‘Scary and chilling’: AI surveillance takes US prisons by storm


The prisoners’ phone at a prison in France. Suffolk County is among dozens of county jails and state prisons in seven US states including major metro areas such as Houston, Texas, and Birmingham, Alabama, that Leo says have so far implemented the Verus system to monitor inmates’ calls. — AFP

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON: When the sheriff in Suffolk County, New York, requested US$700,000 (RM2.92mil) from the US government for an artificial intelligence system to eavesdrop on prison phone conversations, his office called it a key tool in fighting gang-related and violent crime.

But the county jail ended up listening to calls involving a much wider range of subjects – scanning as many as 600,000 minutes per month, according to public records from the county obtained by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month
RM5/month

Billed as RM5/month for the 1st 6 months then RM13.90 thereafters.

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Surveillance , prison , phone calls

   

Next In Tech News

EU court adviser backs data privacy activist Schrems in Meta fight
Spotify says Apple has rejected its app update with price information for EU users
Amazon to invest $11 billion in Indiana to build data centers
IBM falls as enterprise-spending constraints choke consulting demand
US agency to vote to restore net neutrality rules
India's Tech Mahindra misses Q4 revenue view on weak communications segment
Explainer-Where are Wall Street's analyst notes on Trump's Truth Social?
AI spending worries cast gloom over Alphabet, Microsoft
Electric cars and digital connectivity dominate at Beijing auto show
Most global tech leaders see their companies unprepared for AI

Others Also Read