The ACLU, Digital Fourth, Cambridge residents, and other advocates have been organizing to pass a strong surveillance oversight ordinance in Cambridge, Massachusetts since the fall of 2016. This summer, we are close to crossing the finish line. On August 13, 2018, the...
Last week, the ACLU of Northern California revealed that Amazon’s Rekognition face surveillance software identified 28 members of Congress as people who have been previously arrested for a crime. The only problem? They were false matches. Unsurprisingly, the 28 members of Congress...
BIG TECH EMPLOYEES ARE MAKING NOISE// From Wired: Why Tech Worker Dissent is Going Viral Tech workers are fed up, and they are fighting back. In response to the administration’s deplorable actions at the border and throughout the country, workers at big...
In a hearing last week at the Boston City Council, police leaders signaled that they would support a measure to require community control over police surveillance, and community advocates highlighted extreme racial disparities in policing in Boston as a primary driver of...
On the heels of similar demands from the ACLU and 70+ civil rights, community, religious, and racial justice groups, Amazon workers have called on CEO Jeff Bezos to stop selling Rekognition face surveillance technology to police departments. The workers also demand that...
In response to internal and external protest and expressions of revulsion, Google yesterday announced it would stop contracting with the Department of Defense to provide artificial intelligence technology to the US military. Google’s move is a rare instance in which one of...
SENATE VOTES TO REINSTATE NEUTRALITY // From The Hill: Senate votes to save net neutrality rules Thanks to Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey’s leadership, last week the US Senate voted 52-47 to overturn the FCC’s decision to end net neutrality. The bill now moves...
Today, the ACLU of Massachusetts and two technology experts affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center and MIT Media Lab filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security to learn about the federal government’s use of facial recognition...
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, has invested in a facial recognition firm with ties to the Department of Defense. According to Live Nation’s first quarter financial report, the firm, Blink Identity, uses “cutting-edge facial recognition technology, enabling you to associate your digital...
There’s been a lot of important technology and civil liberties news over the past week. Here’s what you may have missed. Civil Liberties Groups Caution Against Use of Facial Recognition on Body Worn Cameras Dozens of groups including the ACLU and NAACP...