Project Dystopia: How a Little-Known Non-Profit Has New Orleans Considering Mass, Real-Time Facial Recognition Surveillance

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://epic.org/project-dystopia-how-a-little-known-non-profit-has-new-orleans-considering-mass-real-time-facial-recognition-surveillance/

The New Orleans City Council is considering Ordinance 35,137 that would authorize the continued use of the live facial recognition system implemented by Project NOLA. Project NOLA, a non-profit organization, runs a centralized surveillance system that has equipped New Orleans with more than 200 facial recognition cameras at various establishments and residential locations. The program, run by a former officer, was until recently, sending law enforcement live, real time alerts of people identified by facial recognition from predetermined lists. The use of Project NOLA’s live facial recognition system by the New Orleans police was a clear violation of a preexisting 2022 city council ordinance that limited the use of facial recognition technology to searches involving specific cases with violent crime. The 2022 ordinance did not allow for the use of live facial recognition or the mass deployment of the technology. Despite the police’s clear violation of the ordinance, the New Orleans City Council is considering a new ordinance to sanction the mass deployment of live facial recognition.

The possibility that New Orleans will officially implement mass surveillance via facial recognition would be an about-face that would see New Orleans go from a 2020 ordinance that rightly banned facial recognition because of the heightened risk of false positives for Black people to embracing a dystopian future of a dragnet facial recognition surveillance that treats everyone as a suspect. This opens the door to a level of intrusion that we’ve only seen in authoritarian governments. The intrusion will not stop at our faces, Project NOLA can not only track faces, but also clothing, cars, and bikes. The kind of surveillance presents a real threat to our privacy, civil liberties, and undermines our democratic values.

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etherphon@piefed.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
What the fuck kind of non-profit is that? And why don't they name the officer?

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- archchan@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Bryan Lagarde.
  
  Have fun!
  
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- AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It’s shady as fuck and part of a very long and convoluted story. This guy’s private surveillance company popped up in New Orleans in the middle of a secret partnership with Palantir.
  
  It’s also confusing bc as of the city council meeting on 6/30, NOPD said they wanted the ordinance to use facial recognition tech in their own crime cameras (separate from ProjectNola).
  
  Yesterday was supposed to be the day the ordinance was discussed, but the city council meeting was just cancelled with no notification and no information provided.
  
  NOPD argues the ability to use real time facial recognition tracking in their system would at least give them more control bc they knew that ProjectNola was already working with the state police and ICE.
  
  Except as of today, a state law kicks in and it becomes illegal for police to refuse a federal immigration order or “hinder” (yes it’s definitely intentionally vague what exactly that means) federal immigration.
  
  There also seems to be contradicting evidence about how separate the city’s own real time crime camera program and ProjectNola are.
  
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AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Timeline of predictive policing and facial recognition surveillance in New Orleans:

~2012-2018: Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology

2015: Meet The Man Who Runs New Orleans’ Entirely Privatized (And Controversial) City Surveillance System

2017: ProjectNOLA plans to expand crime camera network, work more closely with New Orleans officials

2018: Months after end of ‘predictive policing’ contract, Cantrell administration works on new tool to ID ‘high-risk’ residents

2020: New Orleans City Council bans facial recognition, predictive policing and other surveillance tech

2022: Mayor Cantrell moves to reverse bans on facial recognition, predictive policing and other surveillance tech

2023: Wholly ineffective and pretty obviously racist’: Inside New Orleans’ struggle with facial-recognition policing

May 2025: Police secretly monitored New Orleans with facial recognition cameras

June 2025: City camera technology not useful for facial recognition: Project NOLA founder

Lagarde says he believed a proposed new ordinance would “free up NOPD to tap the Project NOLA network without concern” as needed.

June 2025: Trump’s Palantir-Powered Surveillance Is Turning America Into a Digital Prison

Palantir, long criticized for its role in powering ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and predictive policing, is now poised to become the brain of Trump’s surveillance regime. Under the guise of “data integration” and “public safety,” this public-private partnership would deploy AI-enhanced systems to comb through everything from facial recognition feeds and license plate readers to social media posts and cellphone metadata—cross-referencing it all to assess a person’s risk to the state.

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- etherphon@piefed.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  AI-enhanced systems to comb through everything from facial recognition feeds and license plate readers to social media posts
  
  Would be hilarious if it flagged Trump as dangerous because of all his unhinged rants but I'm sure he's on the whitelist, which I suppose is an apt name here.
  
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Amoxtli@thelemmy.club ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
New Orleans is a crime city. It is a good idea.

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- captainastronaut@seattlelunarsociety.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  WTF is a “crime city” in your mind? It’s a low income city (avg $51k compared to US avg $79k). Does poor = criminal now?
  
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  - AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    It’s just a worn out cliche the GOP has been using against blue cities for decades now to pretend that the only explanation for crime in cities can be boiled down to Democrats not cracking down hard enough.
    
    That’s the narrative control justification for this authoritarian bullshit. It doesn’t matter what the actual circumstances are behind the numbers, just throw out a statistic and stoke fear.
    
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  - shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Ever been there? It’s pretty fucking rough. On 3 occasion across 2 nights we had men threaten, follow or chase us. We actually turned down a side street in case I had to clear my weapon away from the packed crowd. Had never before come close to pulling a gun (didn’t). This is coming from a white dude that had no issues or worries working unarmed in South Chicago.
    
    Don’t get me wrong, I fucking love NOLA culture, but it’s the most raggedy American city I’ve ever seen. Meh, Birmingham may be worse, but I ain’t stopping in that shithole.
    
    Anyway, I’d still invite folks to visit the French Quarter, Marigny (adjacent), and NOLA in general. There is nowhere in America like it, truly unique. Make time to hit a few cemeteries! You will not regret spending a couple of hours meandering around. Also, eat at the little shitty places downtown. Had the best oysters of my life on that last trip, sucking and scraping the shells like a starving man.
    
    I’ll add for anyone offended that I occasionally carry, having a concealed gun has bonuses most don’t talk about or maybe don’t know:
    
    The ability to end a life really makes you consider what you’re doing, where you’ll go, +3 to situational awareness. Despite what one may think of gun nuts looking for an excuse, my conceal carry instructor taught us, “No matter how justified you think you are, pulling that gun may put you in a concrete box for life.”
    
    Faced with the man who followed us around the corner and “chatted” us up, I was clearly confident, and confidence usually runs bullies off without a fight. (I was actually pretty worried.)
    
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- AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  K… keep simping for big brother.
  
  Every city will have it’s justification soon enough, so good luck with that. It’s just more efficient for the government to be able to track you in real time. Crime goes down real quick, especially if you stop believing a violation of civil liberties is a crime.
  
  Bc after all, how could a government that is run by criminals be commiting a crime when they make the laws?
  
  This is fucked up for so many reasons, but to me the fucking creepiest part of this, is knowing this is the same group of people that are protecting a sex trafficking ring of elite pedophiles.
  
  They love to justify not having any regulations to hinder this technology by reminding people it can be used to find missing children. But it also has the potential to exploit children.
  
  If the government can track anyone in real time, including children, with no oversight, how the fuck do we know the wealthy elites that often purchase the government through campaign donations won’t also be tracking children in real time?.
  
  Even if you didn’t have one million reasons and growing every day, not to trust the people running the government. Even if some of the most hated broligarchs in the U.S. hadn’t already been given government positions, military rankings, and top clearance.
  
  With zero oversight and accountability, how the fuck can you be sure that only the government will have access to this system?
  
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