| ACLU of Maine

We had a busy week in Augusta, with legislative action on issues from juvenile justice and free speech to LGBTQ equality and criminal legal reform. Catch up on some of the highlights.

See more priority legislation on our bill tracker.

LD 1779 to Implement Alternatives to Youth Incarceration

LD 1779 would divest tax dollars from youth incarceration and invest that money into giving currently incarcerated children the support and resources they need to thrive and grow into healthy adults. A majority of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee opposed this bill, but the House passed it with a vote of 75-70 and 6 members absent.

Putting kids behind bars is a failed model that keeps young people from thriving and growing into healthy young adults. Community-based treatment programs closer to home are the best option for struggling children and their communities. Read more about LD 1779 here and read more about other youth justice bills from the Maine Morning Star here.

LD 1977 to Protect Mainers' Privacy from Big Tech

Massive companies are currently free to spy on our every move and collect some of our most sensitive information. After a record number of committee work sessions, the bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee with an 8-6 vote on Tuesday.

LD 1977 would create sensible guardrails to protect Maine's people from Big Tech's worst abuses. Under the bill, tech giants could collect only the information necessary to provide a good or service to you. The bill also contains strong anti-discrimination provisions to protect marginalized communities. In contrast, a competing bill, LD 1973, backed by Big Tech, would largely maintain the status quo under a thin veneer of protecting privacy. Read more about LD 1977 here.

Ask lawmakers to support LD 1977

LD 2046 to Limit Incarceration of Innocent People Who Need Medical Care

The original version of this bill would have made permanent a policy allowing the state to incarcerate legally innocent people who need health care simply because the state is not providing the resources for that care. A prison is not a substitute for a hospital, and that version of the bill would have imprisoned people who were not found guilty of committing a crime.

The Senate passed an amended version of LD 2046 that would end this harmful policy in July 2027, and the House concurred. Read more about LD 2046 here.

LD 1975 to Address Maine's Deadly Overdose Crisis

End the war on drugs. Stop overdoses with public health – not incarceration.

In its original form, LD 1975 would have funded community-based treatment options in all counties and ended the failed policy of punishing people who possess small amounts of drugs for their own personal use. However, the bill has been changed to only recommend the legislature study the potential effects of ending the punishment of people with substance use disorder, rather than respond to this crisis. The amended version of LD 1975 passed out of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

We agree that policy decisions should be well-informed, be it from studies, hearing from the people most affected by the issue at hand, or something else. But this issue has already been extensively studied by various entities, from the ACLU of Maine and health care organizations to governments and universities. It's time to act because we know what Maine needs: a comprehensive response to the deadly overdose crisis that treats substance use disorder as the public health issue it is.

Read our report on treating substance use as a public health issue

The government only has so many resources from taxpayers, and Maine people's tax dollars could be better utilized by directly addressing this public health crisis. Maine's people need support, and many lives depend on it. These funds should instead be invested in low-barrier treatment so people can seek the support they want and need, rather than be punished by the failed policies of the War on Drugs.

LD 2273 to Partially End Some Jim Crow Era Labor Practices

LD 2273 received a divided report in committee on Thursday. It would grant farmworkers the same minimum wage and cost of living increases as all other hourly workers in Maine. The bill would not limit mandatory overtime for farmworkers or allow for 30-minute unpaid breaks after six hours of work. Additionally, it would restrict farmworkers' ability to enforce their rights when companies refuse to follow the law. In general, Maine workers have the right to bring an “action for unpaid wages” directly in court. LD 2273 would continue to treat farmworkers differently, creating a set of second-class rights with no realistic prospect of holding employers accountable to the law.

Farmworkers are disproportionately workers of color and have long been excluded from improved labor standards dating back to the New Deal. The exclusion of farmworkers from fair labor laws is a deliberate wrong that is rooted in the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow. These frontline workers endure tremendous hardships to support Maine’s economy, and they deserve the same workplace standards and protections as all other workers. More comprehensive legislation to address these issues was passed last year and vetoed by Gov. Mills.

LD 870 to Protect Free Speech by Limiting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation

SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are frivolous lawsuits designed to chill speech protected by the First Amendment. The bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee with a 9-3 vote in January. It unanimously passed the House and Senate this week.

SLAPPs occur when someone files a lawsuit against another person because they disagree with their speech. LD 870 will limit these types of frivolous lawsuits. SLAPPS are often filed by powerful people, companies, and governments that have vast resources to target people who speak out against them. When these powerful entities file a SLAPP, they are not filing the lawsuit intending to win; they are hoping the legal process will be so ruinously expensive and time-consuming for the victim that they will agree to self-censor if the lawsuit is dropped. Read more about the bill from the Maine Morning Star here.

LD 2235 to Create a Third Gender Option on State Forms

This bill would create an "X" gender option on state forms. It passed the House with a vote of 81-64 on Wednesday, and passed the Senate with a vote of 22-11 on Thursday. Maine already has this option for IDs and vital statistics forms, but other government documents have fallen behind and forced some people to select a gender marker that does not align with their lived reality. Read more about the bill from the Maine Morning Star here.

LD 2246 to Remove Felony Charges for Petty Theft

This bill would remove Maine's three-strike rule for petty theft, bringing Maine's theft laws more in line with the harms they seek to remedy. The bill passed out of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee with a 6-5 vote in early March. It passed the House on Monday with a 74-61 vote and 16 members absent, and the Senate on Wednesday with a 19-15 vote and 1 member excused.

