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90 lines
4.1 KiB
90 lines
4.1 KiB
<section class="main-content">
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<blockquote><em>Write a list of things you would never do. Because it is possible that in the next year, you will do them.</em> <nobr>—Sarah Kendzior</nobr> <a href="#footnote1">[1]</a></blockquote>
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<p>
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We, the undersigned,
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are employees of tech organizations and companies based in the United States.
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We are engineers, designers, business executives, and others
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whose jobs include managing or processing data about people.
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We are choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans,
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immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods
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are threatened by the incoming administration’s
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proposed data collection policies.
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We refuse to build a database of people
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based on their Constitutionally-protected religious beliefs.
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We refuse to facilitate mass deportations
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of people the government believes to be undesirable.
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<p>
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We have educated ourselves on the history of threats like these,
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and on the roles that technology and technologists played
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in carrying them out.
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We see how <a href="http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/">IBM collaborated to digitize and streamline the Holocaust</a>,
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contributing to the deaths of six million Jews and millions of others.
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We recall the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans">internment of Japanese Americans</a>
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during the Second World War.
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We recognize that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide#Deportations">mass deportations</a>
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precipitated the very atrocity the word genocide
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was <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genocide#Etymology">created</a> to describe:
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the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey.
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We acknowledge that
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genocides are not merely a relic of the distant <nobr>past—</nobr><wbr>among others,
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<a href="http://www.rwandanstories.org/genocide/hate_radio.html">Tutsi Rwandans</a> and
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_genocide">Bosnian Muslims</a>
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have been victims in our lifetimes.
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<p>
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Today we stand together to say: not on our watch, and never again.
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<p>
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We commit to the following actions:
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<ul>
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<li>We refuse to participate in the creation of
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databases of identifying information
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for the United States government
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to target individuals based on race, religion, or national origin.
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<li>We will advocate within our organizations:
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<ul>
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<li>to minimize the collection and retention of data
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that would facilitate ethnic or religious targeting.
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<li>to scale back existing datasets
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with unnecessary racial, ethnic, and national origin data.
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<li>to responsibly destroy high-risk datasets and backups.
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<li>to implement security and privacy best practices,
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in particular,
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for end-to-end encryption to be the default wherever possible.
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<li>to demand appropriate legal process
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should the government request that we turn over
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user data collected by our organization, even in small amounts.
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</ul>
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<li>If we discover misuse of data that we consider illegal or unethical
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in our organizations:
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<ul>
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<li>We will work with our colleagues and leaders to correct it.
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<li>If we cannot stop these practices,
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we will exercise our <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/pages/california-whistleblowers.aspx">rights</a> and responsibilities to speak out publicly
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and engage in <a href="https://www.theengineroom.org/responsible-data-leaks-and-whistleblowing/">responsible whistleblowing</a>
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without endangering users.
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<li>If we have the authority to do so,
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we will use all available legal defenses to stop these practices.
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<li>If we do not have such authority,
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and our organizations force us to engage in such misuse,
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we will resign from our positions rather than comply.
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</ul>
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<li>We will raise awareness and ask critical questions
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about the responsible and fair use of data and algorithms
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beyond our organization and our industry.
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</ul>
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<div class="note">
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Note: Signatories’ references to affiliated organizations below
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are for identification purposes
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and are not intended to imply an endorsement by the organization.
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</div>
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<p>Signed,</p>
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