The three technologies listed under surveillance (drones, wiretaps, and voice recognition) are currently available and in use in some capacity.
Drones are currently used by law enforcement for a variety of applications, such as general surveillance, crime scene investigation, and locating suspects [1][2]. As of 2018, about 910 state and local public safety agencies have obtained drones, with 599 of these being law enforcement agencies [3]. In addition, facial recognition technology (similar to what is shown in the film) is currently in use by government agencies to identify and track individuals of interest [3]. The US FBI maintains a database with facial recognition data for about half of American adults that can be utilized by state police [3].
Wiretaps and other recording devices are currently in use today. However, it is a federal crime in the US to use wiretapping or other methods of recording the communications of other people without court approval or consent of the person being recorded [4]. It is not clear whether this law is in effect in the world presented in the film, or if Detective Cortez had a warrant for planting the wiretap in Grey's jacket. Regardless, wiretapping is clearly being used by the police department in the film to secretly keep tabs on suspects, infiltrating their privacy without consent.
In addition, voice recognition is a widespread technology that is currently used in applications such as controlling smart hones and issuing commands to personal technology, both of which are shown in the film [4]. As seen in the movie when Greg is wheelchair-bound, voice recognition can be especially beneficial to people with disabilities that would otherwise be unable to operate these technologies using keyboard or touchpad input [4].
[1] Walter, Jess, "Drones and Their Role In Law Enforcement In the USA," (American Bar Association, June 2019), https://www.lawtechnologytoday.org/2019/06/drones-and-their-role-in-law-enforcement-in-the-usa/ (5 May 2020).
[2] Gettinger, Dan, "Public Safety Drones," (Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, 2017), pp 1-6.
[3] LaPerruque , Jake and Janovsky, David, "These Police Drones are Watching You," (Project on Government Oversight, Sept. 2018), https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2018/09/these-police-drones-are-watching-you/ (5 May 2020).
[4] Stevens, Gina and Doyle, Charles, "Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping," (Congressional Research Service, 2003).
Kalani Picho