Over the weekend, the City of Cambridge released a draft surveillance oversight ordinance. Today at 2pm the Public Safety Committee of the City Council will hold a hearing on the draft, and take comments from the public and interested organizations. The ACLU...
Communities across the nation are fighting for control over police surveillance, and now’s the time to act in Cambridge to pass a strong local law requiring it. Facial recognition, drones, license plate readers, biometric finger print readers, surveillance cameras, social media monitoring...
The Trump administration has taken the first official step towards fulfilling its promise to conduct “extreme vetting” of visitors and immigrants. On March 30, the State Department released a proposal outlining its plan to require visa applicants to disclose all the social...
Unfortunately, Congress has begun scratching an old, FBI-inspired itch again. Staffers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with the support of chair Senator Chuck Grassley and ranking democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, are reportedly in talks with technology companies about legislation that would most...
In the digital 21st century, large tech companies shape the decisions we make and the information we consume, in ways that are impossible for the ordinary user to see or understand. The algorithms that determine which information will be shown to which...
States across the country, including Massachusetts, are considering legislation to ban internet service providers (ISPs) from collecting or selling their customers’ sensitive information—like browsing histories—without opt-in user consent. (Take action to support the Massachusetts bill!) But according to Cloudflare, you don’t have to...
Today the Massachusetts Special Senate Committee on Net Neutrality and Consumer Protection meets to discuss critical law reform regarding internet service providers’ (ISPs) use of consumer data. ISPs have access to mountains of personal information including our browsing history, personal and professional...
The Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal has woken the United States up to the seedy underbelly of online advertising markets. Unless we take action soon, this problem will only get worse. Thankfully, states like Massachusetts are considering legislation that would protect consumers...
From The Jetsons to Smart House and Star Trek, pop culture tells of our fascination with futuristic technology. So it’s no surprise to see many consumers enamored by Amazon and Google’s electronic home assistants and “smart” appliances. Want to turn off the...
Earlier this week I heard a young computer scientist named Julia Dressel talk about her work examining the accuracy and fairness of the COMPAS tool, a proprietary system courts across the country are using in bail, sentencing, and parole contexts. This revolution...
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Cambridge Surveillance Oversight Ordinance, Draft and ACLU Comments
Over the weekend, the City of Cambridge released a draft surveillance oversight ordinance. Today at 2pm the Public Safety Committee of the City Council will hold a hearing on the draft, and take comments from the public and interested organizations. The ACLU...
Add your voice, Cambridge: Demand community control over police surveillance!
Communities across the nation are fighting for control over police surveillance, and now’s the time to act in Cambridge to pass a strong local law requiring it. Facial recognition, drones, license plate readers, biometric finger print readers, surveillance cameras, social media monitoring...
Fight back against the Trump administration’s attacks on freedom of speech and association
The Trump administration has taken the first official step towards fulfilling its promise to conduct “extreme vetting” of visitors and immigrants. On March 30, the State Department released a proposal outlining its plan to require visa applicants to disclose all the social...
FBI cannot access all sorts of information, and that’s totally ok
Unfortunately, Congress has begun scratching an old, FBI-inspired itch again. Staffers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with the support of chair Senator Chuck Grassley and ranking democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, are reportedly in talks with technology companies about legislation that would most...
We just got one step closer to understanding black box algorithms
In the digital 21st century, large tech companies shape the decisions we make and the information we consume, in ways that are impossible for the ordinary user to see or understand. The algorithms that determine which information will be shown to which...
Cloudflare says its new DNS will make it harder for ISPs to snoop on your data
States across the country, including Massachusetts, are considering legislation to ban internet service providers (ISPs) from collecting or selling their customers’ sensitive information—like browsing histories—without opt-in user consent. (Take action to support the Massachusetts bill!) But according to Cloudflare, you don’t have to...
Massachusetts should become the first state to mandate consumer internet privacy
Today the Massachusetts Special Senate Committee on Net Neutrality and Consumer Protection meets to discuss critical law reform regarding internet service providers’ (ISPs) use of consumer data. ISPs have access to mountains of personal information including our browsing history, personal and professional...
Think Cambridge Analytica is bad? Wait until ISPs start selling our dossiers to shady political actors.
The Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal has woken the United States up to the seedy underbelly of online advertising markets. Unless we take action soon, this problem will only get worse. Thankfully, states like Massachusetts are considering legislation that would protect consumers...
Is Amazon’s Echo listening and keeping tabs on your conversations even when you haven’t commanded its attention? And does Google collect your health data?
From The Jetsons to Smart House and Star Trek, pop culture tells of our fascination with futuristic technology. So it’s no surprise to see many consumers enamored by Amazon and Google’s electronic home assistants and “smart” appliances. Want to turn off the...
Risk assessment tools in the criminal justice system: inaccurate, unfair, and unjust?
Earlier this week I heard a young computer scientist named Julia Dressel talk about her work examining the accuracy and fairness of the COMPAS tool, a proprietary system courts across the country are using in bail, sentencing, and parole contexts. This revolution...