Ivey Dyson

“Continuous Vetting” of All Visa Holders Is Impossible, but the Threat Alone Chills Free Speech Government claims of AI-powered surveillance create an illusion of total oversight that encourages self-censorship without actually improving security.

The Trump administration is escalating its surveillance of tens of millions of *legal* immigrants, forcing them to refrain from expressing opinions that someone might deem “anti-American.” It’s a clear attack on free speech and the First Amendment. bit.ly/4823Brc

Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI

🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...

I spent the week at the police surveillance convention and let me tell you my biggest observation: The name of the game now is consolidating as much information as humanely possible from surveillance devices, the internet, other governmental data, and literally a million other places. 🧵

Federalism as a Check on Abuses by Federal Law Enforcement States and cities have the power to decide whether and how their police departments collaborate with federal law enforcement.

States and cities can’t block legitimate federal operations, but they do have the power to decide whether and how they collaborate with federal law enforcement.

NEW: Internal report reveals DHS intelligence portal was accidentally opened to tens of thousands of users for months, exposing sensitive intel about Americans. @brennancenter.org obtained the docs. @wired.com has the story. 🧵

www.wired.com/story/a-dhs-...

🧵 NEW from 404 Media: ARC, a data broker owned by major US airlines, including American Airlines, United, and Delta, is selling access to 5 billion ticketing records to the government (incl. ICE and FBI), which can be used for warrantless searching and monitoring of peoples’ movements. 1/

Judge rules Trump's deployment of troops to Los Angeles violated federal law U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled in favor of California Gov. Gavin Newsom in his challenge to President Trump's deployment of troops to Los Angeles.

THREAD: This morning, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that President Trump's use of National Guardsmen and Marines to support federal law enforcement in and around Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act. (1/22) www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-t...

DHS to Begin Screening Aliens’ Social Media Activity for Antisemitism | USCIS Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying imm...

Back in April, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was going to begin looking for "antisemitic activity" in the social media of applicants for a range of immigration benefits, including foreign students and most green card applicants. www.uscis.gov/newsroom/new...

State Department unveils social media screening rules for all student visa applicants Applicants will be vetted for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.”

I have so much to say about this and no time to say it... www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

New Yorkers need a strong IG to ensure that the police keep us safe while respecting our rights. Mayor Adams should commit to reviving the NYPD Inspector General. And mayoral candidates should prepare to do the same.

The letter ends with the Comptroller and Public Advocate asking the Mayor’s office a set of critical questions about funding and staffing issues facing the IG and offering up some ideas for reform.

The IG was established to answer that question. As the Comptroller & Public Advocate’s letter states, “the independence and strength of this oversight function are essential to building public trust and ensuring accountability in policing.” But this mission fails without proper support.

If the NYPD is willing to undermine its compliance with the POST Act, especially when it worked side by side with advocates and City Council on the new reporting bills, what other problematic practices is it undertaking that may not show up in the news?

It goes against the spirit of the POST Act for other agencies to secretly conduct surveillance for the NYPD that the department would be prohibited from doing on its own. And a judge found that the use of facial recognition in this case goes against NYPD policy.

NYPD Bypassed Facial Recognition Ban to ID Pro-Palestinian Student Protester Barred from using Clearview AI, NYC police relied on a marshal in the fire department to run a search that turned up photos of the student at his high school graduation.

But last month, litigation revealed that the NYPD was able to sidestep the POST Act by relying on the fire department’s access to Clearview, a facial recognition app that the NYPD has banned its officers from using, to identify a protestor.

City Council Passes Expanded POST Act Legislative Package to Strengthen Transparency and Oversight of NYPD Surveillance Technology New York City Council

Bills passed earlier this year to strengthen the Act were meant to close loopholes identified by the IG that allowed the police to evade robust oversight.

The Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act: A Resource Page This resource page is intended to provide journalists, policy-makers, and the public information about the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act.

One of its most important roles is overseeing the NYPD’s compliance with the POST Act, which requires the department to disclose its use of surveillance technologies and develop use policies.

NYPD Rolls Out New Use-of-Force Rules With police officers around the nation facing increased scrutiny over excessive force, the New York Police Department laid out new guidelines for physical encounters with the public, as well as a new ...

A functioning NYPD IG is critical. In its early years, the office produced important reports on policing issues affecting the civil liberties of New Yorkers. Its investigation on use-of-force reporting led to better tracking of incidents w/in the NYPD.

In July, City Council passed a bill by @galeabrewer.bsky.social ‪to provide more transparency into the IG’s operations, including any NYPD interference and delayed reporting. But the IG won’t need to start disclosing that information until next year.

Reviving the NYPD Inspector General The office needs more resources, access, and autonomy to carry out its critical oversight duties.

This isn’t the first time the IG has faced difficulties. A Brennan Center investigation revealed how stonewalling by the police department, a lack of leadership, and threats to its influence and autonomy have slowly eroded the IG’s capabilities.

Despite these issues, DOI is now looking to hire a “Co-Inspector General.” The “why” is unclear, but the letter claims that a “dual-leadership” structure wasn’t contemplated when the IG was established.

Funding is a likely contributor. The letter argues that decisions by the Mayor’s office and the Department of Investigation (or DOI, within which the IG sits) have resulted in steep budget cuts far beyond those faced by the DOI more broadly.

According to the letter, the IG is facing its lowest staffing level on record with only three positions filled, down from its 2017 peak staffing level of 37. And the office published the results of only one independently initiated investigation last year.

NYPD watchdog office shrinks to 3 staff, Lander, Williams warn in letter to mayor The two politicians worry that the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD doesn’t have enough people to adequately do its job.

But now the IG is in trouble. Severe attrition and disproportionate budget cuts have stripped the office of its power, leaving America’s largest police force operating without effective oversight.

Council Reverses Bloomberg Veto of Policing Bills (Published 2013)

Some background: When they were City Council members, Comptroller Lander and Public Advocate Williams introduced a bill creating the IG to serve as a watchdog over NYPD’s policies and practices.

The @brennancenter.org obtained a letter the ‪ @nyccomptroller.bsky.social and @advocate.nyc.gov
sent to the Mayor on Tuesday asking an important question: What’s going on with the NYPD Inspector General’s office?

Despite these issues, DOI is now looking to hire a “Co-Inspector General.” The “why” is unclear, but the letter claims that a “dual-leadership” structure wasn’t contemplated when the IG was established.

Funding is a likely contributor. The letter argues that decisions by the Mayor’s office and the Department of Investigation (or DOI, within which the IG sits) have resulted in steep budget cuts far beyond those faced by the DOI more broadly.

According to the letter, the IG is facing its lowest staffing level on record with only three positions filled, down from its 2017 peak staffing level of 37. And the office published the results of only one independently initiated investigation last year.

NYPD watchdog office shrinks to 3 staff, Lander, Williams warn in letter to mayor The two politicians worry that the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD doesn’t have enough people to adequately do its job.

But now the IG is in trouble. Severe attrition and disproportionate budget cuts have stripped the office of its power, leaving America’s largest police force operating without effective oversight.