The Party of Open: Open Government, Open Culture, Open Innovation & People First
September 15, 2019
The use of facial and biometric recognition tech is out of control, but we have an opportunity to stop Massachusetts state and local governments from using it. We need your help to get the legislature to pass S.1385 & H.1538 which would ban governmental use of "at a distance" biometric tracking technology.
You can help by:
testifying at the upcoming committee hearing for these bills in person or in writing. Start writing your tes...
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July 11, 2019
ICE and the FBI are using state drivers license photos for facial recognition searches. A CBP vendor was hacked which exposed thousands of license plates and car passenger photos. Amazon keeps all Alexa voice recordings forever and they could be acquired by the government for a price.
The use of facial and biometric recognition tech is out of control, but we have an opportunity to stop Massachusetts state and local governments from using it. We need your help to get the ...
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June 28, 2019
Yesterday, in an 11-0 vote, the Somerville City Council voted to ban the city from using facial recognition technology. It is the second city to do so, after San Francisco, and the first city outside of California. Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, who has stated he supports it, is expected to sign it.
👤Somerville’s #FacialRecognitionBan PASSES unanimously!👤
Thank you to everyone who has worked to hard to bring us to this moment ✊️ https://t.co/afVbJDZtIB— Ben Ewen-Campen (@BenForWard3) June...
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June 25, 2019
This Wednesday, June 26, the Somerville Crytoparty will talk about how to setup and use a 2FA token device, such as Yubikey. It will be at The Sprouts, 339R Summer Street, Somerville and starts at 6pm. It generally ends between 8 and 9pm.
The Sprouts is in the garage in the back at the end of the driveway and is a short walk from the Davis and Porter Sq. MBTA Red Line stops.
If you want to help with future cryptoparties or just ask questions about how you can protect your privacy, join t...
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June 20, 2019
The US House of Representatives voted against prohibiting the unconstitutional and warrantless surveillance of Americans as authorized by Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act in an amendment to a government spending bill. The vote was 175 to 253. Other amendments to limit the use of facial recognition technology by the federal government also failed.
For the Massachusetts delegation, Representatives Clark, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Neal and Pressley voted for our right to privacy. Keatin...
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April 4, 2019
At our March 13th, 2019 IRC meeting, we endorsed two bills meant to limit face surveillance and other "at a distance" biometric tracking technology:
SD.671, sponsored by Senator CreemH.1538, sponsored by Rep. Rogers
Both bills contain a ban on biometric surveillance technology without passing a bill to authorize it: "Absent express statutory authorization, it shall be unlawful for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or any Massachusetts government official to acquire, possess, access, ...
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August 14, 2018
We will be at Freedom Rally, September 14-16, and we want your help.
This year our space will be used as an outdoor cryptoparty, live streaming site and hopefully a mesh network (with our friends as massmesh.org). We are looking for volunteers, particularly for pirates willing to show people how to protect their privacy on-line. Any time you can give would be appreciated.
Freedom Rally is an important event for civil liberties and for ending the war on drugs. It’s also really festive, and...
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