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Fwd: Letter for EDTech Committee Concerning Agenda Item 6 for 5/19 From Nick Rabb
Date Tue 5/19/20264:12 PM
To Gao, Beilei <[email protected]>,· Hampton, Tyron <[email protected]>; Madison, Steve <[email protected]>; Lyon, Jason <[email protected]>; Rivas, Jessica <[email protected]>
I 1 attachment (77 KB)
Carahsoft 5_26 EDTech Letter.pdf;
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Sorry, apparently the website information is not correct, because I don't see my letter appearing in the record. I'm forwarding to the Councilors directly as well as other staff. ———— Forwarded message ———
From: Nick Rabb
Date: Man, May 18, 2026 at 11:58AM
Subject: Letter for EDTech Committee Concerning Agenda Item 6 for 5/19 To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Dear Economic Development and Technology Committee,
My name is Nicholas Rabb, a resident in District 2. I'd like to submit a letter to the Committee concerning agenda Item 6 of the 5/19 meeting. My letter is attached in PDF form.
Thank you for considering my comments. I'd be happy to discuss further with any members of the Committee.
Best,
Nick Rabb
Pronouns: he/him/his
Dear Members of the Economic Development and Technology Committee,
I am writing to urge you to reconsider your intention to enter into a contract with Carahsoft Technologies, as your purveyor of cybersecurity systems for City infrastructure. Carahsoft, while also a technology intermediary which serves several thousands of systems, is a major provider of software militarized surveillance and weapons software, including for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
I understand your arguments that Carahsoft is simply a software intermediary, but I believe that their militarized contract negotiations and facilitation of software deals used for mass violence, render them a company who we should not support financially, especially when there are other options.
Just this past July, it was reported that Carahsoft was key in arranging for ICE to use software from Zignal Labs, a social media monitoring group who purports to process and surveil up to 8 billion social media posts per day using AI-driven analysis, searching them for “threats.” Zignal has surveilled social media for the Israeli military, the Pentagon, and now ICE.
In 2024, Carahsoft was also a key facilitator of OpenAI’s entry into providing its AI services to the defense industry. OpenAI has been bidding for its software to be used by the U.S.
Department of War, notably stepping in when Anthropic declined to allow its AI software to be used for mass surveillance and automated weapons.
Carahsoft is also the holder and distributor of software from the company Cellebrite, an Israeli company closely tied to the military, which has developed tools for hacking, unlocking, and accessing data from smartphones. These tools have been used to police journalists and political opponents in countries such as Myanmar and Serbia. They have been used by over 2,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. to bypass locked phones and search their data.
These are only a few examples of the militarized software that Carahsoft deals in. Carahsoft is a company that materially profits from the brokering of dangerous, military-grade technologies that make their way to our community. Zignal, OpenAI, and Cellebrite’s militarized software being used by police and ICE represent a growing danger to our community. Our speech, behaviors, and physical devices are being targeted by powerful institutions who wish harm to communities they don’t care for – immigrants, women seeking reproductive care, dissidents, international students, and so many more.
Taking this all into consideration, I urge the City to reconsider using its funds to enter into a contract with such a company. In light of the recent agreement to append the City’s investment policy to prohibit investment in weapons manufacturers, I believe that it is not unreasonable apply this logic to a nearly $1 million contract with a company brokering in weaponized technologies for DHS, ICE, and state militaries plausibly charged with mass murder. In line with these values, Pasadena should choose a company who does not facilitate the widespread adoption of these systems.
Additionally, I urge the City to be more stringent with its assessment of potential partners to bolster its cybersecurity, or other digital infrastructure. When I speak with folks in the community about various systems of militarized technology that Pasadena uses or is adjacent to, I never receive a positive reaction. In these times where technology-facilitated violence is so prevalent every day, the distaste for the companies and systems supporting the technology is extremely high. I recognize that such deep assessment is a difficult task to do comprehensively, but a good-faith effort would go a long way towards building trust with the community.
Thank you for your consideration, and I am open to further discussion of these issues if anyone on the Committee wants to discuss further.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Rabb
Pasadena Resident, District 2