Dispatch 2: Post-Election Update
I see I’ve re-awakened just in time. Here are a few stories that have caught my eye since the election.
📣 security news
Right Wing Site Doxes Voters in Many US States - It’s a patchwork of states, but it’s most of them. Some states (including California, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) have laws prohibiting this disclosure. The information includes voters' full names and addresses, and in some states includes demographic info like party affiliation and age. It also includes a voting history which notes the elections a voter has previously voted in.
If your personal info being out there like this could put you in danger, please check the site. Also please check with your Secretary of State or other highest election official’s office about getting on your state’s protected voter program. In WA, we have the Address Confidentiality Program to protect vulnerable people from having their whereabouts disclosed.
Hackers Use Compromised Emails to Access Information Intended for Law Enforcement - This is exhausting. Email should not be an authentication option for law enforcement information. Clearly this data sharing scheme between law enforcement and big tech isn’t working and hasn’t worked for a long time. My guess is that a historical analysis of these requests would have disconcerting results (read: more data theft).
There are companies out there already trying to solve this particular problem; however, the resources (human and financial) available to different state, local, and tribal entities are disparate to say the least. I’m not sure how adoption of those kinds of systems/services would pan out without some kind of federal policymaking to back it up.
🛟 safer tech
Racist Text Campaign Targets Black People - I can’t with this: Spam text messages tell Black students they'll be taken to their new plantation in the morning. I’d like to see some investigation into which services these jerks were using to enable this awful campaign, since at least some of the screenshots I’ve seen shared on social media have included the sender’s phone number. Get them kicked off those mass text messaging platforms at least. I’m no lawyer, but I’m pretty sure this is some kind of hate crime.
ICE Seeking Contractors to Operate Intensive Supervision Appearance Program - The RFPs are already in for new surveillance tech to be used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest US federal police force. Achieving anything near the stated campaign goals for mass deportations will rely heavily on surveillance technologies like ankle monitors and GPS smartwatches to invasively monitor people where they are rather than hold them in physical detention.
The agency seems to have started its preparations for increased surveillance well ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
At the time the notice was published [in 2023], ICE said 5.7 million people were eligible to be monitored under the new program—meaning that if implemented, the scale of ICE’s remote surveillance would increase by approximately 3,000 percent.
🤿 culture dive
4B Movement Experiences Post-Election Upswing - Many women in the US are threatening celibacy, and specifically talking about joining 4B, in response to the US election results. From my perspective, it seems to be mostly cis straight women making these statements.
The discussion around 4B reminds me of this Liberian women’s antiwar movement. Women used a sex strike and the threat of emasculating men with their nudity (among other direct action and negotiation tactics) to end a brutal war.
I’ll be posting more frequently like this: fewer stories, more takes, more connections, and maybe longer-form ideas. The [COMPLAINTS REDACTED] have been unpleasant but staying quiet feels worse, especially as we continue to observe how tech is impacting human rights for better and worse every day.