Public Invasion Tammy The Bus Stop Pickup
Atila Kalina
This went on until I somehow broke them: they gave up and we mostly stopped speaking. But they let me keep driving their Honda as long as I kept my grades up and got a job every summer. At sixteen, I worked as a lifeguard at a public park, collecting cash for paddleboat rentals and ensuring patrons were equipped with life jackets. Because I was a pothead, I skimmed off the paddleboat operation to order myself deliveries, which came in through a chain-link fence behind the shed where I was stationed.
For the rest of the summer, he drank heavily, and seemed even rowdier than he had before he left. At first, I liked having him back, and relished the familiar scent of his Drakkar Noir cologne. But I began to miss my independence.
He seemed to accept my explanation, and let it go. But the next time I arrived at his house for a party, I was faced with hostility. The two blondes stood in the kitchen holding beers to their lips, the tall one giving me her signature glare from under a grey beanie. I walked back outside to smoke a cigarette. Jack followed me out. He seemed drunk. The dark night hung heavy over our heads.
Jack appeared sober and serious when we sat in his blue truck, parked in an alley on a sunny day. He looked at the floor and cried, his face red with shame. He sounded genuine when he apologized, and for a moment, I pitied him. There was something tender about this, the two of us intimately connected through violence. But the conversation quickly turned to practical matters.
He and I lay in my bed one late night after a rave, covered in cold sweat, when I heard the sharp click of the metal lock on my door. The door opened a crack and then quickly closed. Had we left it unlocked, and had some drunk person stumbled into the wrong dorm room? My boyfriend jumped up and looked out into the hall before quickly slamming the door and hitting the deadbolt. His eyes were wide.
From across the parking lot, I could see the lines in her face deepening into a scowl. Too stunned to process her threat, I watched as the brunette climbed into her black truck to occupy what had once been my seat.
The attorney responded that the judge had recommended a misdemeanor domestic battery charge, which carried a maximum of one year in jail. But because he was already on probation for a felony, he received a two-and-a-half-year sentence and likely served only half.
Encouraged, I dug deeper. From newspaper clippings, I was able to find out the real reason Jack had been in jail the summer before we started dating: he served seventy-eight days for a violent home invasion. He had punched through a window in order to break, enter, and attack the man who lived there.
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"Technologies like contact tracing, home testing, and online appointment booking are absolutely essential to stop the spread of this disease, but Americans are rightly skeptical that their sensitive health data will be kept safe and secure," Blumenthal said. "Legal safeguards protecting consumer privacy failed to keep pace with technology, and that lapse is costing us in the fight against COVID-19. This measure sets strict and straightforward privacy protections and promises: Your information will be used to stop the spread of this disease, and no more. The Public Health Emergency Privacy Act's commitment to civil liberties is an investment in our public health."
"I'm exceedingly proud of the American innovators, many of whom are in my congressional district, who have built technologies to combat the coronavirus. As these technologies are used, they must be coupled with policies to protect the civil liberties that define who we are as a nation," said Eshoo. "The Public Health Emergency Privacy Act is a critical bill that will prohibit privacy invasions by preventing misuse of pandemic-related data for unrelated purposes like marketing, prohibiting the data from being used in discriminatory ways, and requiring data security and integrity measures. The legislation will give the American people confidence to use technologies and systems that can aid our efforts to combat the pandemic."
"Technology has become one of our greatest tools in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic but we need to build trust with the broader public if we are going to reach its full potential. Americans need to be certain their sensitive personal information will be protected when using tracing apps and other COVID-19 response technology and this pandemic-specific privacy legislation will help build that trust," said DelBene. "Data privacy should not end with the pandemic. We need comprehensive privacy reform to protect Americans at all times, including state preemption to create a strong, uniform national standard. I hope that this crisis has shed light on the lack of adequate digital privacy policies in our country and look forward to working with these lawmakers and others to create the necessary standards moving forward."
The Public Health Emergency Privacy Act is endorsed by Access Now, Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), the Center for Digital Democracy, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, New America's Open Technology Institute, and Public Knowledge.
"A public health crisis is not the time to give up on our privacy rights, and this bill would go a long way toward protecting those rights. COVID-19 response apps are already out there, and this bill will help ensure that the apps are distributed and used in a responsible manner that will limit the new and expansive surveillance systems companies are building. Allowing these apps to proceed unchecked would create serious privacy violations that will never be undone," said Eric Null, U.S. Policy Manager at Access Now.
"The Public Health Emergency Privacy Act shows that privacy and public health are complementary goals. The bill requires companies to limit the collection of health data to only what is necessary for public health purposes, and crucially, holds companies accountable if they fail to do so," said Caitriona Fitzgerald, Interim Associate Director and Policy Director with Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
"Public health measures to contain the deadly spread of COVID-19 must be effective and protect those most at risk. Where data are collected or used, they should not be misused to undermine privacy, fairness and equity, or place our civil rights in peril. The Public Health Emergency Privacy Act ensures that efforts to limit the spread of the virus truly protect all our interests," said Katharina Kopp, Director of Policy for the Center for Digital Democracy.
"Common Sense calls on Congress to pass meaningful privacy safeguards for families. More than ever, the pandemic has highlighted how important it is that families can trust how their information is being collected, used, and shared. PHEPA is an important proposal to ensure technologies and data being used to combat COVID are used in privacy-protective ways, and it also can serve as a model for how Congress can comprehensively protect privacy in the near future," said Ariel Fox Johnson, Senior Counsel for Global Policy with Common Sense Media.
"OTI welcomes the re-introduction of this legislation that would establish strong safeguards to prevent personal data from being used for non-public health purposes and prevent the data from being used in a discriminatory manner. The ongoing privacy threats and urgency of the pandemic make these protections more important than ever," said Christine Bannan, Policy Counsel at New America's Open Technology Institute.
"As contact tracing apps and other types of COVID-19 surveillance become commonplace in the United States, this legislation will protect the privacy of Americans regardless of the type of technology used or who created it. It is critical that Congress continue to work to prevent this type of corporate or government surveillance from becoming ubiquitous and compulsory," said Sara Collins, Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge.
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