San Diego has been surveilling people without consent. Here’s how you can prevent it.

by Katy Stegall OPINION EDITOR

The San Diego City Council approved a technology called “Smart Streetlights” in 2016 to collect environmental and traffic data. They were unaware of its surveillance capabilities.

San Diego police learned in August 2018 the Smart Streetlights were equipped with technology to record video and audio and started to quietly use the footage to solve crimes in the area. This moment was the catalyst for a city-wide transparency movement that would come to shape policy within the community. A surveillance oversight coalition of over 30 organizations swiftly came together in 2019 and created two ordinances for city council after the public found out about the police’s new tool. They call themselves TRUST SD.

As university students too began to join the movement outside of TRUST SD, their efforts were shunned. Some community members critical of the ordinances said of former UCSD student Alisha Saxena that she wasn’t a “real” resident and college student voices should not influence public policy.

She continued to push forward and organize students to advocate for oversight over surveillance technologies used by law enforcement.

And San Diego State students should do the same.

Saxena was the chief of staff for local affairs for the Associated Students. She said after The San Diego Union-Tribune referenced her in a story, where she spoke against surveillance practices at a city council meeting, some critics within the community said her voice should not count since she’s an out-ofstate student. But Saxena didn’t listen to critics. Co-author of the ordinances and UCSD Professor Dr. Lilly Irani said TRUST SD had no part in the students Saxena organized — but added that the coalition members “loved” to hear student voices. She encourages them to continue.

“Students are really important members of the community,” Irani said. “They’re often overlooked as people who can push back and make a difference where they work, go to school, and where they live.” Saxena agrees. “I think they forget that we lived there for four years,” Saxena said. “Students have just as much of a right to speak up about what’s going on in your community. These issues will affect you while you’re staying there, so you may as well speak up about it and have your voice heard.”

Students have organized against mass surveillance, citing particular discomfort with on-campus monitoring. Students Against Surveillance wrote about NSA surveillance and SDSU in May 2014.

Illustration/Emily Forschen

There’s a reason the San Diego region is a prime location for surveillance tech — three actually. San Diego has the highest concentration of military personnel in the nation. We’re also a major urban city close to the Pacific Ocean and the Mexican border.

But this unique political climate also impacts SDSU. This means the same risks San Diegans face by law enforcement’s hands also trickles down to folks on campus – which is why it’s imperative students speak out and not dismiss the power of their voices. It doesn’t always come without risk. The First Amendment protects free speech, but it does not protect from law enforcement. In fact, in the summer of 2020, the Smart Streetlights were used on Black Lives Matter protesters in San Diego.

“Over a five-day period, investigators accessed the city’s network of streetlight cameras at least 35 times in search of evidence for criminal cases,” Voice of San Diego’s Jesse Marx reported.

This is… Disturbing given that San Diego also has a long history of disproportionately targeting Black and Brown members of the community. According to KPBS, minorities are more likely to have a gun used on them than white people in San Diego.

San Diego law enforcement agencies are also more likely to stop and search Black and Native American people, according to The San Diego Union- Tribune.

However, Dr. Khalid Alexander, founder and president of non-profit Pillars of the Community, said this issue expands beyond Black and Brown communities.

“Yes, it is directly geared towards black and brown people,” he said. “But it’s also geared towards anybody whose thoughts, actions, beliefs, are deemed as illegal or deemed as outside of the norm.”

“Surveillance technology, essentially, is about identifying problems. And unfortunately, law enforcement consistently uses that to identify human beings as problems. So what happens if you, yourself, are the problem?”

In 2020, BLM protesters were the problem. In 2022, it’s seeking abortions. The recent overturn of Roe v. Wade has left people in at least 21 states at risk for losing access to abortions, according to NPR.

While California is not among those, SDSU’s out-of-state students have cause for fear. According to NPR, privacy advocates are worried about how data collection from period-tracking apps could lead to potential criminal charges for people seeking abortions.

It’s also not a far stretch to assume that, if Smart Streetlight data can be collected to use against BLM activists, it could also be used by federal agencies to track and monitor places such as Planned Parenthood. UCSD Professor Irani said data can be collected, shared and saved — which could leave abortion seekers vulnerable.

“Just look at how abortion, access to contraception, and gender affirming care have become illegal in some states in a blink of an eye,” Irani said. “Something you think is totally fair may also one day become a crime.”

Some supporters of surveillance argue that if they aren’t committing crimes then surveillance doesn’t impact them. But Irani said that frame of mind doesn’t encompass the entire picture.

“Surveillance isn’t about crimes,” she said. “It is about control. You may find that one day somebody you love is doing something that those in power don’t believe should be done.”

One group at risk both locally and nationally are undocumented people. With approximately 169,000 undocumented people in San Diego County alone, according to the National Migration Institute, chances are residents know and care about someone who’s undocumented — even if the resident doesn’t know their loved one is undocumented.

Undocumented students can have difficulties joining political movements that impact them specifically because publicly advocating for a cause can leave them exposed to law enforcement or people who do believe in strict borders.

Former UCSD student Saxena said she helped encourage undocumented students to speak out on similar political issues by collecting testimonies to read on behalf of them.

“I say I’m reading these perspectives from undocumented students who wanted to remain anonymous, but who felt that their perspectives were necessary and wanted to have their voices heard,” she said. “I know I’m safe given that I’m a citizen.”

SDSU students in the past have tried to organize around privacy issues, but it didn’t get much traction. Today’s students can change that.

You can be a voice for others — even if you aren’t from San Diego. The decisions made by local lawmakers still impact SDSU, even if you don’t intend to be a permanent resident.

There are steps you can take to get involved.

First, find folks already organizing around issues you care about. A few possibilities are the organizations a part of TRUST SD including Showing Up For Racial Justice, or the Tech Workers Coalition.

There are also hundreds of SDSU clubs each year and some focus on organizing around political, social and economic issues in the region.

Students can also apply to be on the board of an issue they care about at the city level. San Diego City Council is accepting applications on 46 various boards who seek to help make San Diego better in some fashion.

If surveillance is your thing, consider submitting an application for the Privacy Advisory Board.

It might just protect San Diegans from another Smart Streetlight blunder.