Organization:CryptoHarlem

From HandWiki
Short description: U.S. nonprofit organization
CryptoHarlem
Formation2013
FoundersMatt Mitchell
Founded atNew York, New York
HeadquartersNew York City
Productsanti-surveillance, cybersecurity education and advocacy
Founder
Matt Mitchell
Website

CryptoHarlem is a nonprofit, anti-surveillance, cybersecurity education and advocacy organization. Founded by Matt Mitchell in 2013, CryptoHarlem provides the predominantly African American community in upper Manhattan with free workshops on digital security, encryption, privacy, cryptography, digital policing and surveillance.[1][2]

History

CryptoHarlem was founded following the Trayvon Martin murder trial. Initially a series of security workshops, Mitchell said he founded the organization “due to the feeling of profound loss, the loss of all black folks, after Trayvon Martin’s death.” [3] Monthly digital privacy clinics called "crypto parties" hosted by Mitchell and CryptoHarlem started in 2012.[4]

In 2017 the organization's name appeared as an Easter egg in an episode of Mr. Robot.[5][6]

In 2017, CryptoHarlem developed an open source tool to help organizations prepare for data breaches. The now-defunct site hosting the tool, ProtectYour.Org, was supported by the Mozilla Fellowship and the Ford Foundation.[7][8][5] Calyx Institute has sponsored CryptoHarlem and its Crypto Parties since 2019.[9][10]

The ACLU and CryptoHarlem have worked together on issues related to surveillance and privacy legislation, including the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act of 2020.[11]

In 2021, Newsweek profiled Mitchell and CryptoHarlem as one of "America's greatest disruptors" for their work against "digital stop and frisk".[11] The Electronic Frontier Foundation awarded Mitchell and CryptoHarlem with a Pioneer Award and hosted a discussion of their work.[3]

In 2022, Mitchell, representing CryptoHarlem, was an invited speaker on "Easy Fixes for Algorithmic Bias" at The Barnard College Diversity in Computing Speaker Series.[12]

References

  1. Simonite, Tom. "CryptoHarlem's Founder Warns Against 'Digital Stop and Frisk'" (in en-US). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/cryptoharlem-matt-mitchell-digital-stop-and-frisk/. Retrieved 2022-04-28. 
  2. "CryptoHarlem - Calyx Institute". https://calyxinstitute.org/projects/education/cryptoharlem. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kelley, Jason (2021-10-07). "Pioneer Awards Ceremony 2021 Recap: Privacy Defenders Unite" (in es). https://www.eff.org/es/deeplinks/2021/09/pioneer-awards-ceremony-2021-recap-privacy-defenders-unite. 
  4. "Security Pros, Librarians Holding Digital Privacy Clinics Across U.S." (in en-US). June 28, 2017. https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/security-pros-and-librarians-holding-digital-privacy-clinics-a1375143303/. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 "CryptoHarlem Is Teaching Digital Security to the Over-Surveilled Black Community" (in en). March 2018. https://www.vice.com/en/article/59kq75/crypto-harlem-video-surveillance-of-black-community. 
  6. "CryptoHarlem" (in en-US). https://www.cryptoharlem.com/. 
  7. "Matt Mitchell of CryptoHarlem is building an open source tool to help organizations prepare for data breaches" (in en-US). June 6, 2017. https://social.techcrunch.com/2017/06/06/prepare-for-data-breaches/. 
  8. "protectyourorg.com". 2018-12-27. https://protectyourorg.com/. 
  9. "CryptoHarlem Party Tomorrow! - Calyx Institute". https://calyxinstitute.org/news/2019/cryptoharlem-party-tomorrow. 
  10. "CryptoHarlem is back and ready for action! - Calyx Institute". https://calyxinstitute.org/news/2019/cryptoharlem-back-and-ready-action. 
  11. 11.0 11.1 Newsweek Staff (2021-12-15). "America's Greatest Disruptors: Enterprising idealists using leading-edge technology to solve social and community challenges" (in en). https://www.newsweek.com/2021/12/24/americas-greatest-disruptors-enterprising-idealists-1659084.html. 
  12. "Diversity in Computing: Matt Mitchell (CryptoHarlem & Ford Foundation) on Easy Fixes for Algorithmic Bias | Barnard Computational Science Center" (in en). April 5, 2022. https://csc.barnard.edu/events/diversity-computing-matt-mitchell-cryptoharlem-ford-foundation-easy-fixes-algorithmic-bias. 

External links