NEW INVESTOR BRIEF

Dehumanization, Discrimination and Deskilling: The Impact of Digital Tech on Low-Wage Workers

Apple's new privacy feature will change the web. And not everyone is happy about it

Apple's new privacy feature will change the web. And not everyone is happy about it

"It's a big step. In the coming days, hundreds of millions of people will be made far more aware of the fact that they have the power to not be tracked," Michael Connor, executive director at not-for-profit Open MIC (Open Media and Information Companies Initiative), tells ZDNet.

"Apple exerts extraordinary influence on the mobile phone ecosystem, and this will set the bar for other apps. People will hopefully come to expect that opting in is a choice they have, rather than something that is inflicted."

Alphabet shareholder pushes Google for better whistleblower protections

Alphabet shareholder pushes Google for better whistleblower protections

Open MIC, a nonprofit that works with shareholders to advocate for greater corporate accountability and is helping to organize the proposal, says Mitchell’s firing may have been retaliatory. “The justification they use is ‘this person violated our data security work,’” says associate director Hannah Lucal. “It’s important to lift that up because they use trade secrets and data policy as an excuse for retaliating against worker organizers.”

Shareholder Proposal at Omnicom Questions Ad Buyers’ Role in Online Hate

Shareholder Proposal at Omnicom Questions Ad Buyers’ Role in Online Hate

“The ad buyers and the big ad agencies are typically behind the scenes, and yet they have an enormous amount of influence on what happens in the media environment, particularly on social media,” said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, which stands for Open Media and Information Companies Initiative. “They are making recommendations and helping their clients manage billions of dollars in spending, and all too often they escape any kind of scrutiny for what they do.”

Investors Push Home Depot and Omnicom to Steer Ads From Misinformation

Investors Push Home Depot and Omnicom to Steer Ads From Misinformation

Shareholders in Home Depot and the advertising giant Omnicom have filed resolutions asking the companies to investigate whether the money they spent on advertisements may have helped spread hate speech and misinformation.

The resolutions were filed in November but were not made public until Monday. They were coordinated by Open MIC, a nonprofit group that works with shareholders at media and technology companies.

Shareholders call on big advertisers Omnicom and Home Depot to investigate whether Facebook, Google, and Twitter's ads fuel violence and hate speech

Shareholders call on big advertisers Omnicom and Home Depot to investigate whether Facebook, Google, and Twitter's ads fuel violence and hate speech

Facebook, Twitter, and Google have banned President Trump and accounts supporting QAnon and the "Stop the Steal" misinformation group while pausing political ads until after President-elect Biden's inauguration — but some interest groups want Omnicom and Home Depot to pressure them to go further…Nonprofit Open Mic led the efforts on behalf of The Nathan Cummings Foundation, which owns shares in Omnicom, and Myra K. Young, who owns shares in Home Depot.

Shareholders Fear Facebook, Other Social Media Ads May Inadvertently Fund Hate Speech, Violence

Shareholders Fear Facebook, Other Social Media Ads May Inadvertently Fund Hate Speech, Violence

The Open Media and Information Companies Initiative (Open MIC) is helping to lead the charge on two of the first-ever shareholder resolutions asking corporations with large ad budgets to reassess their social media advertising practices. The fear, according to these shareholders, is that the money spent on advertising may inadvertently be funding the spread of white supremacy, disinformation, voter suppression, government censorship, and calls to violence, among other concerns.

Omnicom, Home Depot Shareholders Seek Ad Policy Investigations

Omnicom, Home Depot Shareholders Seek Ad Policy Investigations

“Advertising is the lifeblood of social media,” said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a corporate accountability nonprofit that’s coordinating the shareholder actions. “The rampant abuse we’ve seen proliferate on social media is impossible without financial support from some of the biggest brands on the planet. They are in no small part responsible for these abuses, and they have the duty to stop them.”

Activists Slam Palantir for its Work with ICE Ahead of Market Debut

Activists Slam Palantir for its Work with ICE Ahead of Market Debut

“Essentially, what they're saying to investors is: Trust us. Yet they don't really provide a whole lot of information about how they're going to handle an enormous number of risks,” Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a corporate accountability nonprofit that has also worked on shareholder campaigns targeting Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and Google, told me…“If you're an investor who believes that corporate accountability and corporate governance are important to companies' long-term success, Palantir makes it very clear that you should look somewhere else,” Connor says.

Significant Social and Governance Risks at Palantir

Significant Social and Governance Risks at Palantir

Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC, a nonprofit that works with shareholders to foster corporate accountability in the tech sector, said, “Palantir boasts in its registration statement about its standards for protecting personal privacy, yet the company provides scant detail on how it intends to enforce ethical standards…The registration statement does not include details on any of its military, intelligence, or law enforcement contracts, a glaring omission considering the potential ethical questions at play. When it comes to privacy, Palantir has left shareholders - and millions of people who might be the subject of Palantir's surveillance technologies – completely in the dark.”

Spotlight on facial recognition after IBM, Amazon and Microsoft bans

Spotlight on facial recognition after IBM, Amazon and Microsoft bans

In its brief blog post, Amazon said it had “advocated governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge.

Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a non-profit that works with shareholders to foster corporate accountability in the tech sector, welcomed the news after years of shareholders’ organising to push Amazon to end what was described as "sales of harmful, unregulated technology to police”.

“But it’s only a temporary moratorium, and it doesn’t address deeper concerns that shareholders have regarding Amazon’s role in a rapidly-developing surveillance economy,” he said.