Category Archives: Accountability and Representation

When the media does us wrong and community accountability

Guidelines for Media Literacy Education – An Overview by MA’s Interns

 

MA spring/summer interns Keli Gabinelli, a recent graduate from NYU’s Steinhardt School and Koroosh Darabi Farsi, a senior at NorthGate High School in Walnut Creek took a look at the CA Legislature fumbling around yet again with creating media literacy curriculum in CA schools – and decided to write a little overview about why Media Literacy matters to young people and what they want to see in the schools.

We hope you enjoy their summary.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://media-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Guidelines-on-Media-Literacy-and-Digital-Citzenship.pdf” title=”Guidelines on Media Literacy and Digital Citzenship”]

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As Reliance on Biometric Grows, So Does Opposition


Eleanor J. Bader
Truthout PUBLISHEDJune 30, 2019

Sports enthusiasts heading to Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics beware: Japan intends to install hundreds of thousands of facial recognition cameras to identify everyone in attendance. The software, initially used when Tokyo hosted the Paralympic games in 2018, is meant to weed out, in real time, people suspected of being potential terrorists — and anyone with a criminal record or questionable immigration status.

Continue reading As Reliance on Biometric Grows, So Does Opposition

80 Groups Demand Passage of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act

80 consumer groups across the country (including Media Alliance) have called for the passage of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (H.R. 3375).

In a July 23rd letter, the consumer protection groups state “Robocalls are en ever-increasing plague. They harass us, disrupt our peace of mind, interrupt important time with family, and interfere with important communications. They enable scams to enter our homes. True Caller found that consumers had lost an estimated $10.5 billion dollars to phone scams in a single 12-month period”.

Read the full letter below.

Continue reading 80 Groups Demand Passage of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act

Protesters Block Palantir’s Cafeteria To Pressure Big Data Company

Originally published in Business Insider August 9, 2019

Protesters blocked the entrance to Silicon Valley tech company Palantir’s cafeteria on Friday, denouncing its work aiding the US government’s immigration crackdown and urging employees to speak out.

About 70 protesters swarmed Palantir’s Palo Alto, Calif. headquarters in the early afternoon, bearing signs criticizing the company for doing business with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and chanting slogans.

“Immigrants are welcome here, time to cancel Palantir,” the protesters shouted. “Dirty data company, drop ICE contracts, that’s our plea,” they sang.

Continue reading Protesters Block Palantir’s Cafeteria To Pressure Big Data Company

Close The Camps at Palantir 9/13

Bay Area activists continue to picket and protest at the headquarters of Palantir Technologies, the Palo Alto software company powering the Trump Administration’s deportation regime.

On one of the hottest days of the year, protestors rallied at the company’s Palo Alto building, covered the ubiquitous security cameras with umbrellas, and marched to (one of) Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s houses in Palo Alto to deliver a petition with 140,000 signatures asking Palantir to stop working for ICE.

Continue reading Close The Camps at Palantir 9/13

A Nonprofit Alliance Becomes an Ally of Big Telecom

How well-meaning, public-serving groups wound up as part of an alliance aimed at undermining state regulation of broadband and privacy laws.

BY CHRIS WITTEMAN AND TRACY ROSENBERG -NOVEMBER 24, 2019

Originally published in 48 Hills.

It’s not unusual for businesses to spend princely sums lobbying government to free them from regulations, which generally means consumer protections are reduced or eliminated.  In a nutshell, that’s much of what goes on in the halls of government, as we’ve previously reported.

But it is a bit more unconventional when a self-described coalition of nonprofit organizations promotes the same agenda as large telecom companies, putting consumers at the short end of the stick.

Continue reading A Nonprofit Alliance Becomes an Ally of Big Telecom

US Senate Consumer Privacy Bills

Multiple consumer privacy bills have been emerging from the federal government lately, mostly in response to state efforts like CCPA.

Here’s a letter from privacy groups, including Media Alliance, about the batch from the US Senate including COPRA from Senator Maria Cantwell D-WA), USCDPA from Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and the Browser Act from Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

Unsurprisingly, Cantwell’s bill comes the closest to a federal data privacy bill that would actually protect consumers.