Taylor Lorenz’s Power User
Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

AI Spy Towers And Mass Surveillance Tech Coming To Your Town Next

October 9, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

For years, the U.S.-Mexico border has operated as a testing ground for surveillance technology that most Americans have never heard of. David Moss, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, recently returned from a trip documenting the latest hardware along the border from San Diego to San Luis, Arizona. What he found is a landscape dotted with AI-powered watchtowers, hidden license plate readers disguised as traffic cones, and giant spy blimps that can zoom in on a person’s window from 15 miles away. The technology is expensive—each tower costs about $1.2 million—and it is almost entirely unaccountable to the public.

The AI Towers That Watch Everyone

The most significant change Moss observed this year was the arrival of an upgraded model of the Androil Industries surveillance tower. The previous version, a 30-foot-high structure controlled by an AI, could see roughly 1.5 miles. The new "extended range sentry" towers can see five to seven miles. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) currently operates about 300 of these towers, but has announced plans to install 2,300. The maintenance contract alone is half a billion dollars over five years.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:02) **Dave Moss explains his border surveillance documentation trips** - David Moss, EFF director of investigations, describes his biannual trips to the US-Mexico border to physically document surveillance infrastructure.
  • 2 (03:06) **New Androil AI towers with extended range are appearing** - CBP is deploying upgraded AI-powered towers that can surveil five to seven miles, a major expansion from the previous 1.5-mile range.
  • 3 (04:45) **These towers surveil everyone, not just migrants** - The extended range means the technology is collecting data on ordinary residents in border towns on both sides of the border.
  • 4 (05:52) **The AI in these towers is unaccountable and likely ineffective** - The long-running pattern of failed surveillance programs is now being rebranded with AI, but no independent auditing exists.
  • 5 (10:20) **License plate readers are everywhere and feeding a massive federal network** - The Flock Safety controversy is real, but it's part of a much older data-sharing infrastructure that predates Flock.
  • 6 (14:32) **CBP hides its own license plate readers in traffic cones and fake speed limit signs** - Border Patrol installs covert readers disguised as ordinary road infrastructure to evade state-level sharing restrictions.
  • 7 (15:23) **Surveillance tech extends to disguised trail cameras and ground sensors** - Border Patrol uses wildlife cameras and hidden sensors to track people, often placing them in elaborate disguises.

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Show Notes

Have you noticed surveillance cameras appearing in your community?

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For decades, the US-Mexico border has served as a proving ground for invasive, next-generation surveillance tech like AI surveillance towers, cameras hidden in traffic cones, license plate readers, drones, and spy balloons. 

Now, those same tools, autonomous AI watchtowers, hidden license plate readers (ALPRs), thermal imaging trucks, and military aerostat blimps, are moving into domestic US cities, suburbs, and neighborhoods. 

On this week's episode of Free Speech Friday, I’m joined by Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to discuss his reporting on border surveillance and the expanding systems that track people’s movements.

Dave explains what he found during his latest trip along the border, how Anduril’s AI-powered surveillance towers operate, and why people living in border communities are caught in these systems. We also discuss Flock Safety, Axon, automated license plate readers, and the connections between local police surveillance and federal immigration enforcement.

Who can access the data? How is it used? And what happens when technology promoted as a way to catch criminals is used to investigate protesters or monitor ordinary people?

In this conversation, we cover:• AI border surveillance and the “virtual wall”• License plate readers concealed in roadside objects• Surveillance balloons, thermal cameras, and police drones• How military technology moves into domestic policing• Phone location data brokers and social media monitoring• Privacy, free speech, and the “nothing to hide” argument• Public records requests and community efforts to challenge surveillance

Support my independent journalism and subscribe to User Mag:https://www.usermag.co

You can also support this series through Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz

Support the Electronic Frontier Foundation:https://www.eff.org

Explore the Atlas of Surveillance:https://atlasofsurveillance.org


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