German Calderon

A decade-long fight over worker power may be coming to an end Republicans want to give Uber workers benefits. There’s a catch.

"Unions view codifying portable benefits largely as a way to keep misclassifying workers and therefore cut them off from core workplace protections, including the right to unionize."
www.vox.com/policy/42189...

How companies make money tracking you - TechEquity Collaborative Companies aren’t surveilling us just to violate our privacy and make us feel unsafe. They’re surveilling us to make money. This is how.

In fact, 78% of employers surveil their remote workforce, and over one-third of employers specifically do so through a live video feed.

Why? Well, it’s all part of the surveillance economy. techequity.us/2025/08/05/s...

Thousands of once-secret California police files made public in searchable database The Police Records Access Project database, built by UC Berkeley and Stanford and distributed by news outlets including the Chronicle, allows searches by name, agency or keyword.

The Police Records Access Project database, built by UC Berkeley and Stanford and distributed by news outlets including the Chronicle, allows searches by name, agency or keyword.

❗🚨

When 'Bossware' Manages Workers: A Policy Agenda to Stop Digital Surveillance and Automated-Decision-System Abuses - National Employment Law Project Our report highlights the problems posed by employers’ excessive and inappropriate use of technology to monitor and manage workers.

Bossware is on the rise—and it’s threatening #WorkersRights.

Our policy agenda examines how unchecked workplace surveillance is degrading job quality & highlights worker-led solutions that use tech to empower, not exploit. It's time for lawmakers to follow their lead: www.nelp.org/insights-res...

How Video Games Became the New Battleground for Actors and AI Protections Voice actors ended their 11-month strike against the video game industry, but their fight against AI is just beginning.

"Game companies owe actors “basic working conditions and decency,” says Elmaleh, pointing to the value actors add to games. “Otherwise they wouldn't be here negotiating with us.”

www.wired.com/story/video-...

AI increasingly plays a role in how much gig drivers get paid—and it’s not working out in their favor.

Yesterday, we joined gig workers and orgs like Gig Workers Rising to demand more transparency into how AI decides worker pay.

@german-c.bsky.social

Uber's Inequality Machine Data on How AI-Driven Pay is Harming Workers and What We Can Do to Push Back

If you haven't already, check out their most recent report that surveyed more than 2,500 drivers! www.powerswitchaction.org/resources/ub...

Great turnout today in San Francisco with @powerswitchaction.org & Gig Workers Rising!

@techequity.us stood in solidarity alongside drivers, gig workers, and other community partners against AI-driven pay that harms workers. ✊🏽

Uber's Inequality Machine Data on How AI-Driven Pay is Harming Workers and What We Can Do to Push Back

Imagine going to work each day not knowing how much you’ll get paid. If you’re an Uber driver, you face that grim scenario every day.

Our new report based on a survey of 2,500 drivers paints a bleak picture of what it's like to work at the whim of AI.

www.powerswitchaction.org/resources/ub...

State Farm accused of ‘illegal scheme’ that left California wildfire survivors underinsured Attorneys for Los Angeles wildfire survivors allege that the insurance company misused reconstruction cost estimation programs to lowball home rebuild costs.

"In the State Farm lawsuit, attorneys allege that the company deliberately misused the software to save time and operating costs." www.sfchronicle.com/california-w...

CFBP Quietly Kills Rule to Shield Americans From Data Brokers Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has canceled plans to more tightly regulate the sale of Americans’ sensitive personal data.

NEW: “By withdrawing the CFPB’s data broker rulemaking, the Trump administration is ensuring that Americans will continue to be bombarded by scam texts, calls and emails," says Sean Vitka, executive director of Demand Progress.

A scoop:

A ‘silent threat’: California officials announce hearing into wildfire victim underinsurance following Chronicle investigation A state board plans to hold a hearing on potential legislation to address underinsurance caused by flawed algorithms, unearthed by Chronicle reporting.

"A major driver of the problem is insurance companies’ reliance on a fundamentally broken system to predict rebuilding costs, the Chronicle’s investigation found." www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Exclusive: DOGE-led software revamp to speed US job cuts even as Musk steps back The federal human resources agency at the heart of billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to slash the federal workforce is poised to roll out software to speed layoffs across the U.S. government, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

"If you automate bad assumptions into a process, then the scale of the error becomes far greater than an individual could undertake." www.reuters.com/business/wor...

"The value that delivery workers provide comes at personal cost."

Are you a US-based tech industry worker who contributes to AI systems?

We’re looking for workers willing to take an anonymous 10-minute survey about what it’s like to perform the labor that makes AI technology possible. survey.alchemer.com/s3/8239429/A...

