Over the objections of civil libertarians including the ACLU, President Trump last week signed the Preventing Emerging Threats Act, a dangerous law enabling the federal government to disable and wiretap drones whenever officials deem a device a “credible threat.” The provision on...
Last week, DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen celebrated US independence by publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post calling on Congress to pass an Orwellian surveillance law. The measure, Senator Ron Johnson’s “S.2836 – Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018,” would enable the...
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...
After working with the ACLU, ACLU supporters, and local allies like Digital Fourth in Somerville for over a year, Mayor Curtatone has released a new policy to ensure democratic oversight and transparency pertaining to surveillance technology acquisitions. The policy requires a three...
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...
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,...
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...
A bill before the Connecticut state legislature would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant to use a drone, but would also allow law enforcement to weaponize the unmanned aerial vehicles. The bill has been approved by the Judiciary Committee and now...