Automated enforcement has historically received pushback, with opponents citing concerns about privacy and racial profiling. Previous bills that would have allowed for automated enforcement of running red lights have failed on Beacon Hill.
Technology
Posted inEconomy
Technology, remote work shaping future labor force
THE NATURE OF work is changing due to technology, automation, and the explosion of remote work. Addressing the challenges posed by these shifts will require not only traditional workforce supports like job training, but also a change in how society addresses the factors that allow employees to be successful, from childcare to public transit. That […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Unemployment system shifting away from facial recognition tech
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE’S UNEMPLOYMENT assistance agency will in the “coming weeks” stop utilizing facial recognition technology to verify the identities of benefit applicants after senior members of Congress, including US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, criticized the process and the Internal Revenue Service announced it would transition to a new verification process by next […]
Posted inEconomy
A&F Secretary Heffernan calls millionaire’s tax ‘dangerous’
RAISING TAXES ON income over $1 million would be a “dangerous policy,” given how well the state is doing financially under the current tax system, Secretary of Administration and Finance Michael Heffernan said Tuesday. “I think that if you look at the way our tax system works rights now, it’s working much to the benefit […]
Posted inEconomy
Rural towns seek money to repay broadband debt
THE RURAL HAMPSHIRE County town of Goshen is in the middle of installing broadband internet service. Even with state subsidies for the project, town officials estimate that Goshen will have to borrow $1.4 million to pay for the construction. Since municipal borrowing must be repaid through property taxes, that’s a big deal for a town […]
Posted inOpinion
Safety should trump privacy in next pandemic
WHEN HISTORIANS of the future write their accounts of the pandemic of 2020-21, they will say we knew something this bad was coming, still got caught flat-footed, and hundreds of thousands of people likely died as a result. They will not excuse the many ways we made the pandemic worse than it had to be; […]
Posted inOpinion
It’s time for a Big Tech tea party
IN LIFE AND IN POLITICS, there are lines of behavior that, when crossed, an equilibrium previously tolerated now becomes insufferable. Once that line is broken, action must be taken to reset the disrupted balance, or the new unacceptable conditions remain unchallenged. In the period before and after the 2020 national election, the major “big tech” […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Pandemic prayers: COVID is reshaping organized religion
IT HAS BEEN more than a year since Temple Beth Zion, a nondenominational Jewish synagogue in Brookline, closed its physical doors. The synagogue started holding daily prayer services for the first time, but conducted entirely online. It began running virtual programs morning, afternoon, and evenings – prayers, classes, and social events. And then a surprising thing happened as the temple did its best to make up for the shutdown of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Why is the state’s technology so bad?
“THE…DISASTER WAS completely avoidable, as administrators knew the system was not ready, yet decided to launch it anyway… Investigations cannot undo the taxpayer dollars wasted and the disruption of families’ access to health care.” That comment could have been voiced recently by critics of the state’s troubled vaccine finder website – but it wasn’t. It […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Audit faults data system used by DAs
IN AN AUDIT of the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office this week, state Auditor Suzanne Bump flagged the case management system used by all 11 Massachusetts district attorneys as outdated, citing in particular its information on juvenile defendants. If it is not replaced, Bump wrote, the system “may soon be unable to meet its operational needs,” and the offices will not be able to […]