Apropos of *everything* I am on Mastodon and Bluesky and encourage everyone to connect on those platforms. https://t.co/UNojotQISZ https://t.co/t8cCtYi4lw

Apropos of *everything* I am on Mastodon and Bluesky and encourage everyone to connect on those platforms. https://t.co/UNojotQISZ https://t.co/t8cCtYi4lw

Big Tech is borrowing a page from Big Tobacco's playbook to wage war on your privacy, according to @ACLU_Norcal’s @snowjake. We agree—but there’s still time to stop them.

Writing for @techpolicypress, the @ACLU_NorCal's @snowjake connects the tobacco industry fight over "pre-emption" to the modern fight over privacy laws: https://t.co/Ewde2Fo4mu 35/

What Big Tech learned from Big Tobacco: (1) Push bad bills in states (2) Point to the "patchwork" the bills created (3) Use preemption to prevent better state laws read @snowjake on why this is a huge drag🚬:

Where does that leave us? Phillip Morris never succeeded in preempting states’ ability to pass anti-smoking laws. We should be guided (and inspired) by that history, and keep fighting to keep preemption off the table for a federal privacy law. 6/6 https://t.co/VsPXqf2TQH

Step 3️⃣: For Tobacco then and Tech now, the final step is to use preemption to erase state laws and curb a state’s ability to pass new, stronger laws in the future. 5/

Step 2️⃣: Block any possibility of future progress at the state level. To do that, both Tech and Tobacco companies shed crocodile tears about a "patchwork" of state and local laws. Then and now, that language shows up any time industry is trying to delegitimize state laws. 4/

Step 1️⃣: The campaign by tobacco companies in the 90s had the same hallmarks of the tech industry's all-out assault on privacy today: an arsenal of lobbyists, front groups galore, and a state-by-state legislative strategy to pass weak laws. 3/ https://t.co/PPfpXyMvYw

In sum, Big Tech is pulling straight from the toxic strategy that Big Tobacco used in the 1990s. There are 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ steps to the strategy. Back then, Big Tobacco invented the "Accommodation Program," a campaign ultimately aimed at federal preemption of indoor smoking laws. 2/

I wrote in @techpolicypress about the tech industry's Tobacco-style campaign to undermine privacy and stop states from passing stronger laws. We know that Big Tech wants to sabotage privacy law. But look at whose footsteps they're following. 🧵 1/

Phenomenal reporting in @washingtonpost shows an epidemic of police hiding their use of face recognition technology from people accused of crimes and their defense attorneys. (1/x)

On Nov. 5, CA voters will decide on ballot measures affecting the future of marriage equality, mass incarceration, affordable housing, and more. Vote all the way down the ballot. Find our endorsements and voting rights resources at https://t.co/nHSxWuskne 🗳️

Towing people’s cars because they might contain footage of a crime is a ridiculous practice. People rely on their cars for work, school, and emergencies. Come back with a warrant for the data instead.

Blue states like California already conduct widespread driver surveillance for policing, building rich GPS databases that those carrying out Project 2025 can exploit to harm people. Read about @ACLU_NorCal's fight for digital firewalls to protect us all:

BREAKING: The Supreme Court ruled today that cities can punish unhoused people for sleeping in public, even if they have nowhere else to go.  We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness.

As part of this crowdsourcing effort, @antievictionmap is also sharing flyers for folks to print and post in high-traffic areas so people in the offline world can see them. Print them and post them! https://t.co/ltCu54JK0W https://t.co/PsITChvT3Y

At a time when technology is becoming pervasive in the real-estate industry, and rents are rising as a result, privacy protections are paramount. One example: what you do in your home shouldn't be used to raise your rent.

And people have every right not to have their landlord digitally creeping around in their homes and forcing them to install apps on their phones. @antievictionmap has a great report on what is happening in San Francisco, but more information is needed.

Bluntly, tenants are put at risk by surveillance systems. Surveillance in public housing has been used to punish and evict tenants. https://t.co/leRuHJeNPL