San Leandro City Council Approves AI Policing
(Credit gorodenkoff) The San Leandro City Council has just approved the purchase of a new AI technology product created by a former Palantir employee (of the company owned by Trump billionaire backer and bigot, Peter Thiel) to be used by the San Leandro police department. All without a competitive bidding process, a written contract, or even a scope of work, to allow SLPD to conduct operations on residents without oversight or controls. All to the tune of $705k. As a start. Credit to u/ww_crimson on the SL subreddit for sharing this update. I think it should be obvious to everyone - including our elected officials who voted for it, Mayor Juan Gonzalez, Councilmember James Aguilar, Councilmember Xouhoa Bowen, and Councilmember Fred Simon, encouraged by the city manager, Janelle Cameron - that this is a terrible idea that will take away our rights to privacy, endanger residents, and prevent our police department from actually making our city safer. (Credit to Councilmembers Sbeydeh ...