UT Austin researcher presents survey data on public acceptability of city surveillance technology

Sharon Strober, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Good Systems Ethical AI group, presented findings from an Austin‑focused online survey of roughly 1,000 respondents on public attitudes toward visual surveillance technologies.

Strober described the study’s approach — a 5x5 matrix that crossed five city units (police, fire, transportation, Austin Energy, and the school district) with five use contexts (routine monitoring, emergency response, training, traffic management, crowd control). Her team found that people rated emergency, life‑saving uses most acceptable (the fire department using cameras for emergency response drew the highest acceptability ratings) and routine or diffuse monitoring least acceptable. Familiarity with a technology increased acceptance, Strober said, and respondents expressed more comfort sharing camera‑derived data with government entities than with private companies.

Strober suggested that policy responses should emphasize contextual legitimacy and clearer data‑handling rules, particularly around third‑party sharing, and that public education and co‑design could improve acceptance. Commissioners asked about drone use locally, the city’s previous ALPR (automated license plate reader) contract cancellations and potential next steps; Strober offered to share slides and papers and to engage with the commission’s surveillance working group.

Quote from the presentation: "It's not so much that the technology itself is good or bad, rather it's the context in which the technology is used that really has a lot to do with how we should think about these particular systems," Strober said.

The commission welcomed Strober’s offer to share the slides and to participate in future working‑group discussions.