S.T.O.P. Condemns NYC’s COVID-19 Checkpoints

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View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Condemns NYC’s COVID-19 Checkpoints   (NEW YORK, NY, 08/05/2020) – Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy group, condemns New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement that the city would create COVID-19 checkpoints to track visitors from 35 states. Mayor de Blasio announced that the checkpoints at bridges, tunnels, and train stations would monitor for out-of-state visitors.   SEE: BREAKING: New York City will have CHECKPOINTS into the city to trace travelers from 35 states - with fines up to $10,000 if visitors do not quarantine for 14 days https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8596357/New-York-City-CHECKPOINTS-city.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus   “This is a ludicrous, invasive, and deeply dangerous plan,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Rather than addressing the city’s backlog in testing capacity and struggling contact tracing program, the Mayor is transforming this pandemic into a policing issue. It is unsurprising that this announcement is coming as the Mayor tries to distract New Yorkers from the resignation of his health commissioner. Checkpoints will mean expanding the NYPD at the moment New Yorkers demand we defund it. At a time when New York continues to suffer from community spread, conducting these dragnets of out-of-state travelers is just a distraction. Even if every driver complied with New York’s registration requirement, there’s simply no way that New York could confirm if travelers comply.”   The civil rights group previously opposed Governor Cuomo’s quarantine order for out-of-state travelers, noting that there was no plan to verify the information collected by travelers. The group feared that mass data collection created significant privacy risks, without any public health benefits.   SEE: Surveillance and the City: Cuomo’s Covid Security Theater https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/9628-surveillance-and-the-city-cuomo-covid-security-theater-quarantine-new-york The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider hosted by the Urban Justice Center. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color.   - END –   Copyright © 2019 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.