NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will host its annual Constitution Day Lecture at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Murdock Hall, Room 218. 

 

This year's presentation, titled "Surveillance, Police, and Big Tech: Lessons from Baltimore," will be delivered by Dr. Ben Snyder, associate professor of sociology at Williams College. 

 

Snyder's talk will focus on a 2020 partnership between Baltimore police and a technology startup to deploy aerial surveillance planes designed to reduce gun violence. Equipped with high-powered cameras, the planes recorded the movements of every person in public view across the city. 

 

Drawing from direct observations of homicide cases, Snyder will examine how the program operated, why it largely failed, and the broader consequences of such for-profit surveillance initiatives on constitutional rights. 

 

Snyder has taught at Williams College since 2018 and tells stories about how technology is shaping society from the perspective of everyday people. He is the author of two books: "Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore's Surveillance Experiment" and "The Disrupted Workplace: Time and the Moral Order of Flexible Capitalism." He has also published numerous scholarly and popular pieces based on immersive investigations of difficult-to-reach populations, from long-haul truck drivers to hedge fund traders to surveillance analysts. 

 

Constitution Day was established as a federal holiday in 2004 and first celebrated in 2005, recognizing the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787, in Philadelphia. 

 

The Constitution Day Lecture is free and open to the public and is made possible by MCLA's Department of History and Political Science.