While you’re watching the World Cup, the feds may be watching

It’s a big year for America. It’s the semi-centennial, also known as America250, and so is the United States Hosting the World Cup. But spectators of these events – and the millions of people who live in the cities that host them – may not realize that they, too, are being watched.

From Kansas City to New York, US cities hosting the World Cup have beefed up their surveillance capabilities in the months leading up to the tournament. Security measures are at an all-time high in Washington, D.C., which… Not hosting the World Cupbut it is home to Eyeglasses chain This summer. Fourth of July celebrations in the nation’s capital will enjoy an unprecedented level of surveillance. Law enforcement agencies say they can’t afford to take any risks during these once-in-a-lifetime events, but privacy advocates warn that some of this surveillance won’t be limited to this summer’s festivities.

Both the Fourth of July fireworks on the National Mall and the World Cup final are scheduled for July 19 in New Jersey. Special national security events (NSSE) by the Department of Homeland Security, which is the most stringent security classification given by the agency. This isn’t unusual for major sporting events — the Super Bowl is always given an NSSE rating — but it’s a first for the Fourth of July. the UFC fight in the White House In June it was also NSSE, as was the official UFC viewing party on the Ellipse.

Attendees of the Fourth of July fireworks show at the National Mall will have to pass through airport-style security checkpoints and will not be allowed to bring folding chairs or coolers. Anti-drone measures will be taken, The Washington Post Reportsas well as bomb technicians, snipers, and medical personnel from numerous federal agencies. While attendees will notice these security measures, others may be unseen, including camera networks that track their biometrics.

It appears that the measures taken at the National Mall came in response to criticism of lax security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was Infiltrated by a gunman who allegedly shot the Secret Service agent.

Similar measures will be in place at the World Cup final, which Donald Trump is expected to attend – and which he is said to attend Presenting the cup For the winning team.

“This will be a security event regardless of whether the president leaves,” says Jules Boykoff, the book’s author. Red card: The 2026 World Cup, sportswashing, and the FIFA greed machineHe said Edge. “If the president leaves, this is just an additional polishing of security.”

Boykoff, a political science professor at the University of the Pacific, said there may be an increased ICE presence at the World Cup final as well, and noted that ICE Rapper 21 Savage arrested At the 2019 Super Bowl – another NSSE – claiming he overstayed his visa.

The NSSE announcement may also make it easier to justify communications data collection under the more flexible standard of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, rather than the more stringent requirements of the Wiretap Act, said Anne Toomey McKenna, an attorney who specializes in privacy and biometrics oversight.

Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House World Cup Task Force — and son of Rudy Giuliani — said there will be heightened security at all World Cup matches, even those where Trump is not attending. “You will be subjected to multiple checks from security. You will be subjected to checks while riding public transportation to ensure that you are a valid ticket holder,” Giuliani He said Frederick Quimby of the Atlantic Council. “Football fans – or From running Fans – They generally like to come to stadiums late, 15 or 20 minutes or so before the game. But Giuliani said ticket holders should know that gates open three hours before kickoff and plan to arrive early so they don’t miss kickoff.

Surveillance is not limited to single events, but actually involves building a massive device across the country. Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security has provided $250 million in grants to states hosting World Cup matches, much of which has been used to purchase counter-drone equipment. according to New York Times. The FBI is also training local law enforcement agencies to mitigate the danger of drones. According to Giuliani, fan fests in all 11 host cities will be covered by anti-drone technology. It is unclear whether these cities use the same technology as you It led to the closure of airspace in El Paso Earlier this year.

New York City — technically one of the host cities, although the matches are held across the river in New Jersey — spent $6.5 million on anti-drone technology. In Kansas City, Missouri, authorities have confiscated at least 16 drones since the start of the World Cup.

“The general rule at the World Cup and Olympic Games is that local and national police forces use the mega sporting event like their own ATM,” Boykov said. “The World Cup creates a state of exception that allows all kinds of securitizations.” In many cases, once these tools are used, they stick around. Paris, for example Enable AI video surveillance Before the 2024 Olympics – which it is Keep it in place Until the end of 2027 despite privacy concerns.

Similar camera systems were installed across the United States before the World Cup, even in areas far from the stadiums. Kansas City also planned to put cameras equipped with facial recognition technology on some city buses, although the state government declined to fund the project due to privacy concerns. The city initially went ahead with the program anyway, saying it would help identify missing people and could thwart human trafficking attempts during a major international sporting event. City officials said captured images are checked and compared to missing person alerts and are only retained if there is a match.

“Privacy is always difficult,” says Tyler Means, chief transportation and strategy officer for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. He said The Washington Post. “We’ve always had cameras on our buses. It’s just new technology. I think over time it will go away and people will realize: ‘Well, I didn’t really feel any different.'”

The cameras have not yet been rolled out due to backlash and technical delays, but Kansas City plans to implement the program later this year – even though the World Cup will be over by then.

America250 celebrations will be monitored by thousands of law enforcement officers, including National Guard troops and FBI agents, many of whom will be wearing body cameras. Many cities have expanded or reactivated their CCTV systems ahead of the World Cup. Seattle It is said Police reactivated dormant cameras after FBI and Seattle Police Department officials briefed the city’s mayor on “credible threats” during the games.

McKenna said the increase in surveillance at these events is not unjustified given the increased level of risk, but he said there is an issue with how biometric data is collected and retained. British Columbia, which is also hosting the World Cup, has done so, McKenna noted Systems About how long surveillance footage of matches and other events can be kept, rules the United States lacks.

Although CCTV has been around for decades, advances in camera technology – and the integration of artificial intelligence – have made these systems incredibly sophisticated. The early footage “told us a lot about what was going on, but it really wasn’t that much different from what a police officer standing on the street would see himself,” McKenna said. “This is how the law in the United States has come to the conclusion that CCTV systems are OK — because they happen in a public place, so there is no real reasonable expectation of privacy risk under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

But cameras reach much further than they used to, they can tilt, pan or zoom, and they can often see several miles away. They could be equipped with thermal imaging devices and facial recognition technology, all of which may be accessible to law enforcement. Some AI programs can also analyze people’s facial expressions and claim to predict a person’s behavior, McKenna said.

“We have increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems with analytical capabilities that can integrate a lot of data and discover things from the footage that we didn’t know before,” McKenna said. “An officer on the street will not be able to recognize every person they pass by, but facial recognition technology software is very common, and can be used with footage captured and collected by CCTV systems.”

All this information can be sent to Federal fusion centerswhere information is shared between local law enforcement and federal agencies such as ICE and the FBI. When there is more information sharing between local law enforcement and federal security agencies, “we lose control over how that information is used,” McKenna explained.

“This is part of the protection we are supposed to have under our laws — that information collected for national security purposes is not used for domestic law enforcement purposes,” McKenna said. “We have increasingly seen the blurring of national security procedures become part of domestic law enforcement.”

There are still a few weeks left until the World Cup. But there is no indication how long all the monitoring data collected about matches will be stored, or how it will be used.