasonable search and seizure.

Technology and the legal issues around investigating crime would continue to develop together though, a spokesperson then told the CBC.

Two years later, the Madison Square Garden (MSG) made headlines for its use of facial recognition technology. Arena staff removed a lawyer in October of 2022 because she worked for a specific law firm, Reuters reported.

Lawyer Barbara J. Hart in November said she was attending a concert when MSG staff stopped her. They identified her using facial recognition cameras, and planned to remove her because she was on the banned list.

Hart found out she was the target of a ban on all lawyers who worked for Grant & Eisenhofer.

In 2019, gun detection firm ZeroEyes noted surveillance technology is commonly used for more than its intended purpose. The firm said “mission creep” is a realistic risk of facial recognition, and quoted Albert Fox Cahn.

“We don’t have a single example of a costly and invasive surveillance tool . . . that’s only used for the thing we’re told it will be,” the firm quoted of Cahn.

ZeroEyes was introduced into a public school district in Michigan four months ago.