How BIPOC youth and young adults in New York can protect themselves and their data from law enforcement’s surveillance of their smartphone apps.

Community Partners

<h4><strong>What’s the Issue?</strong></h4>
<p dir="ltr">The history of police surveillance in New York is rooted in injustices like slavery and oppression. In the 1700s, New York’s first surveillance law required Black and Indigenous people to carry lanterns after dark to monitor their activity. Surveillance by police continues today, and digital surveillance often goes unnoticed.</p>
<p dir="ltr">People use the apps on their phones to help them navigate their lives and stay connected with loved ones. However, those same apps have become a new way for the police to monitor vulnerable communities. In our conversations with BIPOC youth and young adults in NYC, we learned that some people know their data is being collected by law enforcement, but don’t know how that happens. Some people questioned why they should care about surveillance if they’re not doing anything wrong. And some people didn’t understand the impacts of discriminatory surveillance and how it impacts marginalized communities.<br /></p>
<h4><strong>What did we make?</strong></h4>
<p>The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) collaborated with CUP and designer Aishwarya Srivastava to create <em>Unfriend the NYPD</em>, a booklet for youth and young adults with lower income in NYC that explains how the police can surveil their phones through messenger apps, social media, and geofences. It also explains the concept of a risk profile, or how likely a person is to be surveilled by police. With this information, and tips throughout for how to fight back, BIPOC youth and young adults can better understand how to protect themselves, their friends, and their family from police surveillance.</p>
<h4><strong>How We Made This</strong></h4>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>What we heard:</strong> Early in the process, BIPOC youth and young adults asked, “Why should I care if police surveil my phone if I don’t break the law?” We addressed this question in an early draft, but they still didn’t find it convincing. They said, “Let them look. If I’m not doing anything wrong, I can’t get in trouble.” </p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>What we designed:</strong> After hearing this feedback, we workshopped the first page to explain what surveillance is, why it’s harmful, and why BIPOC youth and young adults should care even if they personally don’t find police surveillance threatening.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><strong>What we heard:</strong> Throughout the booklet there are tips for how to fight back against police surveillance. When reviewing an early draft, community members flagged several tips that felt unrealistic. For example, they couldn’t see themselves keeping their phone on airplane mode anytime they weren’t using it. They also couldn’t imagine protesting against police surveillance. However, they <em>could</em> see themselves helping friends and family accomplish some of the more realistic tips, like setting social media accounts to private, and restricting their location settings. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>What we designed:</strong> In response to this feedback, unrealistic tips were removed, and protest imagery was replaced with a scene showing a family updating their phones together.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In Spring 2024, CUP teamed up with S.T.O.P. and Youth Design Center (YDC) to bring the booklet to life. Check out the videos:</p>
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<figure><iframe style="width:500px;height:281px;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XxARQBvKHYI" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>

<figure><iframe style="width:500px;height:281px;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/V-kY06IR-f4" frameborder="0"></iframe></figure>

Update: Videos!

<p>Each spread explains a different kind of digital surveillance, and starts by connecting that kind of digital surveillance to a real life equivalent. (For example, being surveilled through a Geofence is like being at the wrong place at the wrong time.) Each spread goes on to explain how that kind of digital surveillance happens in both text and illustration, and provides tips for fighting back.</p>

Check Out the Project

Unfriend the NYPD spreads

<p><strong>CUP</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/agustín-cepeda">Agustín Cepeda</a></p>
<p><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/onyi-egbochue">Onyi Egbochue</a></p>

<p><strong>Community Partner</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/the-surveillance-technology-oversight-project-s-t-o-p">The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.)</a></p>

<p><strong>Designer</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/aishwarya-srivastava">Aishwarya Srivastava</a></p>

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Hyperakt is a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Since 2001, co-founders Julia Zeltser and Deroy Peraza, along with the Hyperakt team, have been partnering with change-makers moving society forward. We believe in design’s power to build a future filled with courage, optimism, and honesty.

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The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

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