Mayor Marty Walsh and Police Commissioner Bill Evans have spoken out in defense of Boston’s immigrant community, pushing back against the xenophobic and racist rhetoric coming from our nation’s highest political office. Boston, our leaders want the world to know, is a...
The Salem News and Gloucester Times want state lawmakers to pass a law to regulate the government’s use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. In an editorial published in both papers, the editors write: The possibilities for surveillance are endless with this...
This morning the Massachusetts state legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security heard testimony in support of bipartisan proposals to regulate the government’s use of surveillance drones. The Vice Chair of the committee, Senator Michael Moore, introduced one of the measures,...
In early April 2017, the Trump administration killed Obama-era FCC regulations that would have prevented internet service providers like Comcast from selling sensitive customer information without explicit opt-in consent. In response, legislators in states across the country have introduced bills to fill...
A MassINC poll out today confirms that two-thirds of Massachusetts residents support treating substance use as a public health—not criminal justice—problem. An even larger margin supports ending mandatory minimum sentencing; only 8% of people polled said they preferred mandatory minimums to other...
A new report by the Fair Punishment project at Harvard Law School, along with the Immigrant Defense Project and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, identifies concrete policy changes cities and states can take to protect immigrants and other oppressed communities, looking beyond ‘Sanctuary...
The small town of Hanover, Massachusetts, population ~13,000, has become the first in the state to obtain a license from the FAA to fly a drone. According to media reports, the police and fire department plan to use it. I’m curious to...
Tonight, the Cambridge City Council will meet at 5:30 pm at City Hall. On the agenda is a discussion of a crucial surveillance accountability and transparency ordinance. The future of privacy and good government in Cambridge hangs in the balance, making it critical...
Yesterday I was interviewed for an NBC Boston story about DHS funded research to build a machine that would enable the electronic searching of hundreds of people at a time. The system would work sort of like the all electronic tolling gantries...
Yesterday, Senators Wyden (D-OR) and Paul (R-KY) and Representatives Polis (D-CO), Farenthold (R-TX), Smith (D-WA), and Beyer (D-VA) introduced legislation to protect digital privacy from the prying eyes of DHS employees at US borders. The legislation would require warrants for searches of US citizens’ and...