Privacy concerns untethered from risk of real harm are justifying increasing restrictions on data. Left unchecked, privacy safetyism will increasingly threaten data sharing that could enable new technological breakthroughs.
Author: Michael Zoorob
Is Massachusetts Really the least Transparent state?
I wrote this in early July 2021 (and sat on it — post became public June 5, 2022) during a debate over changing the rules of the State House pushed by the advocacy group Act […]
I’m running for town meeting in Precinct 3!
Michael Zoorob for Precinct 3 My name is Michael Zoorob. I’m running to represent Precinct 3 as a Town Meeting Member because I want to be an effective advocate for our Precinct and a progressive […]
Homeownership and Turnout in State and Local Elections in Brookline
This post compares participation in state and local elections among likely renters and likely homeowners in Brookline, MA, where I live. I will examine voting in three elections: first, the 2019 local election, which included […]
Supporting the Gateway East Bus Lane in brookline
Below is a copy of the letter I wrote to the transportation board in support of bus lanes on Washington Street. The featured image for this post comes from this YouTube video. Dear members of […]
Density, Covid, and the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem
The statistical association (bracketing causal inference at this point) between people living near one another (population density) and the rate of COVID-19 cases seems to vary between different levels of aggregation (e.g. neighborhood versus city […]
Homeowners of local politics (Brookline edition)
It is well-known that homeowners have an outsized role in local politics. In Brookline, 50% of residents rent and 50% own their homes. We also have a representative Town Meeting form of government, meaning that […]
Keep Brookline Dense
This is a copy of a letter to the editor published in the Brookline Tab print ediiton December 5, 2019 and online on December 7. — I appreciated your recent article “Despite traffic, more Brookline […]
Letter to Harvard Administrators about strike
HGSU-UAW, my campus union, has provided a simple form for emailing administrators about the upcoming strike deadline and urging them to stop a strike. They have even provided templates for different constituencies (undergraduates, family, faculty) […]
Dispensary density and sales
Please find replication materials (code and data) reproducing all figures and statements made in this blogpost at this link. One perennial theme on Brookline’s Townwide Discussion Facebook page is the NETA cannabis dispensary, with a […]
Michael Zoorob 