| Dear Katy, Amazon needs to get out of the government surveillance business.
Amazon is the technological backbone for the tracking, detention and deportation of the immigrant community. That's why this week, hundreds of activists occupied the Amazon corporate office in New York City demanding that it ends its ties to Immigration Customs & Enforcement and Border Patrol. Millions of immigrant families and communities live in fear because of ICE's brutal anti-immigrant deportation machine – which is powered by surveillance technology provided by Amazon.1 We need to keep up the pressure on Jeff Bezos to end all contracts with ICE and CBP and stop helping Trump push forward his white supremacist agenda.
Tell Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: Stop powering Trump's surveillance state. Prohibit all government use of Rekognition. Click here to sign the petition.
Amazon's facial recognition technology, Rekognition, is frightening. It can identify people in photos of large groups, crowded events and public places. In the hands of government agencies, Rekognition would supercharge already existing racist and discriminatory policing practices and boost the Trump administration's efforts to suppress and criminalize dissent.2 Recent reports reveal that law enforcement agencies in Florida and Oregon are already using this mass surveillance system to police communities.3
Donald Trump has already expanded government surveillance and the policing of communities resisting his fascist regime. ICE and Border Patrol are arresting and deporting immigrant activists.4 DHS is recording immigrants' social media and online activity.5 The FBI is monitoring and jailing leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement.6 And Trump Republicans have introduced legislation to restrict people's right to protest in nearly 20 states across the country.7
Since Trump took office, Bezos has been playing both sides. He publicly condemned Trump's Muslim ban, but also helped normalize and legitimize the Trump regime by serving as a Trump tech adviser.8 Amazon is enabling the tracking, detention and deportation of immigrants. In the first nine months of Trump's presidency, ICE arrests increased by 42% compared to the previous years – and that's in large part thanks to the increase in mass surveillance and targeting of immigrants.9
Tell Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: Stop powering Trump's surveillance state. Prohibit all government use of Rekognition. Click here to sign the petition.
These attacks on our civil rights and civil liberties are moving the country dangerously close to authoritarianism. We cannot allow Amazon to profit from a mass surveillance system that would give government agencies the power to tear down resistance movements and destroy our democracy.
Bezos must make a choice: Will he protect the civil liberties and civil rights of U.S. residents by prohibiting government use of Rekognition, or will he help Trump's fascist regime spy on them?
Tell Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: Stop powering Trump's surveillance state. Prohibit all government use of Rekognition. Click the link below to sign the petition:
https://act.credoaction.com/go/29951?t=10&akid=32459%2E12967895%2EQZjKwv Thanks for fighting back, Thaís Marques, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Karen Hao, "Amazon is the invisible backbone behind ICE's immigration crackdown," MIT Technology Review, Oct. 22, 2018.
- Julie Carrie Wong, " 'Recipe for authoritarianism': Amazon under fire for selling face-recognition software to police," The Guardian, May 22, 2018.
- Elizabeth Dwoskin, " Amazon is selling facial recognition to law enforcement — for a fistful of dollars," The Washington Post, May 22, 2018.
- John Burnett, "See The 20+ Immigration Activists Arrested Under Trump," NPR, March 16, 2018.
- Willa Frej, "U.S. Quietly Announces Plan To Monitor Immigrants' Social Media Accounts, Search Histories," HuffPost, Sept. 28, 2017.
- Nicole Hemmer, "The government prosecution of a "black identity extremist" fell apart. Meanwhile, white supremacists are on the march." Vox, May 19, 2018.
- ACLU, "Anti-protest bills around the country," June 23, 2017.
- CBS News, "Jeff Bezos joins chorus of CEOs challenging Trump travel ban," Jan. 31, 2017.
- Hao, "Amazon is the invisible backbone behind ICE's immigration crackdown."
|
No comments:
Post a Comment