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The New York Times
Digidog, a robot dog used by police, raises privacy concerns
NEW YORK – Two men were held hostage in an apartment in the Bronx. They had been threatened at gunpoint, tied up and tortured for hours by two other men posing as plumbers to get inside, police said. One of the victims managed to escape and called the police, who showed up early Tuesday morning at the apartment on East 227th Street, unsure whether the gunmen were still inside. Police have decided it’s time to deploy Digidog, a 70-pound robotic dog with an oblique gait, cameras and lights attached to its frame, and a two-way communication system that allows the officer to maneuver it around. distance to see and hear what’s going on. . Sign up for the New York Times police newsletter The Morning, said the robot could see in the dark and assess the safety of officers to enter an apartment or building where there could be a threat. In the Bronx home invasion, police said Digidog helped officers determine there was no one inside. Police said they were still looking for the two men, who stole a cell phone and $ 2,000 in cash and used a hot iron to burn one of the victims. “The NYPD has been using robots since the 1970s to save lives in hostage situations and dangerous incidents,” the department said on Twitter. “This robot model is being tested to assess its capabilities against other models used by our emergency services unit and bomb squad.” But the robot has skeptics. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, described Digidog on Twitter as a “robotic surveillance” drone. “Please ask yourself: when was the last time you saw next-generation world-class technology for education, healthcare, housing, etc., a constant priority for underserved communities like this? this?” she said on Twitter, linking to a New York Post article on Digidog. City council passed the Surveillance Technology Public Oversight Act last June amid police force overhaul efforts, many of which were sparked by Black Lives Matter protests. The law requires the police department to be more transparent about its surveillance and technology tools, including Digidog, which civilian libertarians say was lacking. Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union, said allowing a robot to do police work could have implications for bias, mobile surveillance, hacking and privacy. There are also concerns that the robot could be paired with other technology and be armed. “We are seeing a lot of police services adopting powerful new surveillance and other technologies without saying, let alone asking, the communities they serve,” he said. “Openness and transparency are therefore essential.” The New York Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on civil liberty concerns. A mobile device that can collect intelligence about an unstable situation remotely has “enormous potential” to limit injuries and deaths, said Keith Taylor, former SWAT team sergeant at the police department who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It is important to question the police authority; however, it seems simple enough, ”he said. “It’s designed to help law enforcement get the information they need without having to endure a fatal shooting, for example.” The New York Police Department is among three countries to own the Mechanical Dog, built by Boston Dynamics, a tech company known for its videos of its robots dancing and jumping with eerie, human fluidity. Boston Dynamics began selling the robot dog, which it calls Spot, last June. Most of the buyers were utilities and energy companies as well as manufacturers and construction companies, which use it to enter spaces too dangerous for humans, said Michael Perry, vice president of business development. of the company. The robot was used to inspect sites containing hazardous materials. At the start of the pandemic, it was used by health workers to communicate with potentially ill patients at hospital triage sites, Perry said. Most companies rename the robot after buying it, giving it names like Bolt and Mac and Cheese, he said. The Massachusetts State Police and the Honolulu Police Department also use the Robotic Dog, which has a 90-minute battery life and walks at a speed of 3 mph. Other law enforcement agencies have called the company to find out more about the robot, which has a starting price of around $ 74,000 and may cost more with additional features, Perry said. The robotic dog, which looks like those featured in the 2017 episode of “Metalhead” of “Black Mirror,” was not designed to act as a secret tool for mass surveillance, Perry said. “It’s loud and there are flashing lights,” he says. “It’s not something low-key.” The use of robots that can be deployed in dangerous situations to keep police officers out of harm’s way could become the norm. In Dallas in 2016, police broke a standoff with a gunman wanted in the murder of five police officers by detonating him with a robot. In 2015, a man with a knife who threatened to jump off a bridge in San Jose, Calif., Was taken into custody after police asked a robot to bring him a cell phone and pizza. And in 2014, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico used a robot to “deploy chemical munitions” in a motel room where a man barricaded himself with a gun, according to a department report. He surendered. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company
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