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GAIN August Membership Meeting: Speakers Mass Surveilance and “Democracy on the Ballot”
August 19 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT
Seems like everyone’s talking about FLOCK cameras. Learn more from some of our local experts. Here’s the backgrounds of our speakers for GAIN’s upcoming membership meeting. Don’t miss this important discussion.
Allison Richardson “Exploring Mass Surveillance: what it is, how it has been used, and how it has affected our 4th amendment rights.”
This talk will address the concerns and issues around adopting AI driven mass surveillance technology. From automatic license plate readers, to facial recognition video cameras, to first responder drones, our technology is rapidly increasing, but what safeguards are in place to ensure it is used properly and that our rights to privacy are upheld? How has this technology currently been used and abused? What data does it collect, how is that data stored and who can access it? We will wrap up with some actions we can take at a local level to try to put safeguards in place to ensure our 4th amendment rights are upheld.
Allison Richardson is a member of the Steering Committee for Indivisible Maynard Area. In April she got connected to Mass50501’s Flock Off Campaign and learned that Mass50501 felt turning off surveillance may be the best way to disrupt ICE. She joined a coalition of folks from about 30 towns in MA including Framingham, Tewksbury, Salem, Woburn and Waltham with groups including LUCE, Billerica United, North Shore Progressives, Mass50501 along with a couple folks from ACLU of Massachusetts who are trying to turn off Flock Cameras in their towns, push for state legislation to regulate mass surveillance systems and pass local by-laws to protect our communities and 4th amendment rights.
Speaker: John Griffin “Democracy on the Ballot” John Griffin is the Executive Director of Partners in Democracy MA Action.
Before coming to PID, he spent a decade working in Massachusetts policy and politics, including as Massachusetts Policy Director at Democrats for Education Reform. He has experience advising nonprofits, campaigns, and civil society organizations on achieving their policy goals in both Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. John holds a Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and speaks French, Spanish, Italian, and Modern Greek. He lives in Walpole, where he also grew up and graduated from Walpole High School.ights.
A core principle behind all Indivisible and coalition partner events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.
