Freedom of the Press Main Topic Out And About

TODAY: Boston PD wants $1.4m to spy on you online. Come oppose it!

The Boston Police Department secretly tried to buy $1.4 million dollars of social media monitoring software to spy on Bostonians free speech. Since the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) is in Boston PD headquarters, this software will not be limited to just Boston, but will affect all surrounding communities at a minimum.

The Public Safety Committee of the Boston City Council found out from press reports. If the Boston City Council wasn’t notified of it, then it is very certain that the BPD wants to use this software with no oversight.

Today, Monday December 5, the Boston Public Safety Committee is holding a public hearing on this and related issues. It will be from 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM EST at Boston City Hall in the Iannella Chamber on the 5th Floor. You can take the MBTA to the Government Center stop on the Green Line.

It is important that people who live or work in Boston attend this meeting. If you decide to speak against it, please identify yourself as a Pirate.

Come and let them know you don’t want the police watching everything we say online!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.