John,
First and foremost, I hope you’re staying safe and taking care. This is an unprecedented moment and it’s important to be checking in.
Things are changing quickly—every day there are new updates about federal, state, and local efforts to slow down the spread of the virus and save lives.
We support many of these efforts, but we’re also concerned about some of what we’re hearing: increased surveillance and tracking of our every move, government and social media sites censoring content and information, the U.S. Department of Justice requesting the ability to detain people indefinitely without trial, and the potential for more authoritarian actions that aren’t medically necessary.
We cannot let governments and corporations take steps that make this crisis worse by endangering human rights and essential freedoms. Sign the pledge to do your part to stop the spread of COVID-19 and fight for everyone's basic rights.
TAKE THE PLEDGE
In the U.S., the government is talking to companies like Google, Facebook, and Clearview AI (yes, that sketchy facial recognition company) about ways to access location tracking data from smartphones, while the governments of Israel, Singapore, and Australia have already implemented such tracking.1, 2, 3, 4
This raises major red flags. The data that governments can access from smartphones can expose personal details about peoples’ lives. And this data could be shared with the FBI or IRS and used against people even after the crisis has subsided.
Meanwhile, at a time when we need more information and transparency than ever, governments and companies are censoring information. As the virus started to spread, both the Chinese and U.S. government withheld information.5,6 And Twitter and Facebook have taken it upon themselves to remove posts they deem misinformation, without being clear about how they’re making that call.7,8
While we 100% agree that everyone should be staying (the bleep) home, shelter-in-place policies cannot be overly restrictive. People should not be stopped by police or military officers asking where they are going, or be forced to get approval just to leave their house. There should not be curfews, checkpoints, or travel restrictions that are not based strictly in medical necessity.
Increased surveillance, censorship, and unnecessarily restricting movement will actually make us less safe. If you agree, take the pledge to fight for our essential rights.
We shouldn’t have to choose between our health and our basic human rights. If we allow government officials and corporate leaders to violate our civil liberties now, it will only empower them to continue violating our human rights under the guise of “security” once this pandemic has passed. Once governments have given themselves new powers, they rarely let them go.
We must take this seriously and protect our basic human rights now. If people don’t speak up, crackdowns on our basic freedoms will spread as quickly as the virus itself. Please take action.
Together,
Caitlin at Fight for the Future
Footnotes:
1. Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-facebook-discuss-helping-government-track-coronavirus-spread-2020-3
2. NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-uses-counterterrorist-technology-track-coronavirus-patients-n1161456
3. LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-11/a-singaporeans-view-of-the-coronavirus-its-surprising-to-see-the-u-s-so-messed-up
4. Politico: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9b25611ccf2399ec2d12fcdfd2f99e3378875ef874094d03fadc17ce5c981ccdf79f44870a50df812af39403adad34d5
5. Buzzfeed News: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/china-tencent-wechat-yy-censorship-coronavirus
6. Whistleblower.org: https://whistleblower.org/in-the-news/press-watch-mike-pences-coronavirus-gag-order-is-an-act-of-war-against-the-media-which-needs-to-return-fire/
7. The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184445/facebook-marking-coronavirus-posts-spam-misinformation-covid-19
8. Tech Crunch: https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/18/twitter-coronavirus-covid-19-misinformation-policy/
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
