Data Brokers: Don’t Let Your Data be Used For Human Rights Abuses

EFF, Amnesty International, Color of Change, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and our other coalition partners are urging data brokers to take a stand against government surveillance and discrimination based on religion, national origin, and immigration status.

As explained in a joint statement released today, data brokers collect and analyze huge amounts of personal data that could easily be used to identify and profile and track people in violation of their basic human rights.

EFF and our allies are calling on data brokers to disclose whether they’ve received government requests for their data, and to make the following pledge:

We will not allow our data, or services, to be purchased or otherwise used in ways that could lead to violations of the human rights of Muslims or immigrants in the United States. If we cannot guarantee that our data, or services, will not ultimately be used for such purposes, we will refuse to provide them.

You can read the full statement here.

If you’re in California, you can take action to protect your friends, coworkers, and neighbors. California state Sen. Ricardo Lara has introduced a bill that would prevent California from sharing state and local government data with the federal government, when that data could be used to create lists, registries, or databases based on people’s religion, national origin, or ethnicity. Take action now and show your support for S.B. 31.