Organized by Accountable Tech, Fight for the Future, and UltraViolet, a broad and diverse coalition of more than 50 civil society organizations today sent a letter to Democratic stronghold states calling for immediate action to protect individuals’ data and privacy under President Trump’s administration. The letter – which was sent to Governors and legislative leaders of the 15 states with Democratic trifectas – comes as Elon Musk gains access to millions of Americans’ private data and as tech CEOs continue their unprecedented capitulations to President Trump in the form of financial contributions, algorithmic changes, and policy updates. Tech company data has already been used to aid in the prosecution of abortion seekers and to locate, arrest and deport immigrants.
“By tracking our every click, hover, and movement on and offline, Big Tech companies represent a powerful weapon for carrying out the Trump administration’s surveillance, prosecution, degradation, and deportation of people,” the organizations write. “To counteract the dangerous alignment of Big Tech and Trump’s authoritarianism and extremism, it is of the utmost urgency for your state to pass legislation to erect a firewall between government and Big Tech, safeguard our sensitive personal data, curtail Big Tech’s incentives for the collection and retention of data, and empower people with control over their own data. These are universally popular measures for data privacy and consumer protection that will impede President Trump’s agenda to punish political opponents, deport millions of people including citizens, restrict access to reproductive care, and undermine LGBTQ+ rights.”
“State lawmakers must act now to protect Americans from the constitutional abuses of Trump, Elon, and their billionaire friends,” said Nicole Gill, Executive Director of Accountable Tech. “Tech CEOs have made it blindingly clear that they will stop at nothing to kiss the Trump ring – do we really expect Zuckerberg and his pals to protect our private data if and when Trump and Elon demand it? Just 15 states have Democratic trifectas, and it is up to them to enact immediate protections for their constituents. Elon and Trump may have weaponized our federal government, but states can – and must – fight back.”
“For far too long, Democrats have failed to protect our communities from the predatory and dangerous bulk data collection of Big Tech—from license plate readers, to facial recognition, to AI that tracks our daily routines, to data brokers that broadcast the intimate personal data of our lives for anyone to exploit,” said Lia Holland (they/she) Campaigns and Communications Director at Fight for the Future. “Now, we are living the results of this neglect through the human rights abuses of the Trump administration. Many common sense measures have been proposed around the nation to protect activists, immigrants, abortion patients, queer folks, whistleblowers, and journalists from having data about them used to harm them. But, these have largely been deprioritized in favor of Big Tech’s flashy marketing campaigns and the bureaucratic convenience of collecting all the data, on all the people, and keeping it forever. There has never been a more urgent mandate for Democratic leaders to finally step up and lead on the human right to privacy.”
“We are not even a month into Trump’s second administration, and complete rollbacks of hard-won protections–for women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and more–are already in full force,” said Jenna Sherman, Campaign Director, UltraViolet. “This time, however, Trump and his acolytes have the full, overt allegiance of Big Tech, which has proved all too eager to carry out the administration’s bidding, putting every user at risk in the process. The use of everyday tech to surveil and control isn’t new, nor specific to Trumpism, but it is now rapidly heightening as the line between private tech and government blurs. Dem trifecta states offer us the opportunity to proactively create stronger protections for historically marginalized groups against harmful oversight and actions by the federal government. Pregnant people are already being surveilled, trans people algorithmically discriminated against. The time for action is now.”
Read the full letter and list of signatories here.
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