Last month, digital rights group Fight for the Future declared success as they’d gathered 40+ major events to state they have no plans to use facial recognition technology on their guests. Now, the group has a new target: Amazon Music.
An editorial published on Medium yesterday outlines the goals of the campaign, called No Music For ICE! this holiday season. Several prominent artists have already pulled their music from Amazon over their ICE contracts and surveillance practices — this open letter aims to bring awareness to the company’s involvement with ICE and hopefully sway some artists to relinquish their music from the streaming service.
Back in October, Amazon announced that it would be hosting Intersect festival, an Amazon Web Services-sponsored experience described on the official website as a “place where music, technology, and art converge.” News of the festival sparked public criticism, with musicians and journalists disavowing Amazon for providing digital infrastructure that powers Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Many musicians who joined the conversation agreed: it is time to say NO to ICE and the tech companies that power it, like Amazon.
FFTF already released an open letter with demands of Amazon in October, and are now doubling down as the holiday season approaches.
“During the holiday shopping & travel season, when music sales are often at their peak,” the new editorial reads, “wouldn’t it be great if your art didn’t feed the infrastructure that allows government agencies to abuse human rights on a mass scale?”
You can read the full editorial on Medium here and learn more at No Music For ICE!
Photo by Valentin Wolf/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock
