“The Controversial Deployment of Digidog in New York City: A Dystopian Surveillance Machine?”

“The closure of Times Square on Tuesday [11 avril] made the ‘crossroads of the world’ even more dystopian than usual”, explain it New York Times. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, joined by Police Chief Keechant Sewell, unveiled new tech tools soon to be made available to officers. Among these is a well-known robotic dog, but considered scary by more than one townsman.

Nicknamed “Digidog” or “Spot”, the 32-kilo quadruped is the jewel of the company specializing in robotics Boston Dynamics. Controlled remotely, it could be deployed for surveillance and intelligence, for example in the event of hostage taking or mine clearance. The city’s fire department has been using it for the past year.

“Digidog came out of the pound”, said the Democratic mayor. Two of these robots have already been purchased for a total sum of around 750,000 dollars (about 680,000 euros).

“Adams came to power in 2021 saying that only he, a retired former cop and outspoken about police limits, could restore order to the streets of New York without jeopardizing the individual liberties of New Yorkers.” But according to the daily, the work is far from complete: during his first year in office, the number of shootings and murders fell, but violent crimes, such as thefts and burglaries, continued to increase. increase.

Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio, had also attempted to introduce the robot dog into the New York police arsenal. But the complaints of the inhabitants had put an end to its deployment. “He’s chilling, he doesn’t inspire confidence and he doesn’t reassure New Yorkers,” said a city spokesman at the time.

The New York Times relays the fears of Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Association for the Defense of Civil Liberties: the municipality seems to be failing in its obligations of transparency concerning the use of these new technologies. “We end up with this Digidog running around town, a dystopian surveillance machine of questionable value but with real privacy issues.”

“With the NYPD [département de police de la ville de New York]the worst of science fiction has become a policing strategy”, added Albert Fox Cahn, Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Program.