Category: Uncategorized
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Jeff Landry’s Intelligence Chief is Spying on New Orleans with Project NOLA
Public records show GOHSEP’s Director of Intelligence was personally provisioned Project NOLA credentials. Nobody told the people being watched. On January 29, 2025, Mark Fontenot, Director of Intelligence for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), emailed Project NOLA founder Bryan Lagarde: “I just wanted to follow up regarding our conversation to…
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Watching City Council Agendas with a Claude Skill
I follow surveillance and policing-tech issues in New Orleans — drones, facial recognition, license plate readers. The decisions happen in council and committee meetings, but the only warning is an agenda PDF posted a few days beforehand. Miss the posting, miss the meeting. Lots of people have this problem: journalists, advocates, anyone tracking zoning or…
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Who’s Spying on New Orleans? A Citizen’s Guide to Fighting Local Surveillance
Saturday, August 8 at 2:00 PM | The Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude Ave | Free — no registration required New Orleans has quietly become one of the most surveilled cities in America. A private nonprofit operates a network of over 5,000 cameras across the city, running live facial recognition on residents despite a city…
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NOPD’s Drone Policy Is Worthless.
404 Media just published an important story: New Orleans Cops Published Policy Document Allowing Weaponized Drones. Go read it. Matthew Gault and 404 Media do exactly the kind of journalism this city needs and rarely gets — actually reading the documents, catching the discrepancies, and asking the police department to explain itself. Thank you, 404. Subscribe…
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NOPD Flew 273 Drone Flights in Three Months. It Can’t Say Why for 206 of Them!
Through a public records request, I obtained the New Orleans Police Department’s drone flight logs covering January 1 through April 1, 2026. These are the department’s own records, exported from its Skydio flight management system. What they show is a surveillance program operating largely outside its own rules — and an oversight process that declined…
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Letter to Senators Opposing the KIDS Act
Dear Senator Cassidy and Senator Kennedy, I am a constituent in New Orleans and a cybersecurity engineer with 20 years in the field. Senator Cassidy, I know you co-sponsored KOSA and co-authored COPPA 2.0, and that your goal is protecting children. I am writing to ask you to reconsider the KIDS Act (H.R.7757) as passed…
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NOPD is Still Using FRT, Still Lying, and Now Covering It Up — Part 5
Welcome back to part 5 of NOPD’s coverup of unlawful use of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). Today we’re looking at my allegation that SPO Levi Atkins requested the use of FRT from Project NOLA on March 22, 2025. NOPD Public Integrity Bureau (PIB) conducted a thorough investigation and determined that SPO Atkin did NOT request…
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Interested in What NOPD’s AI Powered Drone Did in 2025?
I’m finally getting the chance to work through some new documents. One of the interesting hits was was 26-4840. This document is all flight logs for the new NOPD SkyDIO AI Drone. If you’re curious how NOPD is spending your tax dollars to spy on you, here are the logs for all of 2025!
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Speaking at NOLACon
I’m happy to announce that NOLACon accepted my talk “Defending New Orleans from a Private Spy Network”. I’ll be speaking at the Astor Crowne Plaza on Saturday May 16th. If you have the time please come and see me. This is a special opportunity. NolaCon is an infosec conference with speakers from around the world…
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NOPD is Still Using FRT, Still Lying, and Now Covering It Up — Part 4
I’ll give this one to NOPD. While SPO Pope wanted to use FRT, technically, the target is masked and his face isn’t recognizable. Arguably this is still a violation of NOPD process, handling of police-sensitive material, and mass surveillance but by definition it’s not facial recognition.
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NOPD is Still Using FRT, Still Lying, and Now Covering It Up — Part 3
NOPD determined that SPO Micheal Lane didn’t use FRT. Let’s walk through the complaint: The complaint The Evidence Micheal Lane sends the request to Bryan Lagarde at Project NOLA with pictures of Javone Washington asking to alert when his face matches in the Project NOLA FRT system. Bryan Lagarde at Project NOLA replies with a…
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NOPD is Still Using FRT, Still Lying, and Now Covering It Up — Part 2
In Part 1, I introduced you to my complaint against NOPD for illegally spying on New Orleans using facial recognition technology (FRT). We move on to bullet point 2: SGT Cherny. This one is spectacular. Sarah Cherny is NOPD’s most prolific user of facial recognition technology. I don’t think detective Cherny works a case without…
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NOPD is Still Using FRT, Still Lying, and Now Covering It Up — Part 1
New Orleans has a law banning facial recognition technology (FRT). The City Council passed it. It’s on the books. NOPD is prohibited from using facial recognition technology except under extremely restrictive requirements that does not allow NOPD to use facial recognition technology (FRT) with Project NOLA. Through public records requests, I obtained NOPD emails. Hundreds…
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Project Mayhem FAQs
I learned about Project NOLA in the news. Bryan Lagarde, the owner of Project NOLA, loves the media – he even has a TV show “Real Time Crime”. The media coverage was inconsistent with my experience as a past crime victim. I’ve been mugged. I’ve had property stolen. I’ve always had video and at the…
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Intro to Project Mayhem Training
I’m happy to announce that Project Mayhem is offering free online training. I’ll share a quick summary of our existing work, answer any questions, and show you how to join the fight against dystopian surveillance. The first online training is Wednesday February 25, 2026 at 6pm. Sign up here!
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Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem is a comprehensive investigative operation exposing the illegal surveillance infrastructure in New Orleans, where Project NOLA—a private nonprofit founded by ex-NOPD officer Bryan Lagarde—runs America’s first known live facial recognition system across over 5,000 cameras in direct violation of the city’s 2022 surveillance ban. Through systematic public records requests, technical security analysis, and formal…
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Ever Wonder How to Remember the Passwords for Thousands of Spy Cameras?
New Orleans spy cameras use a password scheme that’s both predictable and pathetic: camera at 3424 Magazine Street? Password is 3424Magazine. Address number + street name. That’s it. Why This Matters This is a surveillance network with 5,000+ cameras that NOPD uses to circumvent New Orleans’ facial recognition ban. The security is worse than your neighbor’s…
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Project NOLA Exposed Surveillance Videos Through Insecure Google Drive Shares
Public records reveal serious security flaw in private surveillance network’s coordination with police Through public records requests filed with the New Orleans Police Department, I discovered a significant security vulnerability in how Project NOLA coordinates with NOPD. Email correspondence between NOPD and Project NOLA revealed 44 Google Drive folders containing surveillance videos—all shared with public…
