On May 9, 2017, the public safety committee of the Oakland City Council voted unanimously in support of a comprehensive surveillance transparency ordinance for the City.
Continue reading Oakland Committee Voting on Ending Secret Surveillance
All posts by Midnightschildren
Body Cameras
Police body cameras are a double-edged sword. They provide the possibility of clear and convincing evidence of what police actually do in use of force incidents: and the handling and access to those videos is opening up a Pandora’s box of problems with policy and law lagging behind.
Reporters Sans Frontieres Roundup of Journalists Killed in 2016
Worst Connected Cities
An American Community survey using 2015 data provided a list of the 185 cities in the United States with the worst household broadband connectivity. The data was released by NDIA.
Leading the list were Detroit, MI, Brownsville, TX and Cleveland, OH. The worst-connected California cities were San Bernardino, Fresno and Sacramento. Continue reading Worst Connected Cities
Red State Legislatures Cracking Down On First Amendment
The Washington Post provided this list of bills floating around legislatures across the country to limit and restrict the right to dissent and protest.
Continue reading Red State Legislatures Cracking Down On First Amendment
The First Pai Speech
On March 15, 2017, new FCC chairman Ajit Pai gave his first public speech at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.
Trump’s appointee credited high speed broadband with the democratization of entrepreneurship. Continue reading The First Pai Speech
Native Journalist Jenni Monet Still Facing Riot Charges
Native-American journalist Jenni Monet was arrested covering the Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
Monet wrote a lengthy description of her detention in Morton County for Indian Country today. You can read it here.
Its title. “I Was Strip Searched But My White Cellmates Were Not”.
Continue reading Native Journalist Jenni Monet Still Facing Riot Charges
Civil Rights Groups Oppose Terrorism Designation for Muslim Brotherhood
82 human rights and faith groups, including Media Alliance, wrote to object to Trump Administration plans to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
The letter states “Designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization could lead to a witch-hunt against Muslim civil society in the U.S. It could also open the door to the threat of legal action by the government against Muslims and civil society organizations by invoking overbroad and unfair laws and executive orders regarding designated entities. For example, individuals could
be criminally prosecuted for providing support, services, resources, expert advice or assistance to the Muslim Brotherhood without any intent to support terrorist activity. A designation could also result in unconstitutional asset seizures and effective shut-downs of civil society and rights groups”. Continue reading Civil Rights Groups Oppose Terrorism Designation for Muslim Brotherhood