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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
CFPB SCALES BACK EQUIFAX INVESTIGATION AND WARREN SLAMS BACK From Vox: Elizabeth Warren warns Equifax could “wiggle off the hook” for users’ credit data getting hacked On Wednesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren released a report condemning Equifax for a lackluster response to its...
In December 2016, the Boston City Council held a hearing to discuss the Boston Police Department’s plan to spend $1.4 million on a social media surveillance system. Police Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald and Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) director David Carabin spoke of...