Every time someone says »it’s just the border,« the surveillance footprint quietly grows. Infrastructure built for one purpose has a remarkable habit of finding new ones. A billion dollars buys a lot of cameras, and history suggests the mission rarely stays as narrow as the sales pitch. 🤨
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2026
100 points (100.0% liked)
Privacy
50004 readers
867 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
These aren't to keep an eye on people sneaking in, they're to catch people escaping out.
They aren't meant to stay on the borders, either.
Their magazine on the subject is quite fascinating. Especially the ALPRs disguised as traffic cones (page 33), and trail cameras in trees, surroundings, trash, and even signs and posts (page 35 and 36) are as interesting as they are creepy...
Well, TBF: after Trump has made the entire world hate Americans, revealed how weak we are with his failing attempt to distract from the Epstein files via a war on Iran, and killed enough immigrants to encourage some of their loved ones to seek revenge... Well, yeah, we're gonna need to watch our asses.
And here I thought the concept of turning Manhattan into a giant prison (see Escape from New York) was absurd. Give Trump credit for managing to turn the entire country into one.
~~Ooo free solar panels~~
Claim solar panels we are already paid for
I wonder what a shotgun loaded with birdshot would do to one of these million dollar pieces of equipment.
Put a tin foil hat on it and see how well it works.
"The border" is the 200-miles zone?
Edit: 100 miles.
According to Mother Jones and a bunch of other sources you can find, 60% of Americans live within a 100-mile border zone. That includes 37 states covered partially. 10 states have 100% of their population covered!
If 200 miles, IDK, but gotta be waaaay more than 60%.
I wish the word explosion in that title was literal 💥🤭