PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Albert Fox Cahn, Executive Director of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
2:58:41
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3 min
Albert Fox Cahn, Executive Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, criticizes the implementation of the MyCity portal, particularly its AI chatbot feature. He expresses concern over privacy issues, data misuse, and the deployment of untested technologies.
- Highlights the limitations of the city's Chief Privacy Officer, especially regarding NYPD and law enforcement oversight
- Argues against incorporating payment technology and digital financial surveillance into the MyCity app
- Suggests focusing on improving access to traditional financial services and making modest technological upgrades for better service delivery
Albert Fox Cahn
2:58:41
THANK YOU SO MUCH Jared Gutierrez.
2:58:42
My name is Albert Foxconn.
2:58:44
I'm the executive director of the surveillance technology oversight project.
2:58:47
I'm also a practitioner in residence at NYU law school, and it is just stunning that we are having to have this conversation today.
2:58:57
That this city, which is so often claimed that it was going to hold itself accountable on AI, we'd go down this perilous path to a unvetted chatbot, which seems incapable of delivering anything that New Yorkers actually mean, but also is able to convey proven incorrect statements and advise New Yorkers to break the law.
2:59:22
This is technology that has not fit for purpose that has no place in public life and should never have been deployed in the first place.
2:59:28
But this is a mayor who remains committed to finding every opportunity to deploy new and untested technologies that transform our fellow residents into test subjects for new private ventures.
2:59:43
I I wanna correct an important point that was came during the administration's testimony where they noted that there's a chief privacy officer for the city WHAT WAS NOT NOTED IS THAT UNDER PUBLIC LAW, 245-247 FROM 2017, THE CHIEF PRIVENCY OFFICER'S JURISDICTION EXTENSED TO ALMOST EVERY ASSPECT OF THE CITY, EXCEPT.
3:00:07
The NYPD and law enforcement.
3:00:09
The the chief privacy officer has largely been stripped of the power to hold the agency that most imperils New Yorkers privacy and to hold them accountable in any way when they do so.
3:00:22
And so what we end up with are empty promises and unenforceable guarantees about the way that the increasing amounts of data collected from each of us will be weaponized against us.
3:00:33
The truth is there are no firm guarantees today about the limitations on those on how that data is used.
3:00:41
And furthermore, it's clear that the most important tools for banking access for New Yorkers today are not high-tech.
3:00:48
They are not Fintech.
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They are not some new startup.
3:00:51
They are not some new AI powered.
3:00:53
But they are simply ensuring access to credit unions, access to public banking, access to traditional financial services, and not some new for profit venture.
3:01:04
We have been fighting the inclusion of payment technology as part of the city ID for basically the entire existence of the surveillance technology oversight project.
3:01:14
We should not have the MyCiti app transform into a new form of digital credentialing, digital financial surveillance, or digital platforming.
3:01:25
This is not a way to actually address any of the issues that New Yorkers space.
3:01:30
And there are so many more modest technological upgrades that we could actually take on as a city to improve service delivery, to improve back end coordination, to make sure that our systems are actually operating.
3:01:48
Thank you for the time.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
3:01:50
Al, thank you so much.