How Geo Group’s Surveillance Tech Is Aiding Trump’s Immigration Agenda Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.

Geo Group, the largest private prison operator in the U.S., has built technology that is aiding President Trump’s deportation efforts by providing the whereabouts of unauthorized immigrants to ICE, according to legal aid groups and immigration organizations.

A broken system is keeping California homes underinsured. Millions are at risk California's biggest insurance companies are using faulty algorithms and flawed processes to estimate rebuilding costs — leaving millions of homeowners unprotected from disaster.

Using faulty algorithms and flawed processes, the state’s biggest insurance companies routinely underestimate what their clients will need to rebuild. For wildfire survivors, it's a gut punch at the worst possible time.

Today, we are announcing the formation of United Videogame Workers-CWA, an industry-wide union formed by @codecwa.bsky.social and @cwaunion.bsky.social 💪🎮

We're launching at #GDC2025 this morning to build a video game industry that works for us. We're done playing.

Is tech making things more expensive? Pricing exploitation 101 - TechEquity Collaborative New technologies are enabling companies to commit pricing exploitation at a speed and scale not seen before.

Tech enables companies to change prices on a dime—even if you’re shopping in person—making it easier than ever for companies to price gouge.

Learn more about how companies are using tech to raise prices: techequity.us/2025/03/20/p...

Emboldened by Trump, A.I. Companies Lobby for Fewer Rules After the president made A.I. dominance a top priority, tech companies changed course from a meeker approach under the Biden administration.

"Many A.I. policy experts worry that such unbridled growth could be accompanied by, among other potential problems, the rapid spread of political and health disinformation; discrimination by automated financial, job & housing application screeners; and cyberattacks." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/t...

FTC Removes Posts Critical of Amazon, Microsoft, and AI Companies Business-guidance content published during the Biden administration has been removed from the Federal Trade Commission website.

SCOOP: The FTC has removed content critical of Amazon, Microsoft, and AI companies published during the Biden administration from its website.

Algorithms are increasingly deciding whether you get an interview for a job, are eligible to get benefits, & more. Unchecked, these algorithms can produce biased results, making everyday people vulnerable to automated discrimination.

That’s why we support #AB1018. techequity.us/the-automate...

UK ban on zero-hours contracts ‘to include agency workers’ Government to expand coverage of employment rights bill, according to report * Business live – latest updates Agency workers will reportedly be included in a ban on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts as part of changes to the UK government’s…

UK ban on zero-hours contracts ‘to include agency workers’

Trump’s rollback of AI guardrails leaves US workers ‘at real risk’, labor experts warn Measures issued by Joe Biden were swiftly repealed, leaving employees vulnerable to downgraded jobs

Trump rescinded AI guidance and guard rails that were put in place under Biden to protect workers from having their labor rights violated by the use of artificial intelligence by employers

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Your Boss Wants You Back in the Office. This Surveillance Tech Could Be Waiting for You Warehouse-style employee tracking tech has expanded into job after job. Now, as millions are called back to the workplace, it’s finally coming for the American office worker.

What’s new, at least to the recent pandemic age of hybrid working, is the extent to which workers can now be tracked inside office buildings.

Join us March 5 in DC to discuss what happens when nurses use AI to bid against each other for shifts.
@veenadubal.bsky.social @daveyseligman.bsky.social @geoplace.bsky.social @fundaustek.bsky.social &
@chenjerai.bsky.social will guide us through the new tech wilderness. Register: lnkd.in/eCsiWVye

Venture Capital Kills ‘More Value Than It Creates,’ Author Says In a new book, World Eaters, tech activist Catherine Bracy says Silicon Valley needs to focus more on solving real-world problems and less on fast profit.

‘Venture capital is killing more value than it creates,' author and tech activist Catherine Bracy argues in a new book, World Eaters.

Silicon Valley needs to focus more on solving real-world problems and less on fast profit, she says.

Introducing #AB1018, the Automated Decisions Safety Act, authored by Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan and sponsored by TechEquity and SEIU California!

#AB1018 will ensure that Automated Decision Systems (ADS) are vetted and that everyday people understand how these life-changing decisions are being made.

The Housing Loophole That Lets Wealthy Investors Raise Rents on Poor Tenants As the U.S. struggles with a housing shortage, investors continue to exploit a gap in an affordable housing law to raise rents on 115,000 apartments. Congress has repeatedly failed to act.

NEW: The loophole allows buyers of tax-subsidized low-income housing to raise rents on new and existing tenants far sooner than the law typically requires.

Some 115,000 apartments in the U.S. have lost rent restrictions as a result, per one estimate.