Privacy Toolkits
S.T.O.P. researches how emerging surveillance technologies impacts civil rights, privacy, and systemic racism. Learn about steps you can take to protect your privacy and your community. Check out our research reports, research blog, and videos for more information on the latest forms of mass surveillance.
S.T.O.P. collaborated with the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) and designer Aishwarya Srivastava to create “Unfriend the NYPD”, a booklet aimed at BIPOC youth and young adults in NYC. It explains how the police can surveil phones through messenger apps, social media, and geofences, and introduces the concept of a “risk profile”— how likely someone is to be targeted by police surveillance. As CUP retains ownership of the booklet, you can access this resource on their website.
Brought to you by S.T.O.P. in collaboration with Princeton University’s Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab, NYU Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), Brooklyn College’s Policing & Social Justice Project, and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, this video series illustrates how NYPD data is shared with ICE. Speakers outline the history of surveillance, its inescapable bias, and the dangers of how police data can be weaponized by ICE against immigrant communities.
Law enforcement routinely target peaceful protesters with destructive surveillance technology techniques. To help journalists conduct protest reporting, S.T.O.P. and PROTEST_NYC have created this toolkit with best practices on how to report on events in light of facial recognition and other emerging technologies that can allow police to weaponize photojournalism against protesters.
S.T.O.P. warns protesters law enforcement can use surveillance to monitor social media activities, track locations, break into your phone, and even collect DNA samples. S.T.O.P. offers suggestions to protect yourself against law enforcement when protesting injustice.
S.T.O.P. launched “Think Quick, Don’t Click,” a series of fake QR codes across New York. Instead of the promised comedy shows, trivia contests, arcades, and menus, these QR codes take unsuspecting New Yorkers to our newest education websites. Join us in pushing back against the growth of QR codes by asking for a paper menu the next time you’re out, or maybe even handing out a few QR codes of your own.
S.T.O.P. publishes the responses to a surveillance-focused questionnaire sent to candidates running in New York City. S.T.O.P. tracks the overall outlook on surveillance issues across the 2021 mayoral, comptroller, Manhattan DA, NYC Borough President, Public Advocate, and City Council races.
The remote bar examination software used in NYC uses invasive, error-prone, and biased technologies, while also putting students at risk of identity theft and other computer crimes. S.T.O.P. offers suggestions to law students to protect them from cyberattacks.