US body seeks mass surveillance as part of pandemic response

Many of the steps suggested in a draft programme for China-style mass surveillance in the US are being promoted and implemented as part of the government’s response to the pandemic, perhaps due to the overlap of membership between the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, the body that drafted the programme, and the advisory task forces charged with guiding the government’s plans to reopen the economy. The draft, obtained by EPIC in a FOIA request, is aimed at ensuring that the US maintains a technological advantage in machine learning, AI, and other technologies related to national security and defence. NSCAI is chaired by former Google head Eric Schmidt. The document also appears to suggest removing regulatory barriers for new technologies such as self-driving cars and altering privacy laws so that what the US government has been doing secretly with citizens’ data can be done openly and more extensively.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/national-security-state-using-coronavirus-push-artificial-intelligence-driven-mass-surveillance/266820/
Writer: Whitney Webb
Publication: Mint Press News