Acoustic Surveillance in Brazil

• In Event: Sensing Security: Sensing and the Making of Transnational Security Infrastructures - II

Abstract

This presentation focuses on two modes of acoustic surveillance in Brazil. First, I will examine a series of leaked wiretapped conversations, which became catalysts of political crises in the country between 2014 and 2017. Taking into account the technological and legal questions surrounding wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping, I argue that these sound recordings have become a crucial mediator between legal evidence and public opinion. The second mode of acoustic surveillance relates to ShotSpotter, a technological assemblage for gun control that can detect and locate impulsive sounds within an urban area. ShotSpotter can alert the police promptly whenever gunshots are fired, providing the location, number, the number of shooters, and even the shooters’ direction of motion. To convert sound monitoring into crime control, ShotSpotter needs to perform a series of delicate translations (a term I borrow from actor-network theory) between a range of actors. In the early 2010s, ShotSpotter was installed in two urban areas in Brazil. Public officials and private companies involved with the project stated that the technology would revolutionize crime control in the country. However, I argue that several local translation gaps ended up affecting ShotSpotter’s efficacy.

Author

• Leonardo Cardoso, Texas A&M University