Monitoring of my Twitter account showed racial bias, state lawyer says in labor complaint
A lawyer with the Oregon Department of Justice claims he was the victim of racial bias when co-workers investigated his tweets that used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Erious Johnson Jr. has filed a civil-rights complaint with the state labor department, along with a notice of intent to sue. Johnson is civil rights director of the state justice department, report the Oregonian, Williamette Week and Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Johnson says an investigator for the criminal rights division focused on him after conducting a digital “threat assessment” using software called Digital Stakeout. The investigator searched “black lives matter” social media posts in Salem, Oregon, and found Johnson’s twitter account. The investigator downloaded Johnson’s entire Twitter feed, though none of the tweets indicated criminal activity, Johnson says in his labor complaint (PDF).
Johnson alleges the director of the criminal justice division forwarded the investigative file to the state attorney general with the aim of affecting his employment. The criminal justice director was then reassigned and moved to an office three doors down from Johnson’s office, creating a hostile environment, the labor complaint says.
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum hired Carolyn Walker of Stoel Rives to investigate the incident. Walker found that the digital surveillance likely broke laws barring the collection of political speech, but concluded the digital surveillance was an isolated incident, according to the media reports.
The report said the investigator had confused a tweet about the group Public Enemy with a threat against police. Other posts included political cartoons highlighting racial justice issues, tweets about black cultural issues, and photos showing Johnson’s fondness for his wife and his German Shepherd, according to the Oregonian.
Related article:
ABAJournal.com: “Oregon digitally surveilled Black Lives Matter supporters; state AG is ‘shocked and appalled’ “
