More government surveillance has been discovered along the California border

If you’re driving down the southern border of California, there’s a chance there’s a hidden camera in a trailer or construction barrel you pass. run by the federal government.

As CalMatters’ Wendy Frye and Carrie Johnson explain, in the last few months of former President Joe Biden’s term, California gave federal agencies, including the Border Patrol, permits to place license plate readers on state highways. These readers license plate capturethe make and model of the vehicles, the state in which the vehicle is registered and information about where and when the images were taken.

More than 40 readers have so far been found in Southern California. Proponents of the devices’ use by law enforcement say they help fight drug and human trafficking or help locate missing people. But the cameras have raised concerns among aid workers, who say the readers could be used against them as they help supply migrants along the border with water and food.

During President Donald Trump’s first administration, federal officials prosecuted and charged volunteers from an aid group working in the Arizona desert with concealing crimes, though some convictions were later overturned.

• James Corderowater drop coordinator for humanitarian group Al Otro Lado: “I’m worried about a lot of our volunteers going out. I don’t want them to have to deal with any nonsense of being tracked or stopped and questioned.”

Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the cameras are an overreach of federal surveillance. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based advocacy organization, claims the cameras circumvent privacy protections exposed under a 2016 state law.

• Dave MaasEFF director of investigations: “(Agencies) say they may be looking for smugglers or they may be looking for cartel members, but that’s not who they’re collecting data on. (The program) is primarily collecting data on people who live in the region.”

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Khari of CalMatters also reports a disturbing incident that highlights the flaws of recently updated state guidance for educators on the “safe and effective use of artificial intelligence.”

Fourth-graders at an elementary school in Los Angeles were assigned in December to draw or use an artificial intelligence tool to make a Pippi Longstocking book cover. One parent, Jody Hughes, said his daughter tried to create a cover design using Adobe Express for Education on her school-issued Chromebook. But the software produced sexualized images of women from the daughter’s written instructions.

The guidelines from the State Board of Education call for “critical thinking” when it comes to using AI, but are light on specifics. Nor does it offer teachers and parents a clear way to opt out of using the technology, underscoring what critics say is a “sense of inevitability” around the adoption of AI.

• Hughes: “These tech companies are offering kids things that haven’t been fully tested. I don’t know where to draw the line, but elementary school is too small because it can get very nasty very quickly.”

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A survey of nearly 1,050 likely voters in California found the governor’s race still anyone’s game and that the majority of respondents support the proposal tax billionaires.

The California Institute for Public Policy released its results on Wednesday the latest nationwide surveywhich took place in February. Of the dozen candidates running for governor, five received at least 10 percent support from those polled: Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco and Democrats Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer. Fifty-nine percent also support imposing a one-time 5 percent wealth tax on California’s billionaires.

Those polled still cited the economy as the top issue for California. As state budget negotiations continue, 55% of likely voters prefer to “pay lower taxes and have a state government that provides fewer services,” although only 35% of Democrats hold that view.

As for the federal administration, 52% oppose cutting Medicaid by $1 trillion in Trump’s massive budget bill. Nearly three-quarters (73%) also disapprove of the job ICE is doing, and 61% say ICE makes communities less safe.