Google's role in US border surveillance raises privacy concerns

Five years after Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian assured employees the company was not involved in immigration enforcement at the US southern border, new federal contract documents reveal that Google is playing a pivotal role in a project to modernize border surveillance technology.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is working to upgrade older video surveillance towers in Arizona, a key component of its "virtual wall", Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The project aims to add machine-learning capabilities to CBP's cameras, allowing automatic detection of humans and vehicles at the border. Google is central to this effort, operating a central repository for video data, integrating surveillance tools from IBM and Equitus into its cloud platform, MAGE: the ModulAr Google Cloud Platform Environment.

The upgrade focuses on 50 towers in the Tucson Sector, where IBM’s Maximo Visual Inspection software and Equitus’ Video Sentinel will enhance the surveillance with AI analysis. “This project will focus initially on 100 simultaneous video streams from the data source for processing,” the document states, with the resulting data being sent to Google Cloud.

While Google has distanced itself from the project in a statement, suggesting the use of its cloud services through a reseller, critics argue the company is still deeply involved in the surveillance effort. Google Public Sector executive Jim Kelly clarified that Google Cloud is not directly contracted, but he acknowledged that “customers or partners can purchase Google Cloud’s off-the-shelf compute, storage, and networking products for their own use.”

This latest revelation follows previous reports that Google Cloud had worked with CBP on AI-augmented surveillance towers, a project that Kurian had denied in 2020. Industry advocates criticize the initiative, with Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation warning that “border communities end up paying the price with their privacy” due to inadequate privacy protections in CBP’s surveillance programs.

As border surveillance technology advances, the debate over privacy and the ethical implications of tech companies' involvement in immigration enforcement continues.

By Vafa Guliyeva