For years now, conventional wisdom has warned that the rise of artificial intelligence and automation will put millions of people out of work. This assumption about the future of work has largely been accepted as a fact—unavoidable, even if troubling. Earlier this...
Last year, the Boston City Council unanimously approved an ordinance giving the council control over how the Boston Police Department acquires and uses surveillance technology. Now, for the first time, the public can see a full list of all the surveillance technologies...
Last year, the City of Boston voted unanimously to pass an ordinance that will require community control over police surveillance (CCOPS). After being signed into law in November 2021, the ordinance is now set to go into effect in August 2022. Boston...
UPDATE: Victory! Acting Mayor Janey pulled the plug on the RFP, thanks to your advocacy. When we fight, we win! A request for proposals (RFP) published on the City of Boston’s website in April, first reported by DigBoston, raises extremely alarming concerns...
Thanks to the work of the ACLU of Massachusetts and coalition allies working with the MBTA, the Governor last week signed into law crucial new protections for transit riders. Included in omnibus transportation bond legislation approved by the Governor were two key...
Recent reporting from Los Angeles highlights the urgent need for city councils across the United States to take control of local government surveillance operations, subjecting police spying to democratic control, oversight, transparency, and public accountability. On November 10, Boston residents have an...
Last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in Commonwealth v. Mora that the Massachusetts state constitution prohibits police from conducting continuous, long-term pole camera surveillance targeted at a private home without a warrant. The Massachusetts highest court’s decision builds upon...
Nationwide, people are marching in record numbers to demand justice for Black communities long subject to police violence, and an end to white supremacy. In response, government agencies from the local to the state and federal are mounting increasingly aggressive attacks on...
Can the cops in Massachusetts use digital surveillance technologies to track every driver’s every movement throughout the state? Not without violating the constitution, says the state’s highest court. In a series of crucial court rulings culminating in the historic 2018 Supreme Court...
Last week, the ACLU of Massachusetts and the two largest teachers’ unions in the state—the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers, Mass. Chapter—sent a letter to all 273 school superintendents in the state, asking the leaders to prohibit the...