Many different entities in the City of Austin now deploy cameras, sensors, and alarms of one sort or another, but very few have been the subject of any public discussion. Matters of personal privacy intersect some of the data-gathering and data use practices in operation. As more technologies, especially those enhanced by the tremendous analytic and creative powers of AI, can be purchased and used in city systems, ethical issues regarding monitoring practices and data uses will crop up. Dr. Strover's team has conducted focus groups with different groups of Austin residents (including EFF-Austin) in order to explore their opinions and reactions to many of the systems the City uses. They also assembled a case study of the library’s camera system (with its 456 cameras) in order to explore some of the values at work in that particular unit. They are planning an upcoming survey that continues to investigate how people think about the benefits of these technologies, and welcome the opportunity to share their work with EFF-Austin and get additional ideas.

Our speaker this month is Dr. Sharon Strover. Dr. Strover is the Philip G. Warner Regents Professor in Communication and a Professor in the School of Journalism and Media where she teaches communication technology and policy courses and directs the Technology and Information Policy Institute. She is a founding member and current Chair of the UT-Austin Grand Challenge examining Ethics in AI in a program called Good Systems.