The New York City Police Department has spent millions buying products from a tech company that claims it can use social media to track and even predict crimes, a new report reveals.
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a nonprofit dedicated to combating mass surveillance and protecting privacy, has released redacted versions of NYPD contracts with Voyager Labs that show the department signed a contract for more than $8 million with the company in 2018.
Voyager Labs is a tech company that says it produces “AI-based investigation solutions.” It sells products across various industries, including law enforcement, the US public sector, and corporate security, according to its website.
While law enforcement’s use of social media analytics is nothing new, Voyager Labs says its products are capable of more than surveillance, The Guardian reported. The company has claimed its products can also predict future crime, according to an investigation from the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and public policy institute.
“Voyager Discover takes Voyager Analytics’ abilities a step further, analyzing not only who is most influential but also who is most invested in a given stance: emotionally, ideologically, and personally,” says a Voyager Labs sales pitch to the Los Angeles Police Department, obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice. “This ability moves the discussion from those who are most engaged online to those most engaged in their hearts.”
Voyager Labs has also claimed its AI can assign risk scores to social media users regarding their “ties to or affinity for Islamic fundamentalism or extremism,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice report.
Another one of their products — VoyagerCheck — “provides an automated indication of individuals who may pose a risk,” according to the Voyager Labs website.
William Colston, vice president for global marketing at Voyager Labs, told Insider the company uses only publicly available data and that their software “is not intended to be a substitute for rigorous human oversight and analysis.”
“We categorically reject any notion that our software is designed to infringe upon civil liberties or freedom of speech, or that it is biased in any way,” Colston wrote to Insider.
Will Owen, communications director for the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, called the use of these products “invasive” and “alarming” in a press release.
An NYPD spokesperson told Insider the department uses the software to monitor suspects for a variety of crimes — like gun violence, terrorism, and human trafficking — but clarified that it does not currently use the predictive tools that Voyager Labs offers.
“The Department uses these types of technologies to aid in active investigations and does not use features that would be described as predictive of future criminality,” the spokesperson said.
