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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 2d

Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies.

There is no time to delay.

Israel/Palestine: Microsoft Should Avoid Contributing to Rights Abuses

Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies, Human Rights Watch...

www.hrw.org

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · 2d

New calls on Microsoft to suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses & international crimes by the Israeli military & other government bodies
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

@hrw.org @accessnow.org @amnesty.org @7amleh.bsky.social @eff.org @fightforthefuture.org

Israel/Palestine: Microsoft Should Avoid Contributing to Rights Abuses

Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies, Human Rights Watch...

www.hrw.org

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Aug 4

If you read one thing today, let it be this by @eminacerimovic.bsky.social

Survivors of genocide and starvation should not have to retell their stories and relive their trauma. But when they do, we should listen. And act.

archive.ph/NCbTj

What Palestinians in Gaza are going through brings back all the trauma of my childhood in Bosnia | Opinion

In the early 1990s as Serb armed forces besieged towns, the local people and displaced people like me and my family experienced severe and persistent food shortages, writes Emina Ćerimović.

www.inquirer.com

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Jun 19

The deportation of dissent. Important read of one journalist’s account
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation

As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.

www.newyorker.com

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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · May 13

Why are governments talking about killer robots? 🔊 ⤵️

Governments should seize the opportunity to adopt a new international treaty to address killer robots' threats to human rights.

#StopKillerRobots

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Anna Bacciarelli @abacci.bsky.social · May 12

New @hrw.org report: a deep dive on the gig economy in the US, by @lenasimet.bsky.social, @amostoh.bsky.social + me. It looks at 7 major platform companies, the extractive business model, and a growing workforce reliant on precarious work that denies them hard-won rights. www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

US: Major Companies Violate Gig Workers’ Rights

Major digital labor platforms, also known as gig companies, operating in the United States misclassify gig workers as independent contractors, denying them labor rights.

www.hrw.org

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · May 8

We hosted an event on “digital authoritarianism and democratic freedom” last night at Columbia. Meanwhile there were NYPD helicopters overhead, strange surveillance vehicles like this outside, and eventually a battalion of NYPD special ops called in to end a student occupation of the library.

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · May 9

Will do! <3 Nicole

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · May 8

@hrw.org @article19.bsky.social and IFOD wrote to Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and X urging them to uphold the right to freedom of expression of your users in Türkiye and resist Turkish state censorship 👇

www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

Joint Open Letter to Social Media Companies on Censorship in Türkiye

We the undersigned civil society organizations urge your companies to uphold the right to freedom of expression of your users in Türkiye and resist Turkish state censorship that restricts expression p...

www.hrw.org

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · May 8

Turkish authorities have escalated their crackdown on free expression & social media companies are complying with arbitrary requests. On May 8 X blocked access to the account of jailed Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu

Social media companies should resist Turkish state censorship
www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · May 1

Excited to join this fantastic line up of speakers for the launch of the 2025 Ranking Digital Rights index. No better time to reflect on lessons learned from a decade of pushing for accountability for tech companies. Not in DC? tune in online today at 10am ET 👇

forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Poster for launch event for the 2025 RDR Index: Big Tech Edition May 1

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Nanjala @nanjala.bsky.social · Apr 29

One argument that I make repeatedly in my work is that many of the things that technologists call “inefficiencies” are moments where people are able to take back power from the state. You don’t want the state to have a monopoly on data because the state is not always a positive or even neutral actor

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Apr 26

CNN reports that the oligarch is building a "master database to speed-up immigration enforcement and deportations by combining sensitive data from across the federal government" with the help of Palantir, to create "targeting lists".

That all sounds very very bad.
edition.cnn.com/2025/04/25/p...

Elon Musk’s DOGE team is building a master database for immigration enforcement, sources say | CNN Politics

Staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are building a master database to speed-up immigration enforcement and deportations, by combining sensitive data from across the federal g...

edition.cnn.com

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Nanjala @nanjala.bsky.social · Apr 29

Those of us who live or have lived in authoritarian regimes will tell you that data collection is an obsession of authoritarianism. Not that data collection is inherently bad - but that authoritarian regimes rely on procedurality to mask the cruel reality of what they do - self absolution.

