US 'Virtual Wall': 1,050+ people died near surveillance towers

🛡 US 'Virtual Wall': 1,050+ people died near surveillance towers

MIT Technology Review published a roundtable on the 'Dying on Camera' investigation: over 25 years, billions were spent on a 'virtual wall' of 600–800 towers along the southern border, but more than 1,050 people have died in their vicinity since 2015.

🌍 The first systematic audit of AI surveillance in real-world operation: since 2021, 110+ people have died within the radius of Anduril AI towers, deaths were recorded at 52 of 53 Elbit towers in Arizona, and CBP did not check mortality rates near its own towers.

👤 For computer vision researchers — the largest public gap between demo metrics and field results in person detection: nearly 4,000 body finds were cross-referenced with the EFF tower database to create the first complete map.

Source 1: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/28/1144890/roundtables-the-deadly-failures-of-the-virtual-border-wall/ Source 2: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/21/1144166/border-towers-surveillance-investigation/