The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.

The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement.

Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.

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[–] 13 points 11 months ago

The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement.

Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.

In other news, anybody see Ron Swanson's new movie Sovreign?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55tuwgvaMHY

Even if they're pulled over for legit reasons, the "free travellers" are all going to start assuming any interaction is because they've been being surveilled.

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  • [–] 11 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Destroy every single cone barrel you see

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  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Mfers looking for people driving with accents.

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  • 24 comments in c/news@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 106 points 11 months ago* (5 children)

    Federal agents observed that Schott had made an overnight trip from Houston to Carrizo Springs, Texas, and back, court records show. They knew he stayed overnight in a hotel about 80 miles (129 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border. They knew that in the morning Schott met a female colleague there before they drove together to a business meeting.

    That’s all it takes to get pulled over and investigated for drug trafficking WTF. This is so wrong. Can’t even drive in your own damn country

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  • [–] 76 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    “The beautiful thing about the Texas Traffic Code is there’s thousands of things you can stop a vehicle for,” said Joel Babb, the sheriff’s deputy who stopped Schott’s car

    Fuck everything about Texas.

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  • [–] 20 points 11 months ago

    Happened to me once outside San Angelo. Noticed the car behind turn their headlights off for a second, then they flipped their red and blues on. I was pulled over because my license plate lights were out, but I'm pretty sure they just wanted to see who was driving the shitty car with out of state plates through their town. No ticket, no warning, didn't ask to search the car, just annoyingly nosey.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago

    Too many laws is a problem all over. If authorities want to charge you they will find something. Combine that with selective enforcement and effective immunity for the rich and powerful and it's a justice shit show.

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  • [–] 37 points 11 months ago

    Flock drones and cameras need to be destroyed.

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  • [–] 27 points 11 months ago

    The land of the surveillanced and the home of the fascists

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  • [–] 23 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    Yes but they aren’t going to ban them. In fact they will do the opposite and get more

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    Cool. They are incredibly vulnerable. Sounds like we need to demonstrate that hijacked tools can be used against those in power.

    Preferably a la Luigi

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  • [–] -3 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Sounds great. Too bad nothing like that will ever happen

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Be the change you want to see in the world

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  • [–] 20 points 11 months ago

    So free travel isn't a thing anymore?

    Hmm. What other historical examples of this are there and how did that turn out?

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  • [–] 43 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Why is "suspicious" quoted. Suspicious "travel patterns" == suspicious skin colors.

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  • [–] 13 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    You have the right to remain silent. Use it.

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  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago

    Yet another thing that's straight out of dystopian fiction to the point that it wouldn't surprise me if that's where they got the idea.

    The plots of ALL such movies, shows, and books must be kept away from cops and billionaires, lest they inevitably find it inspirational and copy it.

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  • Surveilance state babe.

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  • 4 comments in c/usnews@beehaw.org view that post
    [–] 7 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Coming soon: Social Credit.

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  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago

    We already have a social credit score.

    China's social credit score is tied to behaviors and social interactions.

    American social credit scores are tied to the one value we hold: spending patterns.

    Both can help or hinder buying a house.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    If you want to know where the cameras are: https://deflock.me/

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  • 4 comments in c/usa@lemmy.ml view that post
    [–] 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    As if it weren’t bad enough that most US residents live within 100 miles of the border:

    While the U.S. Border Patrol primarily operates within 100 miles of the border, it is legally allowed “to operate anywhere in the United States,” the agency added.

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  • 3 comments in c/politics@sh.itjust.works view that post
    [–] 8 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Sounds pretty god damned unconstitutional.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    Hmm... what shall we do with all of these fascist traitors...

    (That's rhetorical. Maybe don't answer too honestly.)

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  • 2 comments in c/privacy@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 13 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Contribute to your local Open Street Map data, and mark where cameras are. Sometimes you can't avoid them, but it at least gives people the ability to plan ahead and try to miss as many as possible.

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