Tracked Landing Page — AP Special Projects

An Associated Press investigative series spurred real-world impact by revealing how governments across the globe mobilized mass surveillance and predictive tools in our communities, amid a year of pandemic and protests.

STORIES

**An algorithm that screens for child neglect raises concerns**

AP’s exclusive investigation probing concerns that U.S. child welfare systems were fueling racial bias by using algorithms to make key decisions, revealing that an influential algorithm in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania disproportionately targeted Black families for “mandatory” neglect investigations, compared to white children.

**Tech tool offers police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’**

AP’s exclusive investigation breaking the news that local police across the United States had been using an obscure cellphone tracking tool, at times without search warrants, to follow people's movements back in time.

Police seize on COVID-19 tech to expand global surveillance

AP’s exclusive investigation found that authorities worldwide have used new technologies related to COVID-19 to instead investigate crime, limit activists’ travel, harass marginalized communities and link people's health information to other surveillance tools.

IMPACT

Following AP’s investigation, the state of Oregon stopped using an algorithm to help decide which families are investigated, opting for a new process officials said made more racially equitable decisions.

The Biden administration broadly cited concerns AP highlighted about child welfare agencies’ use of algorithms in its inaugural “AI Bill of Rights,” suggesting more transparency surrounding the agencies’ use of algorithms.

Civil rights lawyers and Democratic senators called for legislation to limit U.S. law enforcement agencies’ ability to buy cellphone tracking tools to follow people’s whereabouts.

The Justice Department has been scrutinizing a Pittsburgh-area child welfare algorithm over disability discrimination concerns, and federal civil rights attorneys cited an AP investigation while asking people to file civil rights complaints.

TEAM

Garance Burke, global investigative reporter and team leader

Sally Ho, business news investigative reporter

Jason Dearen, investigative reporter

Huizhong Wu, correspondent

Krutika Pathhi, correspondent

Rishabh R. Jain, correspondent

Josef Federman, news director

Rod McGuirk, correspondent

Peter Hamlin, lead illustrator

Dario Lopez-Mills, storytelling producer

Jeannie Ohm, lead video producer

Justin Myers, data editor

STORY ONLINE

U.S. police departments have used the “Fog Reveal” database to follow people’s movements based on hundreds of billions of records from 250 million devices. The data originates from common apps such as Starbucks and Waze, @AP’s reporting shows. pic.twitter.com/kgNNz51YEQ
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 1, 2022

NEW: How did the pandemic change policing worldwide, @AP colleagues + I asked? After months of digging, we found: law enforcement across the globe co-opted tech tools meant to stop COVID-19 to halt activists’ travel, amass private data + investigate crimes https://t.co/zhmZBMgVvG
— Garance Burke (@garanceburke) December 20, 2022

@AP investigative reporters @_sallyho and @garanceburke document the use of algorithms in the child welfare system. Critics say the programs using data mostly collected about poor people have an outsized role in deciding if kids are placed in foster care. https://t.co/WEagHORxzc
— nixonron (@nixonron) April 29, 2022

An Associated Press investigative series spurred real-world impact by revealing how governments across the globe mobilized mass surveillance and predictive tools in our communities, amid a year of pandemic and protests.

STORIES

An algorithm that screens for child neglect raises concerns

Tech tool offers police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’

Police seize on COVID-19 tech to expand global surveillance

IMPACT

TEAM

STORY ONLINE