Recent reporting from Los Angeles highlights the urgent need for city councils across the United States to take control of local government surveillance operations, subjecting police spying to democratic control, oversight, transparency, and public accountability. On November 10, Boston residents have an...
Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long term cookie on your computer. Terry Turchie, former Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program and said this: “When...
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...
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...
Where do the candidates for Boston Mayor and City Council stand on policing, surveillance, and immigration? We asked them. On September 27, the ACLU—along with our coalition partners Muslim Justice League, Families for Justice as Healing, Digital Fourth, Council on American-Islamic Relations – Massachusetts, Jewish Voice...
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...
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...
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 Boston Police Department plans to buy a $1.4 million social media surveillance tool capable of building out complex associational profiles of users, tracking posts by location, performing ‘sentiment’ analysis, and much, much more. A detailed description of what the department is looking...