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For Immediate Release
March, 11 2019, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Timothy Karr: 201-533-8838,,tkarr@freepress.net
Free Press Action and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Release Proposed 'Online Civil Rights and Privacy Act' to Combat Data Discrimination
WASHINGTON
On Monday, Free Press Action and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law released model legislation for Congress to consider in its ongoing online-privacy debates. This bill prioritizes combating civil-rights harms from the invasive privacy practices of tech and big data companies.
"Congress needs to prohibit the use of personal data to discriminate in employment, housing, lending, education, insurance and the right to vote," said Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee. "Civil-rights laws previously addressed these issues in brick-and-mortar commerce. These laws were never intended to omit the digital public square. It is time to update our toolkit for the data economy."
Commercial-data practices have disproportionate impacts on communities of color, women, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, religious minorities and other marginalized communities. By collecting huge swaths of personal information and feeding it into algorithms designed to profile individuals for ad targeting and engagement maximization, tech companies are engaging in and facilitating a new generation of segregation and discrimination.
This bill is a comprehensive data-protection act that builds on decades of civil-rights law and experience.
It prohibits discrimination in economic opportunities and online public accommodations; prohibits deceptive voter suppression; requires audits for discriminatory processing; restricts unfair and deceptive practices; limits the use of personal data to disclosed and foreseeable purposes; grants individuals the right to access and control their own data; establishes clear and thorough transparency and security rules; and empowers robust enforcement at the individual, state and federal levels.
"People need to feel confident that when they go online to shop, communicate, look for jobs and participate in our democracy, their personal information won't be exploited or used by companies to build tools that reinforce discrimination," said Gaurav Laroia, policy counsel at Free Press Action. "Biased algorithms have the potential to further harm people of color and other communities that are already under attack. This legislation enables people to protect their rights and will help us build a more just and equitable country."
The model bill is available here and a section-by-section description is available here.
Free Press was created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media. We believe that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what's actually happening in their communities.
(202) 265-1490LATEST NEWS
Pope Leo Delivers 'Rebuke' of Pete Hegseth With Anti-War Palm Sunday Sermon
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Pope Leo XIV used his Palm Sunday sermon to take what appears to be a shot at US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In his sermon, excerpts of which he published on social media, the pope emphasized Christian teachings against violence while criticizing anyone who would invoke Jesus Christ to justify a war.
"This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," Pope Leo said. "He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."
The pope also encouraged followers to "raise our prayers to the Prince of Peace so that he may support people wounded by war and open concrete paths of reconciliation and peace."
While speaking at the Pentagon last week, Hegseth directly invoked Jesus when discussing the Trump administration's unprovoked and unconstitutional war with Iran.
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President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to launch some kind of ground assault on Iran in the coming weeks, but one prominent military strategy expert believes he's heading straight for defeat.
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that the Pentagon is preparing for "weeks" of ground operations in Iran, which for the last month has disrupted global energy markets by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz in response to aerial assaults by the US and Israel.
The Post's sources revealed that "any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops" that could be used to seize Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub, or to search out and destroy weapons systems that could be used by the Iranians to target ships along the strait.
Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Post that taking over Kharg Island would be a highly risky operation for American troops, even if initially successful.
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Eisenstadt's analysis was echoed by Ret. Gen. Joseph Votel, former head of US Central Command, who told ABC News that seizing and occupying Kharg Island would put US troops in a state of constant danger, warning they could be "very, very vulnerable" to drones and missiles launched from the shore.
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In a Times article that drew particular ire, reporter Jeremy Peters questioned whether nationwide events that drew an estimated 8 million people to the streets "would be enough to influence the course of the nation’s politics."
"Can the protests harness that energy and turn it into victories in the November midterm elections?" Peters asked rhetorically. "How can they avoid a primal scream that fades into a whimper?"
Journalist and author Mark Harris called Peters' take on the protests "predictable" and said it was framed so that the protests would appear insignificant no matter how many people turned out.
"There's a long, bad journalistic tradition," noted Harris. "All conservative grass-roots political movements are fascinating heartland phenomena, all progressive grass-roots political movements are ineffectual bleating. This one is written off as powered by white female college grads—the wine-moms slur, basically."
Media critic Dan Froomkin was event blunter in his criticism of the Peters piece.
"Putting anti-woke hack Jeremy Peters on this story is an act of war by the NYT against No Kings," he wrote.
Mark Jacob, former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, also took a hatchet to Peters' analysis.
"The NY Times saves its harshest skepticism for progressives," he wrote. "Instead of being impressed by 3,000-plus coordinated protests, NYT dismisses the value of 'hitting a number' and asks if No Kings will be 'a primal scream that fades into a whimper.' F off, NY Times. We'll defeat fascism without you."
The Media and Democracy Project slammed the Times for putting Peters' analysis of the protests on its front page while burying straight news coverage of the events on page A18.
"NYT editors CHOSE that Jeremy Peters's opinions would frame the No Kings demonstrations and pro-democracy movement to millions of NYT readers," the group commented.
Joe Adalian, west coast editor for New York Mag's Vulture, criticized a Times report on the No Kings demonstrations that quoted a "skeptic" of the protests without noting that said skeptic was the chairman of the Ole Miss College Republicans.
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