More than a dozen community groups are calling on city leaders to turn off thousands of cameras positioned on streetlights around San Diego.
The city of San Diego said the use of the so-called “smart streetlights” started three years ago as a cost-saving effort to replace older street lights. The cameras collect data on everything from parking, people and bikes to temperature and humidity.
"We have to understand that these smart street lights must go," said Genevieve Jones-Wright with the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.
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Jones-Wright and other community groups are asking the city to stop using the cameras until the public is involved in oversight and use of the technology.
"We have uncovered what the city has been trying to hide under language like metadata and sensor nodes that hide the fact that they’ve set up surveillance spying cameras without public input," Jones-Wright said.
City officials said a lot of misinformation is being spread and assert that no spying is happening. The cameras do not view private properties, collect audio, have facial recognition or license plate reading capabilities, officials said. The police department does have access to the video and it has been used in more than 160 investigations.
