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Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

Here’s a $75,000 contract Hootsuite sold to Calgary police for social media surveillance in 2023. Not sure why anyone would be interested in that though.

Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

Here’s one Calgary police signed with Meltwater for similar services, thinly veiled in pitch documents to include apparent facial recognition services. Anyone know what it could mean? I can’t figure it out.

Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

Psych! Here’s an article explaining why Calgary police wanted these Hootsuite and Meltwater contracts, as well as providing full access to the contracts and correspondence obtained through freedom of information. drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...

drugdatadecoded.caCalgary police "image recognition" by Hootsuite identifies individuals in photos & videos posted onlineDocuments show that two years after being caught using Clearview AI facial recognition software, Calgary police signed contracts for AI software that scours photos and videos for individuals. Have pol...

17 reposts39 likes

Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

I had to pay Calgary police $1,133 to release these documents, so if you can share it with all your friends it’ll make it all worthwhile. There’s even a paid subscription option in the article if you wanna help that way! drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...

drugdatadecoded.caCalgary police "image recognition" by Hootsuite identifies individuals in photos & videos posted onlineDocuments show that two years after being caught using Clearview AI facial recognition software, Calgary police signed contracts for AI software that scours photos and videos for individuals. Have pol...
Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

And for the keeners here’s the story that preceded that one — before I found indications of AI-based facial recognition in these Hootsuite services or got ahold of the hard contracts from Calgary police. drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...

drugdatadecoded.caCalgary police is monitoring social media of citizensAs Chief Mark Neufeld announces his resignation, a ten-month investigation by Drug Data Decoded reveals extensive social media monitoring by his media relations unit that could violate privacy regulat...
Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

And if you MUST KNOW, Hootsuite competitor Meltwater boasts about selling all these services to a bunch of other police forces and every ministry of the Ontario government! Is your cop shop listed? Maybe time for an FOI request?

Euan Thomson
@drugdatadecoded.ca

Hootsuite was pushing services to Calgary police in 2015-16, the earliest contract I obtained. CPS appears to have not been happy with them, so switched to Salesforce, then Meltwater, and finally back to Hootsuite. In case you were wondering where they went wrong. drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-poli...

drugdatadecoded.caCalgary police "image recognition" by Hootsuite identifies individuals in photos & videos posted onlineDocuments show that two years after being caught using Clearview AI facial recognition software, Calgary police signed contracts for AI software that scours photos and videos for individuals. Have pol...
Cocky Quirky Canuck
@barcis2.bsky.social

"And if you MUST KNOW, Hootsuite competitor Meltwater boasts about selling all these services to a bunch of other police forces and every ministry of the Ontario government!" Yes, I "MUST KNOW" but where is your claimed "list"?