#DitchTheDAS Campaign
Tell Microsoft to end their Domain Awareness System (DAS) surveillance
partnership with the NYPD.
In 2008, Microsoft partnered with the NYPD to create the Domain Awareness System (DAS), a dystopian surveillance command center that would make George Orwell shudder. Microsoft has sought public support for refusing to sell police facial recognition. If Microsoft truly wants to be applauded for taking a stand against police over-surveillance, it must start by ditching its ongoing partnership with the NYPD that is used to spy on innocent New Yorkers. The NYPD is set to spend $31.4 million more on the DAS in 2020 alone. The question is, will Microsoft put the millions of dollars ahead of its new-found principles?
The DAS extends police power to surveil nearly all New Yorkers 24/7. The system uses cameras, license plate readers, MTA trip data, and radiological sensors to create a real-time surveillance map of New York City. It also taps into private data feeds ranging from Wall Street banks’ security systems to private data brokers. Once the data is funneled into the DAS, it can be stored indefinitely. Even worse, NYC gets a sweet kickback commission from Microsoft any time another city or town buys the DAS technology.
The DAS heightens the NYPD’s racist policing practice against BIPOC and immigrants. Not only can the DAS technology allow unconstitutional warrantless location tracking, it can also provide information for ICE to help deport people, too. But we shouldn’t have to wait years for the Supreme Court to strike down the DAS. Microsoft should ditch it today.
