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.
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.
30 minute discussion with the Oscar Grant Committee on police killings in Contra Costa County, the Bay Area County with the highest level of law enforcement use of force against people of color. The committee recently met with new “progressive” DA Diana Becton to discuss the Terry Ammons death in Pittsburg and discovered the new DA is a lot like the old DA. With Gerald Smith and Michael Goldstein of the Oscar Grant Committee Against State Repression and MA ED Tracy Rosenberg
SACRAMENTO — As a consumer, Dirk Lorenz says he understands the anxiety many people feel about online ads that seem to stalk their search and social media visits. He, too, finds the mass collection of personal data invasive.
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.
SACRAMENTO — Soon after lawmakers returned to the Capitol this week, a slate of Privacy Act bills originally set to be heard by the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee instead went straight to the Senate floor, closing off a well-worn backchannel for end-of-session deal-making.
MA’s ED is very pleased to have been included in Counterspin’s 2018 “Best of” wrap-up show and we encourage you to listen to the whole compilation.
Counterspin – Best of 2018
Each week, CounterSpin looks behind the headlines, asking what context is missing, what assumptions glossed over…and who is being excluded who might challenge that. It’s not a rhetorical exercise: Understanding the limits of the dialogue possible in the elite but influential press is crucial to understanding our political lives…and the importance of maintaining spaces where we can openly debate and challenge a status quo that is harming millions of people and the planet. We hope all of our shows advance that effort; in our annual year-end review, we can only revisit a very few—what we call the Best of CounterSpin 2018. You’ll find the whole year’s worth online at FAIR.org/counterspin/.
Featured interviews:
Tina Vasquez, immigration reporter at Rewire.news, on family separation and abuses at the border.
Marjorie Cohn, law professor and author, on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.
Andrew Pulrang, cofounder of #cripthevote, on the 28th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Teresa Basilio Gaztambide, director of Resilient Just Technologies, on Puerto Rico’s communications infrastructure and hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Tracy Rosenberg, executive director of Media Alliance and co-coordinator of the group Oakland Privacy, on surveillance technologies.
Shireen Al-Adeimi, peace activist, on US support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
Howard Bryant, senior writer for ESPN.com, on black athletes and the politics of patriotism.