The Surveillance Economy, and How Capitalism Can Fix Poverty

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**Scott Galloway** (1:32)
Welcome to Office Hours with Prof G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to officehourswithprofgmedia.com. Again, that's officehourswithprofgmedia.com, or post your question on the ScottGalloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in our next episode.
Question number one.

**Nick** (1:56)
Hey, Scott. Nick from Western New York again. I have a question about automated surveillance technology. First of all, how do you feel about the implementation of technologies like FLOC and other staring or passive systems that utilize AI to flag different markers? There's been recent stories of automotive journalists who've been pulled over at gunpoint driving Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles because of one misreported stolen plate.
My local community has implemented some of these systems. A lot of people are pushing back on them. I personally feel that it's an invasion of people's privacy, but I'm curious what your thoughts are and what the successful path to implementation or pushback is other than the courts. Because it doesn't seem as though the Supreme Court or higher courts are receptive to the argument that this is a violation of people's privacy. So that tells me that collective action is required. I'm curious if you can just kind of give us some thoughts on these technologies in general, their return for society as well as their cost, as well as what we can do as communities if we have strong feelings about this outside of simply going to court. Thank you.

**Scott Galloway** (2:55)
Super thoughtful question.
So just some data here. Private surveillance has reached a tipping point and is now being massively or has hit mass adoption, if you will. There are more than 90,000 flock cameras in use around the US. A 2023 report estimated that 10 million Americans own ring cameras. Roughly one in five American households have some form of video-enabled doorbell. Surveillance is up and no accident, crime is down. 2024 to 2025 marked the single largest decrease in violent crime and murder in the US since 1937 Think about that for all of the ship posting of government and catastrophizing crime is at historic lows. And there are other factors than technology or surveillance or the fact that you'll probably get caught if you commit a crime. From 2024 to 2025, violent crime decreased 9%, property crime decreased 12.4%, and motor vehicle theft decreased 23%.
Deloitte reported smart technologies could help reduce crime by 30 to 40% and cut emergency response times by 20 to 35%.
Data collection is expanding. Vox Network scans more than 20 billion license plates a month. Oh, 20 billion a month. Meta-embedded facial recognition in its new smart glass is a feature that, if enabled, would let wearers pull up information about people in their field of view.
Critics argue it would allow stalkers, abusers, and federal agents to identify strangers in public. This is a Fourth Amendment issue. The Fourth Amendment protects against government surveillance, but it doesn't constrain private companies or citizens. A Ring doorbell owner can voluntarily share footage with law enforcement without the consent of anyone captured on camera. Even when owners decline to share footage, Ring and other smart doorbell data are subject to subpoena. Okay.