technology policy

Jul 20

Smart home devices become weapons in domestic abuse cases

Abusers are weaponizing connected home systems—turning off lights, adjusting thermostats, locking doors, and triggering alarms remotely—to gaslight and control victims even when physically separated. Law enforcement and domestic violence advocates are only beginning to recognize and document the tactic. The abuse vector exploits the same frictionless remote access that makes smart homes convenient for legitimate users, exposing a gap in IoT safety design that manufacturers have largely ignored. Tech companies, police, and shelters lack tools to identify or prevent it, and many lack awareness it exists.

theme-culture surveillance technology policy media analysis

Jul 1

Surveillance Technology Built for War Now Monitors American Cities

Source: Bilawal Sidhu

Wide-area motion imagery systems originally deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan—capable of tracking every moving object across an entire urban landscape and rewinding footage—have migrated into domestic law enforcement hands. Police departments in multiple U.S. cities have already tested or deployed variants, with limited public disclosure or regulatory frameworks governing their use. The technology's architects and vendors explicitly framed it as a temporary war measure, yet surveillance infrastructure, once installed, tends to persist. The shift raises concrete questions about scope creep when military tools designed for counterinsurgency lack meaningful civilian oversight.