EFF’s new database reveals what tech local police are using to spy on you

Why is this not the OP link?

If they are constantly recording, uploading, and being used for facial recognition I think it does.

A bit more than a decade ago I think body worn cameras would have been almost exclusively associated with spying. I think the important difference is whether the camera is used for transparency or for information gathering. A body camera used (or intended to be used) to monitor police is, in my mind, a body camera aimed at increased transparency in the policing process. A body camera used to collect data like license plates or used for facial recognition seems more like spying to me.

It really comes down to what their purpose is and how they're used in reality. Ostensibly, we are told they are used for police transparency and accountability, but is that really the case?

One 2016 study found that 92.6 percent of prosecutors' offices nationally in jurisdictions where police wear body cameras have used that footage as evidence in cases against private citizens, while just 8.3 percent have used it to prosecute police officers. [0]

In any case, they definitely are "surveillance" technology, which is the language EFF uses [1] (the usage of "spy tech" in the headline is editorialized).

0 - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/body-cameras-are-seen-...

1 - As in the "Atlas of Surveillance" https://atlasofsurveillance.org/