Despite large tech companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon making public claims of “solidarity” with communities of color, companies of all sizes benefit from and profit off of policing and surveilling these same communities through contracts with police departments and other law enforcement agencies. These technologies increase police violence and detainment and aid and abet state sanctioned violence, disproportionately targeting Black and Brown communities. Some examples of this technology include predictive policing, facial recognition technology, prison recidivism models, and cloud storage for large-scale surveillance databases. To this, we say #NoCodeforCops.

We applaud the Boston City Council’s unanimous vote to defund facial recognition technology, joining with city councils across the country, but this step is not enough. We support the Muslim Justice League's call to get the BRIC Fustion Center out of Boston, and other calls to remove surveillance technology from police usage.

At the Boston Tech Worker Organizing Group, we are committed to confronting the tech industry’s role in the military industrial complex and urge you to join with us and commit to the following pledge:

1. We will not use our skills to support police violence and surveillance;
2. We will come together against systemic and institutional racism;
3. We will exert pressure on our companies to turn down police and law enforcement contracts;
4. We will create a cross-workplace, unified voice against building surveillance technology in the Boston area;
5. We will connect with other colleagues who share our values;
6. We will use our roles as tech workers to create change and make a difference, no matter where we work;
7. We must come together as tech workers in the Boston area.

Sign our pledge and commit to #NoCode4Cops to stand in solidarity.