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Apr 24

A sobering and dark, but essential read. This was a herculean effort by @hrw.org colleagues 👇
100 Human Rights Harms in 100 Days: The Trump Administration’s Assault on Rights in the US and Abroad www.hrw.org/feature/2025...

100 Human Rights Harms in 100 Days

To mark the first 100 days of President Trump's second term, Human Rights Watch has cataloged 100 of the administration’s executive policies, orders, and actions that pose significant risks to the hum...

www.hrw.org

deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Apr 16

My latest for @justsecurity.org on what Trump's call to eliminate “information silos” within government means for human rights. This dangerous and dystopian move underscores the desperate need for comprehensive privacy and data protection laws in the US @hrw.org
www.justsecurity.org/110133/what-...

DOGE's Growing Reach into Personal Data: What it Means for Human Rights

Congress should update the Privacy Act to prevent DOGE from violating U.S. international rights obligations by creating a massive database.

www.justsecurity.org

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Apr 16

Terrifying read. Sensitive personal data left exposed. Labor rights undermined. Intimidation of a whistleblower. Basic cybersecurity principles violated.

Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · Apr 15

NEW from me: A whistleblower says DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data...and then someone posted a threatening letter to his door.

www.npr.org/2025/04/15/n...

A whistleblower's disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data

A whistleblower tells Congress and NPR that DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data and hid its tracks. "None of that ... information should ever leave the agency," said a former NLRB official.

www.npr.org

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Apr 11

Now a social security database being weaponized to cut people off from essential financial services so that they “self deport”. Putting aside the inhumanity of the approach, the list included a 13 yo & 7 other minors and may rely on faulty data
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...

Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers

By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.

www.nytimes.com

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Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock.cc · Mar 22

Information Silos exist for very good reasons.

Do you want your medical data, tax data, social media days, etc combined in one place and made available to anyone in the federal government?

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · Mar 22

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:Section 1. Purpose.

www.whitehouse.gov

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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · Mar 19

In yet another crackdown on LGBT rights, Hungary’s parliament has passed a law that will outlaw LGBT Pride and similar events.

The law, which penalizes organizers and attendees, also authorizes the use of facial recognition technology to identify attendees.

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Philippe Dam @philippedam.bsky.social · Feb 27

#Egypt: UN Experts call for release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, as his mother's life is in danger after 148 days of hunger strike

@eudiplomacy.bsky.social: stop ignoring flagrant crackdown on free speech, make human rights core in future relationship

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel... @euinegypt.bsky.social

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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · Feb 26

A new McCarthy era is upon us. Stupid, depressing, and dangerous as ever. I wonder whose name will carry the dunce cap in the history books. Too many are complicit. I’ll need to find upset and action, but for now I’m feeling grief at the dehumanization inherent to all this.

Gov Hochul orders CUNY remove Hunter college Palestine studies job posting calls for probe into ‘antisemitic theories’

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Feb 24

“This continuing, unauthorized disclosure of the plaintiffs' sensitive personal information to DOGE affiliates is irreparable harm that money damages cannot rectify," the judge wrote.

Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE

Disclosure of personal information to DOGE “is irreparable harm,” judge rules.

arstechnica.com

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Zach Campbell @notzachcampbell.bsky.social · Feb 14

The UK should drop its order to Apple demanding access to encrypted user data. Strong encryption should be the norm, and this order threatens the rights of users worldwide

www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...

UK Encryption Order Threatens Global Privacy Rights

The United Kingdom government’s order to Apple to allow access to encrypted cloud data harms the privacy rights of users in the UK and worldwide.

www.hrw.org

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deblbrown.bsky.social @deblbrown.bsky.social · Feb 14

US federal employees learning what activists, journalists , and people living under repressive governments have known for years www.theverge.com/news/610951/...

Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook

Chaos in Washington, DC, is forcing some to move to new platforms.

www.theverge.com

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Anna Bacciarelli @abacci.bsky.social · Feb 6

Google has revised its AI Principles, scrapping a previous veto on developing AI weapons. A global industry leader suddenly abandoning its self-proclaimed prohibited uses of AI underscores why voluntary principles are not a substitute for regulation and enforceable law. www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...

Google Announces Willingness to Develop AI for Weapons

Google, a company that once went by the motto “don’t be evil,” appears to be changing tack. The tech giant on Tuesday announced significant changes to its artificial intelligence (AI) policy that had ...

www.hrw.org

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