litigate

2023 was a monumental year for S.T.O.P.’s legal team. We sued both Amazon and Starbucks, and we continued our work against the NYPD, suing them three times. At the tail end of the year, we secured a major victory in a class action lawsuit on behalf of women forced to remove religious head coverings by the NYPD, winning a $17.5 million settlement. 

Advocate & legislate

S.T.O.P.’s coalition-building and community partnerships proved fruitful in 2023. We started the year by launching the nation’s first comprehensive anti-surveillance legislation package, and throughout the year, continued to grow our “Ban The Scan” campaign against facial recognition. Using a bill we helped author, California banned “excited delirium”—a term often used to justify racist police violence—as a cause of death. And through calls to action, publicity campaigns, and pressers and rallies, we made sure our messages were heard.

REsearch

This year, S.T.O.P. continued to utilize research to resist dangerous and convoluted narratives promoted by the police and tech corporations about the realities of the surveillance state. We wrote about topics including the surveillance risks of smart homes, dangers of ShotSpotter, and much more.

S.T.O.P.’s research is essential in correcting the narrative regarding surveillance. We released seven papers in 2023, spanning topics from video games to the classroom.

MEDIA

In 2022, we were quoted in over 300 articles and placed 27 S.T.O.P. authored op-eds in local, national, and international outlets. We also launched our “Tech & Society Salon” discussion series, collaborated on a viral video, and were featured on Last Week Tonight by John Oliver.

fIGHTING FACIAL RECOGNITION

After more than two years working to introduce two bills banning forms of facial recognition in New York city, S.T.O.P. and the “Ban The Scan” coalition saw the legislation introduced into the city counsel

S.T.O.P., since the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24th, 2022, has geared its resources towards fighting the surveillance state’s threats to abortion rights and to the safety of people who can get pregnant. Our published report Pregnancy Panopticon: Abortion Surveillance After Roe hit a record number of views for S.T.O.P.. We’ve also worked to amplify and uplift the work of those seeking to provide safe and accessible abortions for all. More can be found on our Abortion Surveillance page.