CryptoHarlem is a nonprofit, anti-surveillance,

cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

education and advocacy organization. Founded by Matt Mitchell in 2013, CryptoHarlem provides the predominantly African American community in

upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park ( 110th Street), ...

with free workshops on digital security, encryption,

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

, digital policing and

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

History

CryptoHarlem was founded following the

Trayvon Martin Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had accompa ...

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.” Monthly digital privacy clinics called "crypto parties" hosted by Mitchell and CryptoHarlem started in 2012. In 2017 the organization's name appeared as an

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

in an episode of

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociative ...

. In 2017, CryptoHarlem developed an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

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 The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Calyx Institute The Calyx Institute is a New York-based 501(c)(3) research and education nonprofit organization formed to make privacy and digital security more accessible. It was founded in 2010 by Nicholas Merrill, Micah Anderson, and Kobi Snitz. History ...

has sponsored CryptoHarlem and its Crypto Parties since 2019. The

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

and CryptoHarlem have worked together on issues related to surveillance and privacy legislation, including the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act of 2020. In 2021,

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

profiled Mitchell and CryptoHarlem as one of "America's greatest disruptors" for their work against "digital stop and frisk". The

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...

awarded Mitchell and CryptoHarlem with a Pioneer Award and hosted a discussion of their work. In 2022, Mitchell, representing CryptoHarlem, was an invited speaker on "Easy Fixes for Algorithmic Bias" at The

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Diversity in Computing Speaker Series.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://cryptoharlem.com Computer security organizations Internet privacy organizations Non-profit organizations based in New York City Organizations established in 2013