Moving off Meetup, preparing for a new fight

Eternal vigilance truly is the price of liberty

Hi there,

If you are reading this, chances are you’ve learned about our brand-new home through a post in the local Iowa City meetup dedicated to banning traffic surveillance. We are sun-setting the meetup in favor of a forum where we can have direct access to and communication with fellow activists. This Substack publication is that forum for now, with more to come soon.

As you might have joined the meetup a while ago, here’s a brief refresher on who we are and what we stand for:

We’re an Iowa City, Iowa-based non-profit citizens’ group that believes that digital and physical privacy is at the core of individual and societal well-being, and that technological progress doesn’t have to come at the price of accelerating loss of privacy and a host of other intrinsic rights that many of us hold dear.

We strongly hold that a dystopian future where everyone and everything is watched 24/7 no matter where they go is no more inevitable than a nuclear war or a biological catastrophe. Just because something is technologically possible doesn’t mean that we have to embrace it. And the technology that we do embrace can be deployed thoughtfully in a way that doesn’t subvert our fundamental freedoms and values.

Although the penetration of our daily routines with invasive, privacy-violating tech often seems unstoppable, we have proven first-hand that it’s mostly a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whether it’s removing security cameras from public bathrooms, banning facial recognition, or curtailing traffic surveillance, ours and dozens of other communities across the U.S. have shown that when citizens come together and act on their convictions, they can successfully fend off the erosion of their privacy and freedom of association rights.

As with any grassroot effort, our strength is in numbers and our ability to quickly mobilize citizens when there is a need for swift action. There are a couple of local privacy issues looming on the horizon for Iowa City residents, and we need your help.

If our message resonates with you, please hit the “Subscribe Now” button below and consider leaving us a comment!

You can also always reach us by email at team@stopbigbrother.org.

In liberty,

StopBigBrother.org team