Catch Our Net Neutrality Facebook Chat?

How culpable is the company for the constitutional and human rights violations of the deportation drive?

WASHINGTON – This weekend, President Trump threatened to send ICE agents to airports during the Department of Homeland Security partial shutdown, escalating his criticism of Congress for denying a blank check to the agency. “Border czar” Tom Homan has confirmed that the administration is planning to deploy these agents to airports across the country, despite their lack of training for airport security and interactions, and their clear track record of abusing their power, including through using excessive force against citizens and immigrants alike. If this plan proceeds as described by President Trump, it will be the first time a president has sent armed ICE agents to airports to replace trained security agents and instill fear in families and other travelers. DHS, still funded with the $170 billion it received last summer in extra funding, is partially shut down because Congress is demanding meaningful reforms, including an end to indiscriminate stops and racial profiling by ICE, enforceable standards and accountability for violent misconduct by federal agents, and requirements that agents identify themselves and take off their masks. The White House and Congressional majority leadership have refused bipartisan calls to fund TSA and other parts of DHS while negotiations continue over reining in immigration agencies. More than 410,000 people joined the American Civil Liberties Union to send messages to their members of Congress urging them to reject any bill that would fuel ICE and Border Patrol’s lawless operations. Public opinion is firmly against capitulating to further funding for the lawless federal immigration agencies without proper reforms. In response to this news, Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs for immigration at the ACLU, issued the following statement: “Never in our history has a president deployed armed agents to the airport to inspire fear among families. The American people don’t want to live in White House advisor Stephen Miller’s dystopian police state. ICE and other federal agents have already shown the cost to us all when the president deploys them on his whim to act as a domestic policing force. Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Keith Porter Jr., Ruben Ray Martinez, and thousands of protestors, journalists, and people across the country have endured the brunt of lawless agents. America’s families travelling to see loved ones should not have to deal with ICE agents who likely have no training or experience with the mission of airport security. “President Trump and his allies in Congress refused to fund TSA and manufactured a crisis at airports across the country. Now, the president apparently wants to use ICE as his private security force, reminding all of us that ICE is not retreating from lawlessness but assigned at will by the president for political retribution. “This is the exact opposite of what the American people are clamoring for, which are real, enforceable changes to rein in ICE and Border Patrol’s cruel deportation and detention obsession.” Those traveling domestically or internationally should know their rights when doing so.

Despite talk of "drones for good" from boosters, we're seeing a new, darker law enforcement “use case” for the technology

WASHINGTON — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) filed an amicus brief in Anthropic’s lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the company’s designation as a “supply-chain risk” by the Department of Defense. The designation purports to prohibit anyone from using Anthropic’s tools in connection with Defense Department work. Anthropic’s lawsuit argues that this designation was in retaliation for the company’s First Amendment-protected advocacy related to AI safety, including the urgent need for artificial intelligence (AI) guardrails that prohibit the U.S. military from using these powerful new tools for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. “AI-powered surveillance poses immense dangers to our democracy. Anthropic’s public advocacy for AI guardrails is laudable and protected by the First Amendment — not something the Pentagon should be punishing,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “Our privacy laws are lagging decades behind the government’s ability to capture and exploit our data using AI tools, which can easily reveal the most intimate details of our lives. Anthropic has been right to speak out, but Congress also must step up to protect us from mass spying.” The brief explains why Anthropic’s advocacy for AI guardrails is vitally important and describes the dangers posed by AI tools when applied to immense datasets containing sensitive information — including how these tools can invade privacy, chill speech, and facilitate discriminatory profiling. The groups also explain how existing U.S. privacy laws are inadequate to protect people in the United States, especially in light of loopholes the government has long exploited to justify sweeping surveillance. And it emphasizes why, as a result, Anthropic’s advocacy for strict limitations on the government’s use of AI is critical to protecting the public’s privacy interests. “AI can enable surveillance that is unprecedented in its detail, scope, and scale, and that poses a profound threat to the freedoms our democracy depends on. The right to privacy, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are fundamental to our country and to our Constitution,” said Samir Jain, vice president of policy at CDT. “By exploiting the data broker loophole, the government has access to unprecedented data on our lives, our routines, and our relationships. Combining that data with the power of AI would expand the Pentagon’s surveillance powers exponentially, and companies like Anthropic are well within their rights to push back on that outcome.” As the amicus brief shows, while Anthropic has rightly advocated for AI guardrails, people in the U.S. deserve a lasting legislative solution to protect their privacy. The ACLU and CDT have been vocal supporters of the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, a commonsense reform bill that would ban the government from buying data it would otherwise need a warrant to obtain.