mastodon 4.5.18Digital rights are human rights. There's hardly anything as important as ensuring that our shared future has freedom of expression and creativity at its core.
Today Lowe’s heard from their shareholders & from US in San Francisco today! Flock’s surveillance tech makes customers want to shop somewhere else & they should drop their contract & remove every single camera.
@IndivisibleSF@sfba.social
@securejustice@techhub.social
At least 3 gay bars in the historic LGBTQ+ district in San Francisco are using face scan tech, often without patrons knowing.
This data collection, especially as Trump admin are pushing to generate ‘lists’ of trans people, is highly dangerous.
Why is facial recognition so dangerous for gay bars? 🤔
📋Venues that use facial recognition to scan & track their visitors are, fundamentally, building lists of gender, sexual minorities & their allies.
‼️VOTE HAPPENING TODAY- Massachusetts lawmakers wanted to pass some of the most invasive online ID check mandates in the country. After much pushback, the MA Senate has released their version of a social media bill which still has potential for harm!
We & @epicprivacy@mastodon.social have proposed key amendments (below) to this bill to make it more workable.
📲If you’re in Massachusetts CALL IN! Let’s ensure the final version protects our rights. Use our call tool at StopOnlineIDChecks.org/MA
Fascists are targeting the Queer & Trans community by normalizing surveillance & their vision of a sanitized, age-gated, tightly controlled Internet.
@fightforthefuture.org is a Queer & Trans led organization fighting back but we really your support...and we've got some pretty sweet gifts to show our appreciation! 🏳️🌈
Donate now: fftf.link/pride2026
We need corporations to cut contracts with Flock! Lowe’s is one of their biggest customers & anyone in their Lowe’s parking lots could be targeted by ICE. Lowe’s is worried this makes them look bad –with enough pressure we can get them to drop Flock! Dozens of cities, incl Eugene, OR & Denver, CO have turned their Flock cameras and/or canceled their contracts & your city can too! Use our toolkit to launch a campaign targeting local contracts w/Flock + ALPR companies:
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/flockout/#lowes
NEW: Fight for the Future endorses Sen. Markey’s ICE Out of Our Faces Act, a bill to ban ICE from using facial recognition tech & force them to delete all our face data.
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2026-02-04-statement-fight-endorses-ice-out-of-our-faces-act/
What’s happening on X with AI generated sexual images is problematic, not because it’s porn but because it’s non-consensual, harmful content being published by X.
And for those wondering, Section 230 DOES NOT protect it.
If you're in San Francisco we want to see you on May 29th!
We're teaming up with Bay Resistance, Tech Workers Coalition, Secure Justice and more to host an event to pressure Lowe's into dropping its contract with Flock, the notorious surveillance company that's been tapped by ICE to target our communities, used to investigate those seeking abortion care, and surveil protesters:
See you in San Francisco!
#flock #sanfrancico
"Digital archiving as we know it would not exist without the Internet Archive—without it, the world would lose its best public resource on internet history."
Read the full story: https://wired.trib.al/AM9FF6B
NEW: Tomorrow Senate Judiciary will markup the GUARD Act, the latest in a series of hastily drafted Congressional ‘child safety’ bills that would mandate surveillance & censorship via online ID checks.
Read our full statement here: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2026-04-29-statement-the-guard-act-is-a-poorly-disguised-universal-online-id-check-mandate/
House E+C hearing takeaways:
- Dems voted against KOSA due to the duty of care + against COPPA 2.0 due to preemption of state laws.
- With KOSA, the House is concerned with FTC overreach to police online free speech.
Both KOSA + COPPA 2.0 advanced through the committee on a partisan basis by Republicans - the fight isn’t over yet!
Next committee meeting on these bills will likely happen in January. In the meantime, keep the pressure on!
www.badinternetbills.com
Breaking: New bipartisan bill would make 2026 the year online protest organizing dies.
Dems and R’s alike have just indicated they plan to end the first amendment of the Internet next year. Our statement: https://fightforthefuture.org/news/2025-12-18-statement-2026-year-online-protest-dies/
✨BOSTON ✨ We’re calling on local human rights and tech justice advocates to join us for an evening of drag queens and drinks!
Join us TOMORROW for a Pride Month happy hour at Dani’s Queer Bar! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Connect with Fight for the Future’s leadership, learn how you can get more involved, and have a drink on us!
RSVP:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/dragging-tech-fight-for-the-futures-pride-happy-hour/
Happening today! Tune in!
How do online id checks impact abortion access? We’ll be discussing this and more of your questions tomorrow during our r/prochoice AMA with guests @eff@mastodon.social @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social and Woodhull Freedom Foundation:
“In the South.. these proposals mimic arguments that you see behind book bans & laws that criminalize gender-affirming health care & abortion information” out campaigner Sarah Phillips breaks down the battle against online ID checks for @WIRED@press.coop
https://www.wired.com/story/age-verification-is-sweeping-the-us-activists-are-fighting-back/
