Who needs local laws to require a transparent, democratic process before local police can buy new surveillance technologies? After a mysterious drone flight over a Jamaica Plain housing project, and the ensuing confusion among officials about exactly what happened, it’s clear Boston...
Since Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, Boston officials have come out strong in defense of immigrants, Muslims, and other marginalized groups that find themselves in the crosshairs of the new administration. But key Boston Police Department policies and programs put these communities...
Last weekend, we learned that Donald Trump’s large family and frequent travel are bankrupting the Secret Service. USA Today reports that about 130 of the thousands of agents who work long hours protecting the president and his family likely won’t get paid...
Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen has a must-read essay in the latest Harpers Magazine. Her final paragraph sums up our predicament nicely, and points us in the direction we need to go. The problems that are now impossible to ignore didn’t begin with...
Yesterday the ACLU of Massachusetts and attorney Jeffrey Pyle of Prince Lobel Tye LLP filed a complaint in Suffolk Superior Court seeking access to court records that have been under seal for over five years. The secret court documents pertain to a...
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...
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...
Last night, Boston Police Department officials were photographed filming people protesting a controversial Boston Planning & Development Agency meeting. Despite the advocates’ campaign—which included a sleepover protest inside City Hall this week—the Agency quickly voted to approve a new development along Washington Street...
If you’re like me, you’re feeling pretty frustrated and maybe even overwhelmed. There’s a lot of bad news these days, and it seems like it just won’t stop coming. Just this morning, the New York Times reported that Trump looks likely to...
The people of Boston just scored a major victory for privacy, civil liberties, and people power. After thousands of Bostonians took action to demand the City drop a dangerous proposal to spend as much as $1.4 million on Orwellian social media surveillance software,...