Surveillance Technology Data Sources
Sources behind the watchwatch.org surveillance-technology observatory
watchwatch.org documents where governments deploy surveillance technology. Its baseline dataset and confirmations come from the sources below; every deployment record on the site links back to its source.
United States
| Source | URL | Data Provided |
|---|---|---|
| EFF Atlas of Surveillance | atlasofsurveillance.org | Nationwide baseline of surveillance-technology deployments by US law enforcement agencies, compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the University of Nevada, Reno Reynolds School of Journalism. CC BY 4.0. |
| Flock Safety transparency portals | transparency.flocksafety.com | Per-agency license-plate-reader camera counts, retention periods, and data-sharing networks, as published by the agencies' own portals |
| McClatchy "Private Eyes" dataset | github.com | Journalist-collected snapshot of roughly 360 agency transparency portals (2023-2024), by McClatchy Southeast and The News & Observer, used for coverage gap analysis |
United Kingdom
| Source | URL | Data Provided |
|---|---|---|
| Police force facial-recognition deployment logs | met.police.uk and other force sites | Per-deployment live facial recognition records published by individual forces (Metropolitan, Essex, Thames Valley), including historical versions retrieved from Internet Archive snapshots |
| Home Office National ANPR Service publications | gov.uk | National ANPR standards and data protection impact assessment covering automatic number-plate recognition across UK forces. Open Government Licence v3. |
| Contracts Finder | contractsfinder.service.gov.uk | Procurement awards for police surveillance technology, via the open contracting (OCDS) feed. Open Government Licence v3. |
| ONS Open Geography portal | geoportal.statistics.gov.uk | Police force area boundaries for England and Wales used on the UK coverage map |
Ireland
| Source | URL | Data Provided |
|---|---|---|
| An Garda Síochána and Irish government publications | garda.ie | Garda body-worn camera, ANPR, and safety-camera deployment records, including material published under the Recording Devices Act 2023 and Oireachtas library research |
| Data Protection Commission decisions | dataprotection.ie | Published audits and decisions on local-authority CCTV schemes |
| Data.gov.ie | data.gov.ie | Dublin City Council open dataset of traffic poles with CCTV |
News Coverage
The watchwatch.org news tracker aggregates published reporting on surveillance-technology deployments from public news feeds. Every story shown on the site cites and links the original publisher; UnGovr does not republish article text.