"Warner is particularly concerned about ceding the AI race to China — which he characterized as having an 'authoritarian approach[.]'" Problem is we have an authoritarian approach in the US right now, and many Dems are complicit in building MAGA's AI-powered surveillance machine.

DHS accused of using surveillance tech to track legal observers in Maine

Cities around the country are debating whether to keep their automatic license plate readers. Concerns about privacy and federal immigration agents accessing local data are driving these debates.

Real-Time Crime Centers offer powerful new AI tech to investigate crime. They are funded/subsidized by fed dollars. What happens when those cameras are directed against protestors, immigrants, folks seeking medical care? Local surveillance can be co-opted by federal interests. What is the plan?

“Rather than generating identical posts or obvious spam, AI agents can generate varied, credible content at a large scale. The swarms can send people messages tailored to their individual preferences and to the context of their online conversations. The swarms can tailor tone, style and content…”

Meta said it planned to add facial recognition to its smart glasses. In an internal memo last year, Meta said the political tumult in the U.S. would distract critics from the feature’s release. nyti.ms/4qyZZlK

Are we living in a surveillance state? Yes. Are we powerless to accept this as a 21st century fact of life? No. We can change the law to radically reshape our digital world. New blog post: www.aclum.org/publications...

"The Massachusetts Department of Correction [] formally partners with ICE to transfer people who have finished their sentences: Since 2007, the state prison system has participated in the federal 287(g) program and [] regularly sends people exiting Massachusetts prisons directly into ICE custody."

Ring has always been a surveillance tool, but adding AI analysis and networking the devices together — like with its "Search Party" feature — turns discrete pieces of tech into massive, automated surveillance dragnets, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social writes. www.404media.co/with-ring-am...

Politicians are trying to suppress millions of voters with this "show-your-papers" bill. Urge your members of Congress to defend our democracy at aclu.org/stop_anti_voter_

Facial recognition is just one tech tool that ICE has deployed in Minneapolis, using it not only to identify undocumented immigrants but to track citizens who have protested ICE’s presence. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...

ICE has expanded its mass surveillance efforts. Online activists are fighting back.

USA Hockey has implemented a trans sports ban that applies to recreational "beer leagues." This isn't about fairness, it's about pushing trans people out of society. www.nytimes.com/athletic/700... Bypass here. archive.ph/JWufg

In a forthcoming paper, legal scholar Spencer Overton says the Trump administration's AI policy is another critical arena for its efforts to advance ethnonationalism, ensuring that problems such as algorithmic bias and discrimination are encoded into the systems that will shape the future:

When Mohsen Mahdawi was unlawfully detained by ICE for advocating for Palestinian human rights, he never lost hope that justice would prevail. Once he was released, he used his experience in detention as fuel to continue exercising his First Amendment rights in defiance of the Trump administration.

Paul Thomas Anderson won best screenplay at the Golden Globes for "One Battle After Another." Read AP's review of the film.

Massachusetts legislative leaders must ban the sale of cellphone location information NOW www.404media.co/inside-ices-...

BREAKING NEWS: The Washington Wizards have agreed to trade for Trae Young, sending CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Atlanta Hawks, sources tell The Athletic's David Aldridge and @joshrobbins.bsky.social.

Cambridge City Council will be CANCELLING its contract with mass surveillance company FLOCK – other municipalities should do the same. TAKE ACTION: mobilize.aclum.org/a/email-your...

New: cops used Flock AI-enabled cameras to monitor No Kings protests around the country. Also monitored No Hands protests and protests against DOGE. "Should serve as a warning of how it may be used in the future to suppress dissent." www.404media.co/cops-used-fl...

Massachusetts drivers are being tracked and their data is being shared nationwide — thanks to police using license plate readers (LPRs) made by Flock and other tech companies. Does your local police department use LPRs? Take action to find out: mobilize.aclum.org/a/email-your...

Flock’s mass-surveillance machine is a rapidly expanding location tracking system - and a privacy nightmare. Communities across the nation are calling for lawmakers to protect us from this unwarranted government surveillance. www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

Controversial license plate readers made by the company Flock Safety are still being installed by Chestnut Hill Realty in South Brookline, but whether the town’s police department will be able to use a stream of real-time information from them remains up in the air. brookline.news/select-board...

OPINION: PERSONAL DATA HAS become the de facto currency of the digital age, and we’ve surrendered more control over our lives than we may have realized. Our every click is treated […]

Flock Gives Law Enforcement All Over the Country Access to Your Location data.aclum.org/2025/10/07/f...

“[It] means a digital police state wherein law enforcement officials in far-flung jurisdictions outside of Massachusetts can track protesters, political opponents, immigrants, patients, and others not suspected of any crime and use the information to hurt them.” data.aclum.org/2025/10/07/f...

@wendyweiser.bsky.social explains the dangers of a federal bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote. It would “exclude, really, tens of millions of people and would just upend access to voter registration.” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...