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Evan Greer

@evan_greer

21 Sep

Now that Trump has declared entire US cities "Anarchist Jurisdictions," maybe it's a good time to do a quick THREAD on anarchists and anarchism. Fascists throughout history have invoked these words to spread fear & seize power, but actually anarchy is about love & cooperation.

There are lots of different types of anarchists & strains of anarchism, but at a basic level anarchists believe that arbitrary forms of hierarchy are inherently oppressive, and that humans are better off organizing ourselves horizontally rather than thru laws enforced by violence

Anarchists believe in communities making decisions together through consensus & discussion rather than having those decisions be imposed by politicians or those with institutional power (say, bosses, religious leaders, or landlords.) They believe in mutual aid and solidarity.

Read 10 tweets

Evan Greer

@evan_greer

20 Sep

It feels like part of the reason that mainstream tech discourse has latched on so much to the specific problem of bias in AI, especially facial recognition, is that people are uncomfortable questioning the validity of institutions like policing.

It's much easier and safer to say "This software might be biased and therefore police shouldn't use it until it works right" than it is to say "this software will help police perform the functions of policing faster, and more efficiently, and that in and of itself is a bad thing"

The same could be said for corporations looking to use AI and things like face recognition for marketing or customer experience, etc. Yes, bias in these systems can exacerbate discrimination, but using software to extract ever more profit from humans is problematic from the start

Read 8 tweets

Evan Greer

@evan_greer

16 Sep

One of my problems with "The Social Dilemma" is that it makes the same mistake a lot of tech observers are making: it treats social media as if its cigarettes -- something that's addictive and bad with no value at all. The Internet is more like sex, drugs and rock & roll (thread)

Done wrong, it can be harmful, unhealthy, addictive, violating and corrosive. But done right it can be liberating, mind-expanding, transformative, and fun as hell. The problem with ignoring this is that it leads us toward "solutions" to Big Tech that do more harm than good.

We can't, and shouldn't, call for regulation of social media companies without acknowledging the fact that the Internet, and specifically the ability for user-generated content on the Internet to go viral, has transformed and revolutionized our society in profoundly good ways.

Read 14 tweets

Evan Greer

@evan_greer

15 Sep

Face ID is trending so I suppose now is a good moment to tell people not to use it.

1) normalizes biometric surveillance

2) weaker security than a passcode

3) there is legal precedent that cops can't force you to give you password, but can unlock using Face ID or thumbprint

Apple (ostensibly) stores your biometric data directly on your device, which makes it much more secure than, for example, a cloud based banking service with a facial recognition login, but in the end it's still normalizing the practice of letting corporations scan your face.

But to me this is less of a tech security issue and more of a basic common sense issue. If your stalker, or a cop, or your boss, or your neighbor's kid grabs your phone from you do you want them to be able to unlock it just by holding it up to your face? How is that security?

Read 4 tweets

Evan Greer

@evan_greer

9 Sep

BREAKING: Portland, OR just became the first city in the US (possibly the world?) to ban both government and corporate use of #FacialRecognition surveillance technology. Every city council should follow suit!

The city council and mayor unanimously approved two ordinances. The first is similar to those passed in Boston, San Francisco, etc. it bans all government use of facial recognition including use by police, schools, etc. notably this also includes use by TSA or airlines at PDX

The second ordinance is historic. It bans private businesses from using facial recognition in places of “public accommodation” as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. That means stores can’t use it on their customers, or on people walking by. It’s a huge deal.

Read 6 tweets

Evan Greer

@evan_greer

31 Aug

wow. i shouldn't be surprised by this, but I am. AT&T will throw its weight behind Trump's absolutely absurd Executive Order that would gut Section 230 & enable widespread Internet censorship. And they're doing it just to confuse ppl about #netneutrality. attpublicpolicy.com/fcc/the-neutra…

this is perfectly in line with Big Telecom strategies over the last few years. AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are some of the worst perpetrators of privacy violations and they routinely abuse their monopoly power. But they wave their hands and say "look over there at Facebook!"

Which works pretty well, because Facebook and other Big Tech companies are also doing terrible shit, and also have surveillance capitalist business models that are fundamentally at odds with basic rights and democracy. But AT&T wants us to think that you can only fix one of these

Read 11 tweets

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