The Real Monsters of Street Level Surveillance

Safe trick-or-treating this Halloween means being aware of the real monsters of street-level surveillance. You might not always see these menaces, but they are watching you. The real-world harms of these terrors wreak havoc on our communities. Here, we highlight just a few of the beasts. To learn more about all of the street-level surveillance creeps in your community, check out our even-spookier resource, sls.eff.org. 

If your blood runs too cold, take a break with our favorite digital rights legends— the Encryptids.

The Face Stealer

Careful where you look. Around any corner may loom the Face Stealer, an arachnid mimic that captures your likeness with just a glance. Is that your mother in the woods? Your roommate down the alley? The Stealer thrives on your dread and confusion, luring you into its web. Everywhere you go, strangers and loved ones alike recoil, convinced you’re something monstrous. Survival means adapting to a world where your face is no longer yours—it’s a lure for the horror that claimed it.

The Real Monster

Face recognition technology (FRT) might not jump out at you, but the impacts of this monster are all too real. EFF wants to banish this monster with a full ban on government use, and prohibit companies from feeding on this data without permission. FRT is a tool for mass surveillance, snooping on protesters, and deepening social inequalities.

Three-eyed Beast

Freeze! In your weakest moment, you may  encounter the Three-Eyed Beast—and you don’t want to make any sudden movements. As it snarls, its third eye cracks open and sends a chill through your soul. This magical gaze illuminates your every move, identifying every flaw and mistake. The rest of the world is shrouded in darkness as its piercing squeals of delight turn you into a spectacle—sometimes calling in foes like the Face Stealer. The real fear sets in when the eye closes once more, leaving you alone in the shadows as you realize its gaze was the last to ever find you. 

The Real Monster

Body-worn cameras are marketed as a fix for police transparency, but instead our communities get another surveillance tool pointed at us. Officers often decide when to record and what happens to the footage, leading to selective use that shields misconduct rather than exposes it. Even worse, these cameras can house other surveillance threats like Face Recognition Technology. Without strict safeguards, and community control of whether to adopt them in the first place, these cameras do more harm than good.

Shrapnel Wraith

If you spot this whirring abomination, it’s likely too late. The Shrapnel Wraith circles, unleashed on our most under-served and over-terrorized communities. This twisted heap of bolts and gears, puppeted by spiteful spirits into this gestalt form of a vulture. It watches your most private moments, but don’t mistake it for a mere voyeur; it also strikes with lethal force. Its junkyard shrapnel explodes through the air, only for two more vultures to rise from the wreckage. Its shadow swallows the streets, its buzzing sinking through your