Protests Underscore Always-On Smartphone and Smart Home Cameras

It’s difficult to overstate the role that smartphone cameras are playing in current events. A bystander recorded George Floyd’s death on her smartphone. Smartphone footage of peaceful protests met by police violence—and videos of looting—have become viral fixtures on news feeds this week.

The always-on camera dynamic cuts two ways. Beyond our internet-connected glass rectangles, AI-powered cameras are proliferating across public spaces.

🏠 Surveillance cameras can be found in nearly 30% of smart homes in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France, according to Strategy Analytics research released Wednesday. Amazon’s Ring, a dominant vendor, has partnerships with hundreds of police departments across the U.S.

• What that means: Authorities can access and search footage from automated, always-on camera networks.

🛩️ Skydio’s day job is making tiny consumer drones that can fly autonomously, but the startup has also chased millions of dollars’ worth of government surveillance projects, Forbes reported Wednesday. Surveillance has been a key use case for drones during the pandemic.

Zoom out: Ubiquitous recording, cheap storage, and AI edge computing = less privacy.