All across the country, police have convinced communities to pay for mass surveillance systems like license plate readers, claiming they will help stop the most serious crimes. But once these ever-watchful electronic eyes are installed in your city, it's not just violent criminals they're recording—it's everyone.

Time and time again, we've seen police surveillance suffer from "mission creep." Technology that was sold as a way to catch killers ends up being used to enforce traffic violations, track protesters, and more. In this episode, we explain what mission creep is—and how it explains the disturbing normalization of mass surveillance technology.

EFFector is a podcast by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit defending online civil liberties. Become an EFF member today at https://eff.org/podfan.

00:00 Intro
03:17 Interview with Adam Schwartz
26:57 Discussion
33:07 News Quiz
37:20 EFF Events and Opportunities

Thanks to smartphones, almost everybody these days is carrying a little video camera around in their pocket, all the time. But the next time a stranger films you in public, you might not be able to tell they're recording at all. In fact, their camera might look just like an ordinary pair of glasses.

After years of tech industry experiments, smartglasses with embedded cameras and microphones have finally gone mainstream. And, disturbingly, sometimes it's not just their owners who are watching what these devices record. This week, we'll be taking a closer look at the privacy implications of Meta Ray-Bans, the smartglasses from the makers of Facebook designed to be worn everywhere, all the time.

EFFector is a podcast by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit defending online civil liberties. Become an EFF member today at https://eff.org/podfan.

00:00 Intro
03:47 Interview with Thorin Klosowski
14:58 Discussion
21:40 Smartglasses Quiz
26:28 News Quiz
35:07 EFF Events and Opportunities

We've all had the unsettling experience of seeing an ad online that reveals just how much advertisers know about our lives. You're right to be disturbed. Those very same online ad systems have been used by the government to warrantlessly track peoples' locations, new reporting has confirmed.

This week, we're talking about how advertising surveillance enables government surveillance. We're also discussing a victory for protesters seeking to hold police accountable and a troubling conflict over the Department of Defense's use of AI.

EFFector is a podcast by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit defending online civil liberties. Become an EFF member today at https://eff.org/podfan.

The digital world isn't just a place you visit on your phone. It's the battleground where tomorrow's civil liberties will be won—or lost. Each episode of the EFFector podcast will fill you in on the most important news in digital rights, highlighting key developments in the fight for a world where technology supports freedom, not tyranny.

For 35 years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been the leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in the digital world. In that time, we've fought and won countless battles to protect privacy, security, and free expression—and we have no plans to stop. Sign up to get the EFFector newsletter delivered to your inbox: https://www.eff.org/effector/