A Leak of San Francisco Police Drone Footage Exposes the New Reality of Urban Surveillance
Summary
WIRED reports on a leak of San Francisco Police drone footage via Skydio, revealing extensive drone surveillance across the city, including face visibility and license-plate tracking. The public URL exposed feeds from five drones, with logs showing GPS telemetry and pilots' names and emails. Security researchers alerted Skydio, which took the link offline. Privacy advocates warn that drone surveillance can be 'toxic asset' if data is mismanaged, and call for minimized data retention and strict access controls.