Even if it does not bother many people, the dashcams remain problematic because someone could have images of you behind the wheel of your fiat punto, with your mistress in the passenger seat … or even completely drunk and half naked in the streets of Pau, which would prevent you, maybe one day from being minister … Although … although …
But I find that it still brings a big advantage in the event of an accident to lift doubt on certain complex situations especially when we see the number of Volkswagens, uuuh sorry, of drivers in office on our national roads.
But must be recognized, the dashcams are Soooo 2020, because today, if you regularly meet autonomous cars, you are probably already in a 3D version in a police database without knowing it. Indeed, taxis without a Waymo driver have become the new high-tech indications of the American police. Yes, the big ears of Waymo are now judicial archives on wheels.
Besides, if you live San Francisco or Los Angeles, you have probably already played the extras in spite of yourself in a scene of “bringing the accused” and even if it does not yet exist with us, we know that these technologies always end up crossing the Atlantic, sometimes faster than expected.
The LAPD has just published on YouTube a video stamped “Waymo Confidential” showing a flight offense. This is the first public broadcast of this kind, and certainly not the last and I find that it deserves to dwell on it, because these autonomous vehicles are transforming American cities into gigantic open -air surveillance platforms … and that is probably what awaits us in Europe.
Here is the video in question, rejoice in the quality of the rushes:
Let’s start with the anatomy of these automated scales. A 6th generation Waymo is not just a car that drives itself. It is a real itinerant data center equipped with 13 high resolution cameras,, 4 Lidars (these rotary laser scanners that map 3D), and 6 radars which detect the movement itself through obstacles. All offering a vision to 360 ° over around 500 meters. It is therefore as if we put a surveillance camera every 10 meters on the Parisian periphery, but in a mobile version.
To give you an idea, it is the equivalent of 27 traditional surveillance cameras fixed on a single car. And these little jewels generate approximately 15 GB of data compressed per hour. This is more than what your phone produces in a week, and it is transmitted via a CLOSE 1.3 encrypted flow (safety protocol that protects transit data) directly to Google servers. Practical therefore to know quickly who dive a rim at 7:30 p.m., but not terrible for your anonymity.
Admittedly, Waymo uses algorithms to automatically blur faces and license plates & mldr; Except that the raw data is carefully preserved … in the event that a judicial mandate is knocking on the door.
The process is rather square, because Waymo provides data only on valid legal request (mandate, quotation to appear, court order).
According to their spokesperson:
“” “Waymo does not provide information or data to the police without a valid legal request, generally in the form of a mandate, quotation to appear or an order of the court. We carefully examine each request to ensure that it satisfies the applicable laws and that it is legally valid. We also analyze the data or information requested to ensure that it is adapted to the specific object of the mandate. We will reduce the data provided if a request is too wide and, in some cases, we will completely object to the production of information.»
Reassuring on paper? Perhaps, but since 2023, at least 9 terms were issued by the San Francisco police and the county of Maricopa (Arizona) to obtain Waymo videos. And this is only the beginning.
What is really fascinating (or creepy is according to) is that Waymo has already formed more than First 18,000 stakeholders In Over 75 agencies American on how to access this data. They even have a dedicated hotline 24/7 for the police. If it’s not quality customer service that!
In France, where the CNIL watches over the grain, we would probably be entitled to a few additional safeguards, but let’s not be naive: if these vehicles one day land with us, our police will soon be interested in it.
Waymo is not alone in this adventure. Tesla (with her sentry mode), ring (these bells that film everything that moves), and even the autonomous delivery robots are regularly asked by the police. The LAPD affair, however, marks a turning point, because it is the first time that such a video has been made public.
As I told you in the intro, Waymo has 13 cameras and 10 other various sensors, retains all the raw data despite a blurring on the front, and offers no deactivation options. Tesla Sentinel works with 8 cameras, stores the data locally and also does not allow you to get there. As for Ring, which uses only one fixed camera per device, it stores your data in the cloud according to your subscription, but at least you have the choice & mldr; not to install it ^^.
Waymo claims around today 700 Jaguar I-Pace adorned with sensors in the streets of San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, ensuring more than 100,000 paid races per week. The probability that you have already been filmed by one of these vehicles if you live in these areas is & mldr; let’s say & mldr; statistically significant. Imagine for a moment the same deployment in Paris, Lyon or Marseille … We would speak of an almost total and permanent video coverage of public space.
There are many implications, with good and less good. On the one hand, permanent passive surveillance without consent, the risk of seeing your militant activities end up in a database, self-censorship in public space (what is called “chilling effect”), and possible identification errors by algorithms. On the other hand, the resolution of violent crimes such as the flight offense shown in the video, excess evidence for the innocents wrongly accused, the empowerment of dangerous behavior, and objectified and horoded data, often more reliable than human testimonies.
If you are in California, the CCPA/CPRA (California Consumer Privacy Act) law gives you rights concerning your personal data. In Europe, our sacrosanct RGPD offers similar, even stricter protections. And for the most technophile, know that there are infrared LED glasses that disrupt facial recognition systems, as well as makeup techniques and “reflective” masks designed to blur identification algorithms. There are even clothes with specific patterns to thwart AI. And which will give you a very “80s” unique look.
This is called “opposing patches”, Special designs that confuse the AI at the risk of being crushed at the bend of a pedestrian passage. But that is all you deserve, a bunch of awful activists! 🤣
In short, here in France, we are not there yet, but with the acceleration of autonomous mobility projects in Europe, especially in Paris for the last Olympic Games and other events, it is probably only a matter of time & MLDR;
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