Petty theft is a misdemeanor crime. But under the current three-strike rule, petty theft becomes a Class C felony, punishable by a prison term of up to five years and a fine of up to $5,000, if someone steals three small items, each costing less than $100. It is a waste of the state’s resources to incarcerate people for petty offenses, and no person should be forced to live with the consequences of a felony conviction for doing something like stealing a loaf of bread on three separate occasions – something that could happen under current law.

Date

Friday, March 29, 2024 - 4:15pm

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Weekly Rewind: The Latest News From Augusta

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Read more about The Week in Augusta: March 25 – 29

Caribou High School Credit Bangor Daily News

In February 2024, we learned that Caribou High School was in the final stages of implementing a plan to fingerprint students to "assist with attendance." We immediately requested all related public records.

Personal data is susceptible to data breaches, but some types of personal information are far more sensitive than others. Biometric identifiers are things like eye scans and fingerprints. These identifiers can be used in many ways, from unlocking a phone to investigating whose fingerprints may be at a crime scene.

Unlike a stolen credit card or email password, you cannot replace your biometrics.

This sensitive information should only be collected when absolutely necessary and only with the person's consent. Any time this information is collected, it must have strong security protections to keep it safe and it should never be stored longer than needed. The risks of identity theft, stalking, and other harms increase when companies store data for long periods or sell people's information to anyone who will buy it, such as advertisers. For example, the ACLU sued ClearView AI after it collected and sold millions of internet users’ information that buyers then used to stalk former partners.

Caribou High School is a public school of roughly 460 students in Regional School Unit (RSU) 39. The district planned to contract with Pennsylvania-based identiMetrics to use its students’ most sensitive information: their biometrics.

A letter from the school's principal announcing the plan did not elaborate on what, if any, data storage protections would be in place, how exactly leaders of the 460-student school believed this would improve operations, or if parents and students would have the choice to opt-in or opt-out.

We promptly filed an open records request under Maine's Freedom of Access Act and alerted media outlets. Within just one day, the school rescinded its plans in response to widespread dissent from across the political spectrum and throughout Maine's urban and rural communities.

We did not retract the records request despite the district's swift action. Caribou High School was the first known school with plans to fingerprint Maine students, so we wanted to learn more about what indentiMetrics may have offered the school and what tactics the company may be using to entice schools to use their surveillance products. Analyzing and sharing this information will prepare parents and districts throughout Maine for similar efforts in their communities.

After reviewing over 200 pages of documents, we found vague privacy guidelines, inconsistent policies around who could access student data, and deceptive marketing practices. View the documents and our records request in the PDFs at the bottom of this page.

1. The contract between identiMetrics and the school was unclear and inconsistent about what student data would be shared with the company and on what terms (Sections 1 and 9).

The signed contract between identiMetrics and RSU 39 explicitly contemplates that student data will be provided to identiMetrics in exchange for services rendered (pages 3-14). The contract also includes exhibits that specify how long identiMetrics will retain student data and what kind of data will be shared, including a student's name, grade level, and ID number (pages 196-198, 201). And the contract includes an exhibit stating that identiMetrics can enter into agreements with other school districts in Maine to change what kinds of data are provided to the company (page 202).

However, the contract also includes exhibits stating that the student data used in the identiMetrics software is hosted by the school district and maintained behind its firewall and that there is no data sharing with identiMetrics (pages 194, 203).

Any time student data is collected for any reason, there must be clear policies stating what information is collected, why it is collected, how it is used, how it is securely stored, how long it will be stored, and how it will be handled when no longer needed.

2. identiMetrics used marketing tactics that supported the school-to-prison pipeline (Section 2, page 16).

The company framed its fingerprint scanners as a tool for "juvenile justice," immediately placing their product in the context of criminalizing children for misbehaving. identiMetrics asserts that working with a school resource officer (SRO) is one way to keep kids out of the pipeline, but numerous studies have proven SROs lead to more students getting entangled in the legal system.

The “school-to-prison pipeline" is a disturbing national trend that funnels students out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems. These children disproportionately are Black or Brown, have disabilities, or have histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect. All children misbehave, and they need access to violence intervention, after-school programming, and counselors. Instead, the school-to-prison pipeline isolates, punishes, and pushes kids out. Read more about the school-to-prison pipeline here.

identiMetrics Marketing with Juvenile Justice in Caribou High School Records

3. Fingerprinting students would cost thousands (page 144).

The school paid $5,135 in upfront costs and planned to pay an additional $2,460 each year after. This money would have been better spent supporting students, teachers, staff, and school facilities. It is particularly concerning that district leaders chose to spend money this way while at the same time writing that it was "budget cut time," according to a March 29, 2024, email (page 28).

Budget Cut Time from Caribou High School Records

4. The school declined a system that would not have used biometrics (page 66).

identiMetrics informed the school of an attendance system that would have used bar codes and names instead of students' biometrics. The school opted for the system that uses students' biometric information.

5. District leaders acknowledged privacy concerns and identiMetrics had talking points to respond to backlash (pages 82-91).

District staff explicitly acknowledged that students, parents, community members, and local elected officials had serious concerns about student privacy. To help RSU 39 respond to the backlash, identiMetrics shared links to resources created by the company asserting the fingerprinting technology is secure and effective.

Across the EdTech industry, many companies use deceptive marketing practices that play upon fears of bullying, school shootings, student self-harm, and more. These are all real dangers that must be addressed, but spying on our students will never be the answer. Read more about these tactics here.

Public Concerns in Caribou High School Records