We are ending our partnership with the Legion of Doom and proud to announce our new partnership with the Masters of Evil.

Douglas County sheriff swaps Flock for Axon

The sheriff says privacy concerns and lost trust drove the switch.

axios.com

Also, to underscore TBR's point about fireworks making the system even less accurate, this comes up in the Shotspotter contract! (courtesy Alex Marthews at @digital4th.bsky.social)

This was a triumph of organizing. Over two City Council hearings, almost 60 people spoke up against ShotSpotter. Their testimonies capped off years of tireless advocacy from a broad coalition including The Black Response, Digital Fourth, SURJ Boston, Cambridge for Palestine, and Cambridge DSA.

Cambridge Somerville Independent@csindie.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Cambridge vote calls for ShotSpotter gunfire detection to be turned off and dismantled within 90 days

update: they did

Stop ShotSpotter National Coalition@stopshotspotter.bsky.social · last yr.

Like all police surveillance tech, ShotSpotter is a tool of violence. Cambridge needs to cancel their contract. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Cambridge City Council voted tonight to revoke authorization for ShotSpotter real-time audio monitoring of poorer areas for gunfire-like sounds. We started work on this issue in 2016, shortly after the microphones were installed; the amazing Saul Tannenbaum alerted us to the problem.

The Trump administration has been building a system to strip legal permanent residents of their green cards, and now they have a dedicated unit to start pulling the trigger. Internal data obtained by the New York Times shows this new DHS unit has already reviewed nearly 2,900 cases,

The Massachusetts Consumer Data Privacy Act is one of the strongest bills in any state legislature. Call your state rep. today to tell them you support real data privacy! warrantless.org/2026/02/supp...

.@whipkclark.bsky.social really saw an issue where 9% of Democrats felt FISA should be reauthorized, and 80% thought it should be reformed or repealed, and thought yeah that sounds about 50-50 let's not whip Dems now what harm can Trump really do with FISA powers demandprogress.org/wp-content/u...

what is the fucking point of an opposition party that acts like this

Prem Thakker ツ@premthakker.bsky.social · 3mo ago

42 Democrats just joined 192 Republicans to reauthorize FISA Section 702 – a warrantless surveillance law that's been used to access Americans' data. Democratic leadership did not whip their members, enabling them to vote with Republicans and give Trump the surveillance powers.

People have gotten defensive when I dare question #Democrats about the #unconstitutional and #fascist over-reach they naively legislate at local, state, and federal levels These are UNPRECEDENTED times We have expectations The tyrants don't pretend to be our allies You're acting like frenemies 🧵⏬

Well done @whipkclark.bsky.social this is making you look just great people are really picking up on the subtlety of the whole "this bill is garbage but we won't whip on it because the caucus is divided and Jim Himes is good people" approach bsky.app/profile/prem...

Prem Thakker ツ@premthakker.bsky.social · 3mo ago

42 Democrats just joined 192 Republicans to reauthorize FISA Section 702 – a warrantless surveillance law that's been used to access Americans' data. Democratic leadership did not whip their members, enabling them to vote with Republicans and give Trump the surveillance powers.

In a dramatic scene that unfolded in the wee hours this morning, members of the House defeated a ploy by the administration and Speaker Johnson to ram through a 5-year reauthorization of FISA Section 702. Here’s what happened, and what will/should happen next. 1/20

Here's the full takedown of Johnson's and House GOP leadership's fake warrant ploy, from @lizagoitein.bsky.social and @hannahajames.bsky.social at the @brennancenter.org. #FISA #Section702 #FakeWarrant #VoteNO @housedemocrats.bsky.social

As @wyden.senate.gov would tell you -- with experts at @brennancenter.org @cdt.org @demandprogress.bsky.social @pogo.org and @aclu.org -- Mike Johnson's "deal" actually broadens the use of 702 data for standard criminal cases, and does nothing to stop backdoor searches. It's a fake warrant. Vote NO.

Vote NO on Mike Johnson's fake warrant for FISA 702, @housedemocrats.bsky.social @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @aguilar.house.gov @usprogressives.bsky.social. As @raskin.house.gov & @repmcgovern.bsky.social said on the Floor, this midnight-hour nonsense adds no protections and makes 702 worse.

Conservative Ohio congressman Warren Davidson with an important op-ed in @thehill.com about the need to reform Section 702 if Congress reauthorizes it, and to close the loophole that lets law enforcement skirt your Fourth Amendment rights with cash. thehill.com/opinion/cong...

Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights are not for sale

The FBI has admitted to purchasing commercially available data to track Americans’ movements and location histories, and Congress has the opportunity to close the data broker loophole and ren…

thehill.com

Thank you @masspirates.bsky.social for your help and publicity!

Massachusetts Pirate Party@masspirates.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This Wed. 4pm @digital4th.bsky.social and @quitgpt.bsky.social will protest renewal of FISA Section 702 outside the offices of US Rep. Katherine Clark at 157 Pleasant St #4, Malden. We fully support this protest and urge all Pirates to attend! masspirates.org/blog/2026/04...

Join us to protest Rep. Katherine Clark's silence on President Trump's AI-driven warrantless surveillance of Americans, at her office in Malden on Wednesday at 4pm! warrantless.org/clark-protest/

Another story on abuse of mass #surveillance data! 😩 "in 'one month‘s time,' the sheriff queried his wife’s license plate number approximately 152 times. His stated purpose was to assess the system’s reliability before a contract decision." Ban ALPRs! 🚫 #deflock #alpr

Jerome County sheriff used Flock cameras to search for wife’s vehicle, documents show

Documents obtained by KMVT revealed the sheriff was under investigation leading up to his announcement.

kmvt.com

⚠️ "Every city council gets the same pitch. 1. Only your agency controls your data 2. Federal agencies do not have direct access 3. Nobody from Flock is accessing your footage None survive the paperwork. The reality is that non-sworn city staff have access. As do Flock employees. As does the FBI."

Your data will be used against you (and be wrong).

Will Jones@willpjones.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Federal agents used cell phone data to place her near the protest (she was picking something up nearby), compared her d.l. photo to footage from the demonstration and concluded she resembled a participant and, 6 weeks later, stopped her car, cuffed and detained her for hours in a federal building.

#BookSky and #BlueSky family interested “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance” (released yesterday), here is a free excerpt from the book. @spectrum.ieee.org spectrum.ieee.org/digital-surv...

Caught by Your Own Devices: The Rise of Sensorveillance

Your car just called the cops on you. Find out how smart tech is changing the nature of surveillance.

spectrum.ieee.org

Write your Congressmember to say No To Mass Government Surveillance! Cosponsor PLEWSA/GSRA!. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/no-t...

No To Mass Government Surveillance! Cosponsor PLEWSA/GSRA!

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to ram through a reauthorization of the government's powers under FISA to spy on US persons' communications without a warrant, and without suspicion of any of us being i...

actionnetwork.org

A great rundown from @chadmarlow.bsky.social "maybe they need to think about whether or not we should actually be keeping a location dossier on every single person in the country, because any one of us *could* turn out to be a criminal? That seems like a decidedly un-American perspective" #deflock

Mass Surveillance EXPOSED as Plate Trackers Spread Nationwide

YouTube video by Legal AF

youtu.be

My latest for the @csindie.bsky.social: Some grants are more trouble than they are worth, and overtime is a dumb way to provide core services. csindie.com/somerville-c...

Somerville could have skipped these police grants that come with strings attached - Cambridge | Somerville Independent

The Somerville City Council accepted nearly $200,000 for the police department on Thursday. The debate was fractious, with stress spilling over from a chaotic Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday into...

csindie.com

"There is no mechanism to discover which agencies are using what custom hotlists, or for a person to discover whether they are on a custom hotlist, to challenge their inclusion, or to request removal. There is no judicial review, no expiration requirement, and no independent audit." #deflock #alpr

NEW: A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill requiring warrants for FBI searches of Americans' communications under FISA, aligning federal law w/ a 2025 ruling that found the practice unconstitutional. It would also ban the government from buying Americans' private data from data brokers.

US Lawmakers Move to Kill the FBI’s Warrantless Wiretap Access

A bipartisan bill would force the FBI to get a warrant to read Americans’ messages and ban the federal purchase of commercial data on US residents ahead of a critical April deadline.

wired.com

🔴 Surviving Surveillance Livestream with Stephen Perez of Restore The Fourth (RT4) - 3/14 @ 4pm ET Section 702 is the backdoor used to bypass your Fourth Amendment rights. Join us and Stephen Perez from Restore The Fourth to learn how to fight back. 🛡️ Link in the first reply! 🔗

Boston PD's general attitude to public records requests, whether filed by us or by members of the City Council, is to ignore them, which is a hell of an attitude to the law for a "law enforcement agency." flipsidenews.net/city-hasnt-d...

City hasn't disclosed BPD's communications with feds

Three Boston city councillors last week filed formal requests for information from the Boston Police Department about its collaboration and information sharing with federal law enforcement.

flipsidenews.net