The Multiracial Activist Newsletter
Special Alert 27 – September 4, 2015
The Multiracial Activist Newsletter is an informational digest of news, events, new websites and other information of interest to the multiracial and interracial community. Published irregularly, with special alerts as news items warrant. The Multiracial Activist Newsletter is registered with the Library of Congress, Washington, DC – ISSN: 1522-6905. Past newsletters and alerts are archived at: https://multiracial.com/newsletter.html
Special Alert 27
September 4, 2015
Editor, James A. Landrith, Jr.
https://www.multiracial.com/
email: editor@multiracial.com
The Multiracial Activist (TMA) has long supported civil liberties efforts captained by other organizations when in agreement with the goals of an advocacy campaign. Recently, TMA has been involved in an American Civil Liberties Union of California effort to keep enhanced driver’s licenses (EDL) optional in California via current legislation titled SB 249. The insecure nature and data vulnerabilities of the EDLs used by the State of California have been well documented and remain an unresolved problem to date. Further, the ability to use such chips for domestic surveillance, racial profiling and illegal data collection are also a long-standing concern.
Recent efforts included in the amended bill to protect the privacy and employment rights of Californians have been rolled back to allow employers to force (or terminate) employees to carry the EDL which contains the vulnerable tracking chip. In order to protect your privacy rights and ability to obtain or retain employment without being forced to adhere to carrying the EDL with the easily hacked RFID chip, Californians are urged to contact the following legislators:
- Senator Ben Hueso
- Assemblymember Mark Stone
- Assemblymember Luis A. Alejo
- Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia
- Assemblymember Ed Chau
- Assemblymember David Chiu
- Assemblymember Chris R. Holden
Below are some suggested talking points to use when contacting the legislators listed above:
- Californians should not be forced to give up their civil liberties, but today’s amendments to SB 249 allow employers to require employees to choose between their civil liberties and their job.
- Today’s amendments to SB 249 remove the “voluntariness” of EDLS. Sen. Hueso has repeatedly dismissed privacy and anti-tracking concerns by saying EDLs would be voluntary. Not only do today’s amendments remove the voluntary nature of the ID choice, they also remove many of the privacy and anti-tracking protections.
- Today’s amendments to SB 249 allow employers to discriminate on the basis of citizenship status. EDLs are only available to citizens and today’s amendments allow employers to require EDLs as a condition of employment. This would have the effect of allowing employers to prohibit immigrants from being employees.
- California has strong privacy protection laws, including restrictions on how standard driver’s license information and photos can be shared. Todays’ amendments to SB 249 exempt EDLs from many of those protections.
A copy of the marked up amendment is attached at this link: RN1526389
Sincerely,
James A. Landrith, Jr.
Founder & Publisher
The Multiracial Activist
https://www.multiracial.com