ONA Issues

The New York City Police Department is increasingly monitoring and targeting young people of color on social media in what critics say amounts to racial profiling. “Is the online surveillance of black teenagers the new stop-and-frisk?” asked a headline inThe Guardian, referring to the now-banned practice of stopping people on the street for “suspicious behavior.”

On top of that, members of the Black Lives Matter protest movement are now reportedly being targeted. Vice News broke the news in August that Deray Mckesson, a prominent civil rights activist, had been identified as a “professional protester” who was “known to law enforcement” and had his Twitter account monitored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Intercept also reported that DHS has been tracking the protest movement and even watching over events that seem innocuous, including a silent vigil and a funk music parade.

In other words, simply exercising your right to protest is enough to get you on the feds’ radar…

The threats to black privacy are why Matthew Mitchell organizes Harlem Cryptoparty. In his past life, Mitchell was a data journalist at the New York Times and, before that, a developer at CNN. Nowadays he works with journalists, activists, and specifically people in his community of Harlem, on issues surrounding digital security, privacy, and surveillance.

(Source: Vice Magazine)