The recent news that activists are using AI to unmask federal agents has been met with a predictable wave of celebration in some corners. “Finally,” the argument goes, “we’re turning their own tools against them.” It’s a seductive narrative: the oppressed using the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house. But this is a dangerous fantasy. The belief that we can achieve justice by creating a system of symmetrical surveillance is a trap. It doesn't dismantle the prison; it just gives every prisoner a key to every other cell, while the guards still control the walls.
This new form of digital vigilantism, which I call "Symmetrical Surveillance," is being framed as a form of accountability. The argument is simple: if the state can use AI to watch us, we should be able to use AI to watch the state. It’s a response that feels righteous, but it’s tactically and ethically bankrupt. It completely misunderstands the nature of power.
The state’s power doesn’t come from its ability to see; it comes from its ability to act on what it sees. Citizens with facial recognition databases don't have the power to arrest, prosecute, or imprison. What they have is the power to dox, to harass, and to create a climate of fear and paranoia. This isn't accountability; it's a chaotic and dangerous escalation of the surveillance state, where every citizen becomes a potential spy and a potential target.
The problem with state surveillance is not that it's asymmetrical; it's that it's surveillance. The solution to too much watching is not more watching. It's to build a society where the state is not allowed to watch us in the first place. By embracing symmetrical surveillance, we are implicitly accepting the premise that a society of total transparency is desirable, as long as it’s “fair.” We are validating the very logic that underpins the surveillance state we claim to be fighting.
This is not a theoretical problem. The activists unmasking ICE agents are operating with a 40% accuracy rate. This means that for every ten people they identify, six are innocent. This is not justice. It is a high-tech mob, armed with a weapon that is guaranteed to misfire.
The answer is not to build our own panopticon. The answer is to demand that the state dismantle its own. We need to be fighting for a world with less surveillance, not a world where everyone is a spy. The fantasy of symmetrical surveillance is a distraction from the real work of building a just society. It’s a dead end, and it’s a dangerous one. We need to turn back before we find ourselves in a prison of our own making.
