I've been talking with @SethColaner at @VentureBeat a bit about COVID-19 and AI, but mainly I've been quiet about things publicly. I have loved ones who are immunocompromised and we live in the love of my life, NYC, aka the epicenter of the outbreak. /1 https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/08/ai-weekly-cdpa-bill-shows-progress-on-coronavirus-tracking-data-privacy-but-theres-still-a-ways-to-go/

We must get the virus under control. It's important that, as surveillance activists and sometimes-AI skeptics, we understand that the top priority for folks (ourselves included) is worrying about survival in a non-abstract way. But we must also remember that huge changes are /2

forged in a crisis. And gathering power becomes that much easier when the public is behind the cry for safety and a return to "normal", whatever that actually means. There are so many snake oil rallying cries for inescapable, identifiable, biometric surveillance in the crisis. /3

But if we let it, these same cries for safety will result in a transformation of life as we know it. An end to anonymity. A further shift of power away from the vulnerable, and into the hands of firms like Palantir. And through them, all of that data will be available to ICE. /4

We need better laws. A guarantee that our location at any moment in time or in history won't end up in the hands of law enforcement. And that our behavior won't be offered up to election campaigns who seek to undermine democracy. And short of this bill, which is insufficient.. /5

I don't see much evidence of that happening at all. We need to work together to make sure that our government knows: COVID-19 is not an excuse to trade our civil liberties, and only good regulation can protect us from the abuses of power that lie ahead. /end-of-rant.