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Austin City Council approves TRUST Act
The City of Austin will create a new framework for how to regulate surveillance technology. City Council unanimously voted for the TRUST Act.
AUSTIN, Texas - The City of Austin will create a new framework for how to regulate surveillance technology. City Council unanimously voted for the TRUST Act.
This comes as a controversial contract for park surveillance cameras was taken off the agenda for a second time.
Austin City Council removes agenda item to vote on AI security cameras at city parks
Austin City Council removed the agenda item to vote on artificial intelligence security cameras at city parks. Protesters who oppose AI surveillance called the decision a "temporary victory."
The backstory:
On Thursday, all the public commenters speaking on the TRUST Act were in favor of it. Many acknowledged that cameras can help law enforcement.
"At the same time, it carries serious risks to privacy and personal liberties if not handled with strong safeguards," one public commenter said.
The TRUST Act was introduced by Council Member Chito Vela (District 4).
"The TRUST Act essentially would establish a framework for transparency and accountability so that the Council, before an item gets to us, have a report from staff that really details all the privacy protections, the safeguards, any sharing of the data, how long we're keeping it, what we do with it, all those kinds of things so we can have a better debate and a more informed discussion," he said.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Vote on AI cameras at parks postponed amid protest
Austin City Council removed the agenda item to vote on artificial intelligence security cameras at city parks. Protesters who oppose AI surveillance called the decision a "temporary victory."
Some Council members, like Marc Duchen (District 10), wanted the TRUST Act to be postponed.
"A significant part of my concern is just how we went about this. We added a 17-page policy last Friday at the end of an addendum agenda that gave those of us that were unfamiliar with the policy basically three days to understand the resolution," he said during the meeting.
Vela says staff has been working on the resolution since last year and looking at peer cities. They revised the time for departments to develop policies for surveillance technology from 180 to 270 days. The city manager will bring a final version of the new ordinance in April.
He expects more technology contracts to come before the Council in the future, including for the park surveillance cameras to come back.
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"It's just, what are we doing with that data? We have to keep that data just for the City of Austin use. I don't want to be sharing that data with third parties or using it for AI training or whatever the case may be," Vela said. "We want the contract to be tight with sufficient privacy protections and safeguards for the public."
An independent audit ordinance that was also on Thursday's Council agenda. The mayor decided to postpone that to Feb. 26, because it needs more discussion.
Meanwhile, the group Save Austin Now is petitioning to get an independent audit charter on the ballot.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen, an Austin City Council meeting and previous coverage