Technopolice: Police Surveillance in the Age of AI

In this session, we will discuss Félix Tréguer's book Technopolice (2024, Divergences). Looking at drones, predictive software, algorithmic video-surveillance and facial recognition, Félix argues that the use of these technologies of control, far from curbing crime, is actually amplifying state violence. Drawing on experiences and knowledge forged during recent struggles against police surveillance, he claims that the growing resort to tech policing places the city under siege and close up our political imaginations, and that the techno-solutionist hegemony is fueling the ongoing authoritarian drift.

Félix Tréguer is associate researcher at the CNRS Center for Internet and Society and member of the digital rights advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the political history of the Internet and computing, practices of power such as censorship and surveillance, and algorithmic governmentality of public space.