In dedication to safeguarding digital privacy and community solidarity, Shareable has joined a coalition of over 25 mutual aid organizations, steered by digital rights champions Fight for the Future and Color of Change, to call on Congress to scrutinize and preempt the surveillance of activists.
This action is in direct response to allegations that Atlanta officials have misused PayPal data to impose racketeering charges on members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund for their aledged support of ongoing organizing efforts to Stop Cop City. With deep roots in the civil rights movement, this fund stands as a historic pillar of community support, dating back over a century.
The controversy centers around the arrest of three Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers during a horrific military-style raid by local and state cops. The organizers face charges linked to PayPal transactions for everyday items like glue sticks and a garden hose. These charges, widely regarded as trivial and unjust, have spotlighted the broader issue of financial surveillance by FinTech entities such as PayPal.
A comprehensive House judiciary report recently highlighted how law enforcement agencies have been increasingly leveraging financial institutions to surveil Americans, raising alarm across various sectors.
A letter from the coalition to Congress articulates the severe implications of unchecked financial surveillance, noting how it endangers the fundamental operations of mutual aid organizations.
The reliance on risky FinTech platforms like PayPal, despite their inherent privacy risks, underscores a pressing dilemma for mutual aid groups. These platforms facilitate swift financial transactions, essential for the survival of many community support networks, yet they expose users to surveillance and potential data exploitation.
Furthermore, Mutual Aid groups are facing threats to their very existence, particularly in Georgia, where it’s among the states introducing legislation intended to completely abolish bail funds.
Lia Holland from Fight for the Future, reinforced the broader implications of financial surveillance, “The stark reality is that financial surveillance is just as harmful and dangerous as surveillance of our communications.” Many social media companies are implementing default end-to-end encryption to protect our conversations, but meanwhile, FinTech companies are spying on us more than ever.”
Holland has co-organized this letter because of the pressing need for both the Congressional investigation into the “escalating abuses of intimate financial data in Atlanta” and the mandating of “end-to-end encryption for our financial lives.” They believe that these are both “important step[s] toward accountability and change.”
Mutual aid organizations and bail funds like the Atlanta Solidarity Fund stand as crucial lifelines for those navigating the challenging waters of legal systems and social injustices.
As Michael Collins, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Color of Change, adeptly puts it, the “Atlanta Solidarity Fund [is] a beacon of ethical engagement embodying the true spirit of community, standing against the tide of surveillance and unjust persecution.” Collins also points out that “Atlantans deserve a city that reflects their values, not one defined by militarized raids and intrusive surveillance.”
It’s clear federal protections are needed to ensure the support and safety of community organizers from persistent financial surveillance and threats of criminalization.
The signers of the letter, including current Shareable partners Mutual Aid Eastie and Mutual Aid Hartford are specifically urging Congress to:
- Defend the First Amendment rights of these and other protesters to dissent. Members of all communities should be able to protest peacefully and express their dissatisfaction with government plans without fear of attack. We call on Congressional leaders to condemn this wildly inappropriate law enforcement crackdown on the right to protest and against the historic role of bail funds in supporting popular resistance.
- Investigate the threat of abusive financial surveillance to traditionally marginalized communities, and take action to reduce the data-hungry practices of Big Banks and Big Tech that put users’ and activists’ rights at risk.
- Implore the Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta City Council to listen to the Atlanta community, defund Cop City, and cancel the construction lease. All charges against Stop Cop City activists and the Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers should be dropped, and all activists should have their arrest records expunged immediately.
- Champion the right to build community-owned and -governed alternatives to the abusive surveillance of today’s mainstream Big Tech and Banking systems, ensuring the creation of privacy-protecting technologies like Signal that protect vulnerable communities. The events in Atlanta illustrate that access to alternative technologies is becoming increasingly important. However, fear of prosecution has had a chilling effect on the creation and use of privacy-preserving tools. In the digital age, we urgently need private financial tools for safety, security, and organizing.
This call for a Congressional investigation into the misuse of financial data not only highlights the perils of financial surveillance but also underscores the enduring spirit of mutual aid organizations.
The fight for digital privacy and community autonomy is a clarion call for protecting the rights and freedoms that underpin the very essence of solidarity and support within communities across the globe.
Read the full letter: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2024-04-03-letter-mutual-aid-atlanta/
