Heidi Boghosian
| Heidi Boghosian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | New Britain, CT |
| Education |
Brown University Boston University Temple University Beasley School of Law |
| Occupation | Lawyer, activist |
| Parent(s) | Varujan Boghosian & Marilyn Cummins |
Heidi Boghosian, a lawyer, is the executive director of the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute. Previously she was the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive bar association established in 1937, where she oversaw the legal defense of people targeted by government. She also co-hosts the weekly civil liberties radio show Law and Disorder, which is based out of Pacifica Radio's WBAI, New York, and is broadcast to more than 25 states on over 60 nationally affiliated stations. She is a blogger for Huffington Post, as well.[1]
Government Surveillance
Boghosian's work often focuses on how technology affects our daily lives. In a 2010 Huffington Post article titled "Are You Chip-Ready", Boghosian discusses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology that has been making its way into many people's lives including students whose attendance can now be tracked by a RFID chip implanted in their student ID cards. Boghosian stresses that the effects of RFID technology are less positive than grossly negative. She points out identity theft, stalking, government spying, and security breaches as just some of the negative outcomes of RFID technology.[2]
In 2012, Boghosian documented her own data trail in order to demonstrate how everyday transactions and ventures are documented, most times without you realizing it. From the surveillance monitor outside of her apartment building, to a purchase at a local coffee shop, Boghosian attempted to show her point that corporations play a larger role in people's daily lives than realized.[3]
As was revealed in June 2013 by Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected metadata on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. Boghosian works to document the increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Later that month, Boghosian appeared on Democracy Now! to discuss how the FBI's use of drones for U.S. surveillance raises fears over privacy, widening corporate-government ties and how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs.[4]
Bibliography
Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance (City Lights, 2013) ISBN 978-0-87286-599-0
The Business of Surveillance, ABA Human Rights, Vol. 39 No. 3, 2013
Police Brutality: Opposing Viewpoints, Chapter: "Antiterrorism policies result in police abuse of dissenters (Greenhaven Press, 2006) ISBN 9780737733594
Applying Restraints to Private Police (Missouri Law Review, Vol. 70, Issue 1, Winter 2005)
The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent (North River Press, 2004) ISBN 978-0884271796
References
- ↑ "Heidi Boghosian Blog" retrieved 5/26/15]
- ↑ Boghosian, Heidi, "Are You Chip-Ready?", The Huffington Post, 26 May 2010. Retrieved on 6 September 2012.
- ↑ Shane, Scott, "One Woman’s Data Trail Diary", The New York Times, 31 August 2012. Retrieved on 6 September 2012.
- ↑ "FBI’s Use of Drones for U.S. Surveillance Raises Fears over Privacy, Widening Corporate-Gov’t Ties", "Democracy Now! .21 June 2013.