Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

@profferguson.bsky.social

10K followers 2.8K following 460 posts

Law Prof. GWU, Tech & Justice. Author: “Your Data Will Be Used Against You,” “The Rise of Big Data Policing,” “Why Jury Duty Matters,” and “The Law of Law School.”

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Andrew Guthrie Ferguson is a professor of law at American University Washington College of Law.

Source: Wikipedia

Law 32%

Political science 29%

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Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 15d

Preorder today. “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance.” #books

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Serife (Sherry) Wong @serife.bsky.social · 2d

Cop surveillance center in SF is funded by private donations by tech and crypto CEOs who also invest in these technologies. SF is where they can get their marketing tax deductible via testing out tech violence on those pushed down by the wealth gap they have created abc7news.com/post/how-sfp...

How SFPD's new investigation center is 'catching criminals faster' using 400 cameras, drones

The Real-Time Investigation Center is also known as R-TIC. At the center, SFPD investigators have access to 400 license plate reader cameras and more than 60 drones to fight crime.

abc7news.com

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Law + Tech News Bot @news.bot.suffolklitlab.org · 3d

TL;DR: The rise of AI-generated police reports raises concerns about transparency and accountability, prompting states like California and Utah to seek disclaimers and accuracy checks. As technology advances, calls for regulation grow due to fears about its impact on criminal justice.

AI Police Reports: Year In Review

In 2024, EFF wrote our initial blog about what could go wrong when police let AI write police reports. Since then, the technology has proliferated at a disturbing rate. Why? The most popular generative AI tool for writing police reports is Axon’s Draft One, and Axon also happens to be the largest...

www.eff.org

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 3d

We're already thinking about what to cover next year and have some pieces coming. If you want to support our independent journalism, please consider becoming a subscriber. We'll continue to grow sustainably and with journalists in charge, the journalism comes first www.404media.co/membership/

Membership

404 Media is an independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox.

www.404media.co

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 3d

“Overall this is absolutely a book every American should read, and indeed anyone globally who thinks of America as the “land of the free”. Ferguson shows here that this “freedom” is illusory at best, particularly in the current world environment.

Very much recommended.” Thanks!

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 3d

@bookanon.com with the first (and quite generous) review of “Your Data Will Be Used Against You”.

bookanon.com/2025/12/22/b...

#BookReview: Your Data Will Be Used Against You by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson – BookAnon.com

bookanon.com

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Jeff Sexton @bookanon.com · 3d

#BookReview: Your #Data Will Be Used Against You by @profferguson.bsky.social (via @nyupress.bsky.social ). If You Can See This Review, You Should Be Terrified.

#amreading #nonfiction #publicpolicy #law #Constitution #privacy #data #surveillance #dna #police #USA #abortionrights #2a #BookSky 📚💙💡

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 4d

@404media.co doing amazing work again. Check this out.

www.404media.co/flock-expose...

Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves.

Flock left at least 60 of its people-tracking Condor PTZ cameras live streaming and exposed to the open internet.

www.404media.co

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Stephen A. Meserve

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 4d

SCOOP: Flock left at least 60 of its AI-powered, people-tracking surveillance cameras exposed and livestreaming to the open internet. We tracked ourselves. The exposure highlights the power of these cameras and types of things they're tracking. Not just cars.

www.404media.co/flock-expose...

Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves.

Flock left at least 60 of its people-tracking Condor PTZ cameras live streaming and exposed to the open internet.

www.404media.co

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6d

“Parking in the garage means agreeing to the company’s terms and conditions, which includes collecting license plate data and, its privacy policy states, possibly biometric data, from its users.”

Two of the city's largest parking garages are now using artificial intelligence to recognize your car

The city and the new operator, Metropolis, promise a smooth experience from the technology, but customers in other cities have filed class-action lawsuits over the system.

www.cvilletomorrow.org

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7d

Dallas PD to expand use of Clearview “to Class B misdemeanors and above, which means it could use facial recognition for crimes like theft and trespassing.”

Dallas Police to expand controversial facial recognition tech to less serious crimes

The use of the tech is currently reserved for serious felonies like murder, kidnapping and rape. Now it could be used for porch pirates.

www.wfaa.com

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 8d

Hey, Google. Are the police reading my search queries without a warrant? therecord.media/google-searc...

Pa. high court rules that police can access Google searches without a warrant

In a decision that only affects Pennsylvanians but could have privacy implications elsewhere, the state's Supreme Court ruled that police did not need a warrant to access a rape suspect's Google searc...

therecord.media

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Suzanne Smalley @suzannesmalley.bsky.social · 8d

PA Supreme Court allows police to use Google searches in rape case w/o warrant. Authorities asked Google to check whether anyone had searched for the victim's address. Google found a hit, leading police to suspect. Court: There is no expectation of privacy on internet
therecord.media/google-searc...

