The surveillance infrastructure is multiplying

# The surveillance infrastructure is multiplying Source: [https://www.hardresetmedia.com/p/the-surveillance-infrastructure-is](https://www.hardresetmedia.com/p/the-surveillance-infrastructure-is) After 9/11, in the name of public safety, an ideological push for more surveillance of the general population was set into motion\. But it wasn’t until today’s tech industry partnered with the state that this policy vision was fully executed and realized into being\. A[new report](https://notechforice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Tech-Behind-ICE-Oligarchs-Immigration-Enforcement-and-the-Threat-to-Democracy.pdf)from[Mijente](https://mijente.net/),[Just Futures Law](https://www.justfutureslaw.org/), and[Surveillance Resistance Lab](https://thecrcr.org/)—the second report of its kind, the first being published in 2018—finds an alarming amount of development in the surveillance economy\. This development is propelled by circular deals between tech and the federal government, all focused on enriching surveillance\- and defense\-tech companies, while keeping tabs on dissidents, immigrants, and pretty much anyone who has a presence or footprint online\. Lobbying feels quaint at a time when oligarchs like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen feel married, or at least always in bed with, federal policymakers\. Social media scrapers, predictive analytics, and real\-time location tracking are all tools in the arsenal of the government now\. The One Beautiful Bill increased ICE’s budget 1000%, and Customs and Border Patrol spending surged sevenfold in the second half of 2025 alone\. According to the report, tools like Mobile Fortify, which conducts facial recognition, has been used 100,000\+ times on streets in Minnesota, Chicago, and Portland\. Palantir’s ImmigrationOS are fusing IRS, Social Security, and ALPR data into deportation dossiers\. And social media scrapers like Clearview AI and ShadowDragon are already being used to monitor and create profiles on journalists, legal observers, and protesters\. Meanwhile, even people who are relatively offline are being caught by varied surveillance mechanisms\. Drones can fly around to scan the faces of people attending protests, while social media scrapers are profiling us across platforms to try and monitor\. The power of the subpoena has been weakened, allowing companies to get access to data more rapidly than what a typical process for accessing private communication or private social media activity might look like\. The thesis of “we have tech just in case we have to use it\!” has been weaponized, says Jacinta Gonzalez, Mijente member and founder of the No Tech for ICE campaign\. The tech is not being used “just in case,” but rather daily, as a means to implement authoritarian control, and as a mechanism to create profitable businesses to take advantage of crises\. “This is incredibly dangerous when paired with desire for control,” Gonzalez told me\. “It’s not only a desire to control the economy and government, but a desire to control how we think and how we move and organize—and whether or not democracy is possible\. \[They are\] trying to create conditions so that democracy is not possible, also enabling a police force that is rogue and unaccountable\.” The silver lining is that there are fights in local jurisdictions that are stalling local police departments’ access here\. Organizers, according to Gonzalez, are naming and shaming contractors and policymakers—and also becoming familiar with the local police budgets, curbing the usage of these technologies at the procurement level\. “For those who feel like they have safety, I urge them to speak out,” Gonzalez concluded\. “Immigrants have been the testing ground for authoritarian policing\. But this is a warning of what’s to come if we don’t wake up to how these power structures and systems are impacting our freedom\. Thanks for reading\! This post is public so feel free to share it\. [Share](https://www.hardresetmedia.com/p/the-surveillance-infrastructure-is?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share) **What else we’re paying attention to this week…** Meta[has prioritized the build](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/technology/meta-prediction-markets-app.html)of a prediction market similar to Polymarket and Kalshi\. Users bet with points, but they haven’t ruled out allowing users to bet with real money\. What could go wrong? This comes the same week Meta was forced to roll back a decision to track staffers’ clicks\.[Wired has covered this extensively](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-pauses-employee-tracking-program-following-internal-security-breach/)\. Over 1,500 staffers signed a letter demanding Zuckerberg stall his click tracking plans, facing immense internal pressure, it sounds like he relented for now\. Google[is sinking](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/google-investing-in-backrooms-studio-a24-e7585ebe)$75 million into film production company A24, claiming that they’ll bring more “AI tools” into filmmaking\. Vermont[has passed a bill](https://www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/ai-legislative-update-june19-2026)banning AI chatbot therapy, requiring therapeutic services to be provided by a licensed mental health professional\. Sam Altman’s eyeball scanning company[is being investigated](https://archive.ph/rzfpG)for bribery of foreign officials in Thailand, an alleged violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act \(FCPA\)\. Humans will never colonize Mars,[and Musk knows it](https://www.truthdig.com/articles/humans-will-never-colonize-mars-and-musk-knows-it/)\.