Civil rights fears spark new effort to stop NYC from using AI-driven cellphone trackers

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Nov 12, 2026

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NEW YORK — Despite backing away from a controversial contract for an AI-enhanced cellphone tracking device, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing increasing pushback over his administration’s surveillance approach.

In a letter Thursday, 45 nonprofit and civil rights organizations called for the Mamdani administration to stop pursuing the technology, arguing it could carry both privacy risks and “the potential for human and civil rights violations.” The technology mimics a cell tower, forcing nearby phones to connect to it and allowing cops to track suspects nearby.

“Although the City has since walked back the no-bid contract after public outcry, Cognyte and other vendors still have the ability to bid on a contract for portable AI-equipped cell-site simulators, the letter, signed by organizations including Justice Committee, the Legal Aid Society and Make the Road.

“Regardless of the vendor, another mass surveillance tool in the hands of the NYPD will not make New Yorkers safer.”

After a Daily News report in October. the NYPD backed away from $750,000 no-bid contract with the Israeii tech company Cognyte, which has been accused of infringing on people’s civil rights with its technology, A spokesperson said at the time the department was moving to an open procurement process for the technology.

The city has for years used the so-called stingray devices to track suspects’ whereabouts — but advocates have long raised concerns about the technology, which in 2017 the NYPD was found to have used more than 1,000 times without having a written policy and without obtaining a warrant, which is required by law.

Advocates wrote in the letter that their concerns have only grown now that the technology has evolved to use AI.

The organizations in the letter asked the mayor to block the procurement of the AI-enhanced cell site simulators, prevent the city from working with Cognyte in the future and prohibit further procurement or use of digital surveillance more broadly.

Simone Gamble, a member of Justice Committee said in an interview the organization’s biggest concerns “is the fact New Yorkers deserve a right to safety and privacy, and a cell-site simulator doesn’t grant us that.”

“It’s only going to amplify the use of this surveillance without warrants,” Gamble said. “So it doesn’t make any of us safe. It just makes us more surveilled.”

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