Imminent dystopia? Media coverage of algorithmic surveillance at Berlin-Südkreuz

Facial-recognition software continues to create heated controversy, as illustrated by ayear-long pilot run at the Berlin-Südkreuz train station. The test run at one of Berlin's mainarteries was a catalyst for media attention, spurring heated discourse on the efficiency andlegitimacy of surveillance technology. Drawing on a critical discourse analysis and (post-)panoptic theory, this paper investigates how the relationship between the public and the state isrepresented, how automated surveillance technology is linguistically framed and whichproblematisations were associated with the technology deployed during the 2017 pilot.