Pa. high court rules that police can access Google searches without a warrant

therecord.media

Reposted by David S. Cohen, Michael Kevane, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson , and 2 more David S. Cohen, Michael Kevane, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Daxton R. Stewart, Kate Jackson

Quinn Yeargain @yeargain.bsky.social · 8d

In response to SSRN's removal of Professor Edwards's "The Originalist Case for the President's Power to Pardon State Offenses," I have posted "A Response to SSRN's Removal of Jerry Edwards's 'The Originalist Case for the President's Power to Pardon State Offenses'"
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

On December 11, 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced a pardon for former Mesa County, Colorado, Clerk Tina Peters. A veritable mob of critics emerged to condemn the pardon as unlawful, illegal, not allowed, and fundamentally inconsistent with the narrowly circumscribed powers of the President to “grant pardons and reprieves for Offenses against the United States,” which clearly refers to federal offenses. 1 In response to the hullabaloo, Professor Jerry Edwards bravely “survey[ed] hundreds of years of history in the past few days” and wrote an article “assessing the originalist case.”2 Professor Edwards made the regrettable mistake of posting his article to the Social Science Research Network (“SSRN”), which concluded that his “manuscript [did] not meet the criteria for posting on SSRN” and subsequently removed it3—demonstrating yet another instance of well-documented bias against originalist legal scholarship.4 To the untrained scholar, Professor Edwards’s scholarship may have seemed like he just copied and pasted the lyrics to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”5 into a Word document, which spanned approximately a page and a half, and conducted no originalist analysis. Even if Professor Edwards did just that,6 characterizing this discussion as somehow unfitting of other works in the originalist oeuvre7 is, yet again, anti-originalist bias. In this brief essay, which was rushedly written to ensure that the whole commentariat was aware of the “entire literature that disagrees”8 with the notion that the President cannot pardon state crimes, I analyze the lyrics of “Never Gonna Give You Up.” I conclude that it has as direct, helpful, and material a bearing on originalist jurisprudence on the President’s pardon power as any leading originalist scholar could muster.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 8d

Example #1001 of why Orin Kerr is a treasure in the legal academy and for the nation (that cares about nerdy legal issues). Such a helpful (and immediate) summary of an important case. AI will never replace such insight.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 8d

Quoted here. www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-dr...

Under Operation Lone Star, Texas State Police More than Doubled Their Drone Fleet

The Department of Public Safety has acquired an army of unmanned aerial vehicles—nearly as large as the U.S. Border Patrol's.

www.texasobserver.org

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Doghouse Reilly @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 9d

““Surveillance technologies rarely stay cabined to their original purpose, expanding their reach and scale without any ability of ordinary citizens to push back,””

www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-dr...

Under Operation Lone Star, Texas State Police More than Doubled Their Drone Fleet

The Department of Public Safety has acquired an army of unmanned aerial vehicles—nearly as large as the U.S. Border Patrol's.

www.texasobserver.org

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 13d

It tries to.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 14d

Do we know who is running the backend data systems for this? It seems precisely the type of data useful for social network analysis.

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 14d

It's not just social media. Looks like visitors to the US from Europe and other countries that are part of the visa waiver program will have to submit an enormous amount of data about themselves and their families, including DNA, if proposed new rules are accepted

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele, Norbert Schwarz , and 11 more Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele, Norbert Schwarz, Edgar Morgenroth, John Palfrey, Scott A. Imberman, Timothy Burke, Philipp Sarasin, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Björn Heile, Julie Novkov, Georg Weizsäcker, Simon Lester, Colin Woodard

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 14d

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

rainey reitman @reitman.bsky.social · 14d

That’s a great title

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 14d

Preorders are the only way to get physical books in a real local book store (if you aren’t a big publisher).

The book is all about how we trap ourselves in a world of digital self-surveillance. I too am trapped.

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 14d

Excellent new book alert!

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 15d

Preorder today. “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance.” #books

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Maarten Vink, Juan Cole , and 2 more Anna O. Law, Maarten Vink, Juan Cole, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, David Darmofal

Amanda Frost @amandafrost.bsky.social · 14d

At least 11 congressmen from 1865-1871 were arguably not citizens under Trump's interpretation of 14th A, our research finds. Yet no one challenged their eligibility to serve. Why not? Obviously, b/c no one who drafted or ratified the 14th A shared Trump's view.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Dog That Didn't Bark: Eligibility To Serve In Congress And The Original Understanding Of The Citizenship Clause

President Donald J. Trump's 2025 Executive Order restricting birthright citizenship has prompted new interest in the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment'

papers.ssrn.com

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson @profferguson.bsky.social · 15d

Not from NYU Press, but it’s a good concern.🙁

Reposted by Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 17d

“For now, it’s limited to the Edmonton Police Department in Canada, but it could be the start of something bigger: the beginning of pervasive facial recognition, where people’s faces are scanned whenever they’re anywhere near a police officer.”