June 30, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Civil liberties advocates on Wednesday cheered as Maine enacted what that state’s ACLU chapter called “the country’s strongest statewide facial recognition law.” The new law—which sailed unanimously through both chambers of the state Legislature and was passed Read more…
Originally published by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Labor advocates have responded with disdain and derision to news that Amazon and the National Safety Council are partnering to find “innovative solutions” to prevent the workplace injuries that disproportionately plague the retail giant’s warehouse employees. Amazon said it Read more…
Originally published by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins at Common Dreams To mark the one year anniversary of Amazon’s extended temporary moratorium on sales of its controversial Rekognition facial identification software to law enforcement agencies, over 20 advocacy groups and more than 10,000 supporters have launched Protest Amazon, a digital demonstration that’s Read more…
May 25, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine on Tuesday sued e-commerce giant Amazon, accusing the world’s largest retailer of monopolistic price-fixing, stifling competition in the online retail space, and depriving consumers of choice. The lawsuit (pdf), filed in D.C. Read more…
May 4, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams After a coalition of digital rights and other groups launched a campaign on Monday aimed at thwarting Facebook’s planned privacy rollback on its popular WhatsApp messaging application, competitor Signal—which does not collect user data—on Tuesday began trolling the Read more…
April 19, 2021 by Ethics in Tech Board Member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Friday added his voice to the growing public outrage—especially in over-policed communities of color—in response to the New York Police Department’s deployment of a robotic K-9 unit. Responding to the NYPD’s use Read more…
April 4, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Faced with irrefutable evidence and the prospect of yet another public relations debacle, Amazon apologized on Friday to Rep. Mark Pocan for an “incorrect” tweet denying that its delivery drivers sometimes urinate in bottles while on the job Read more…
February 26, 2021 by Ethics In Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Arguing that money would be better spent on uplifting programs and policies rather than on high-tech policing of underserved communities, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday blasted the New York Police Department for deploying a robotic police Read more…
January 25, 2021 by Ethics In Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Labor advocates on Monday pointed to Lyft’s latest driver pay reduction scheme as proof that the Biden administration needs to focus on more effectively regulating the so-called gig economy. On Friday, CNET reported the ongoing partial nationwide rollout of Read more…
January 22, 2021 by Ethics In Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Digital rights advocates reacted with alarm to a report published Friday detailing how Defense Intelligence Agency analysts in recent years bought databases of U.S. smartphone location data without first obtaining warrants. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Read more…