Dear John.
Black organizers should not become enemies of the state for protesting.
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
Demand Twitter immediately stop facilitating government surveillance
against Black activists and organizers.
[ [link removed] ]Take Action
Twitter developer Dataminr - a company that Twitter gives special access
to user data - is keeping the spirit of J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO alive
by helping law enforcement track protestors' whereabouts and
actions.^1^,2 Under COINTELPRO members of the Black Panther Party and
notable Black activists, such as Dr. King and Malcolm X, were targeted and
“neutralized” by an extensive government surveillance program meant to
disrupt and destroy Black liberation movements through tactics that
included assassination, imprisonment, public humiliation, or false
criminal charges.^3
Sadly, today's Black activists and organizers face similar coordinated
efforts by law enforcement to disrupt our movements for justice, except
now police have high-tech tools and data from companies like Twitter at
their disposal to help harass, imprison, and bring false criminal charges
against Black activists. History is sadly repeating itself because Twitter
is allowing surveillance companies like Dataminr to send information about
Black activists directly to the same law enforcement agencies provoking
violence and targeting protestors.
tors.
[ [link removed] ]SIGN THE PETITION: Demand Twitter ban any developer engaged in
surveillance of protestors from the platform.
In 2016, thanks to the organizing of Color Of Change, MediaJustice, and
the ACLU of Northern California, Twitter instituted policies meant to
prohibit developers from helping law enforcement surveil Black activists.
Yet, Dataminr has found a workaround to this policy, claiming they are
just providing law enforcement with “news alerts.” No matter how Dataminr
frames it, sending Twitter information containing the location, names,
Twitter handles, and other identifying information about activists to law
enforcement is surveillance.
Passing this information to law enforcement has life-altering and even
deadly results for Black activists. Historically, Black movement leaders
have been unconstitutionally targeted, attacked, jailed, or even killed in
their efforts to confront racism, police brutality, and police violence.
Twitter’s surveillance policy is falling short of preventing harm to Black
activists.
[ [link removed] ]SIGN THE PETITION: Demand that Twitter immediately stops its affiliate
Dataminr from facilitating government surveillance against Black activists
and organizers.
Sixty years ago in Birmingham, there were fire hoses and dogs.^4 Six years
ago in Ferguson, it was tanks and armored trucks.^5 Today, it’s tanks,
tear gas, and advanced surveillance and tracking technology: facial
recognition cameras, StingRay devices that trick nearby cell phones and
steal data, automated license plate readers, and high-altitude spy planes
and drones fitted with night vision and infrared sensors.^6 The list of
insidious tools deployed to identify, track, entrap, and arrest protestors
are staggering—and still growing. Most recently, in Portland, OR, federal
law enforcement are using unmarked cars to detain protestors with no
explanation of why they are being arrested, and then driving off.^7 The
last thing our communities need is for Twitter, the platform that bills
itself as the platform for organizing protests and standing up for
#BlackLivesMatter, to make it easier for law enforcement to harm us and
our movements.
John, we have a right to protest murders at the hands of police
and a justice system that continues to fail us without police tracking our
every movement. Twitter has vocally supported the movement for Black lives
and spoken out against law enforcement using Twitter to surveil us. It is
time for Twitter to live up to the promise they made to us in 2016 to
never allow developers to assist law enforcement to surveil our
communities.
[ [link removed] ]SIGN THE PETITION: Demand that Twitter’s developer Dataminr immediately
stop facilitating government surveillance against Black activists and
organizers.
Until justice is real,
--Jade, Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Jade, Amanda, Marie, Eesha,
Samantha, Marcus, FolaSade, Jennette, Cierra and the rest of the Color Of
Change team
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References:
1. “Fear of a Black Homeland: The Strange Tale of the FBI’s Fictional
‘Black Identity Extremism’ Movement,” March 23, 2019, The Intercept,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
2. “Police Surveilled George Floyd Protests With Help From
Twitter-affiliated Startup Dataminr,” The Intercept, July 9, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
3. “J. Edgar Hoover’s Revenge: Information the FBI Once Hoped Could
Destroy Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Has Been Declassified,” The
Conversation, May 30, 2019,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
4. “The Rage Unifying Boomers and Gen Z,” The Atlantic, June 18, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
5. “Ferguson Police's Show of Force Highlights Militarization of
America's Cops,” ABCNews, April 14, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
6. “How to Spot Police Surveillance Tools,” Popular Mechanics, June 12,
2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
7. “Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off
Portland Streets,” OPB, July 17, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
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[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please
help keep our movement strong.
[ [link removed] ]Make a Donation
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