Local Council Uses AI in Covert to Track and Monitor Residents

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here and there isn't much any of us can do about it. It is already altering many industries and while there is no such legislation exists to safe guard people, we're seeing Government's move into a communistic era of oversight and monitoring of civilians all covertly and in the shadows.

This alarming information comes to light as I recently felt "off" in relation to matters that were occurring so deployed my own AI to monitor who or what was monitoring me.

The evidence it provided was both alarming and frightening to learn that a Government body was actively tracking and monitoring me with AI and data farming me while also passing elements onto 3rd party people without my knowledge or consent.

The FOI Request that Brought it undone

I recently had an "uneasy" feeling I was being watched, I can't explain it but I just had a hunch so decided to try out one of these new AI programs that monitor and provide data on who was accessing your social media. I was sceptical that it would actually work and didn't believe that it would.

But It picked up a few familiar accounts owned by my local government so I decided to put in an application for Freedom Of Information. This resulted in finding out my local government had amassed 3717 documents on me and they are refusing to release.

From the handful of documents I did get, it showed that the local government was using Brandwatch and hand me under 24/7 surveillance. This alone made my stomach churn and immediately I felt sick to my stomach. As this is illegal.

No Transparency, No Disclosure

Under the many Victorian Government Legislation there are laws that protect about this kind of things and if councils are doing this they need to be transparent and disclose that they are doing it. They also have limitations in that they can not put individual residents under surveillance.

They're not just doing it to me either, in one of the documents it showed there were 65 others!

I believe this surveillance is more than just a governance issue. It is a breach of privacy and potentially a violation of human rights protections that safeguard individuals from being targeted or profiled without due process.

Local government should be focused on serving its residents not quietly building digital dossiers on them. When monitoring becomes covert, it erodes trust, undermines democracy and risks silencing community voices who may fear they are being watched.

Councils should not be in the business of secret surveillance. If they believe social media monitoring is necessary, they must:

Be transparent with the community about what tools are being used.

Clearly state how resident data is collected, stored, and used.

Ensure strong governance rules and privacy protections are in place.

Respect the human rights of residents, rather than treating them as data points to be tracked.

Until then, the practice of using Brandwatch or any other monitoring tool without disclosure is a violation of trust. My experience shows just how easily this kind of surveillance can go unnoticed until someone digs deep enough to uncover it.

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