A new report from the Government Accounting Office reveals that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to nearly triple the number of surveillance towers along U.S. borders, from the current 830 to 2,300 by 2034.

DHS expects to expend $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for this dangerous expansion of a surveillance network indiscriminately trained on towns, school playgrounds, backyards, and vehicles—threatening the privacy and civil liberties of everyone in the border regions.

  • eicker@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Every time someone says »it’s just the border,« the surveillance footprint quietly grows. Infrastructure built for one purpose has a remarkable habit of finding new ones. A billion dollars buys a lot of cameras, and history suggests the mission rarely stays as narrow as the sales pitch. 🤨

  • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today
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    1 day ago

    Well, TBF: after Trump has made the entire world hate Americans, revealed how weak we are with his failing attempt to distract from the Epstein files via a war on Iran, and killed enough immigrants to encourage some of their loved ones to seek revenge… Well, yeah, we’re gonna need to watch our asses.

    And here I thought the concept of turning Manhattan into a giant prison (see Escape from New York) was absurd. Give Trump credit for managing to turn the entire country into one.

  • bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    These aren’t to keep an eye on people sneaking in, they’re to catch people escaping out.

  • cranakis@reddthat.com
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    1 day ago

    I wonder what a shotgun loaded with birdshot would do to one of these million dollar pieces of equipment.