Evan Greer

Greer is the deputy director of Fight for the Future,[7] having previously served as the organization's campaign director.[8][9] They have written on a range of topics including Internet freedom, LGBT issues, surveillance, big tech, and human rights for outlets including the Washington Post, Wired, NBC News, Time, and The Guardian.[10][11]

While in high school, Greer helped organize a protest against the Iraq War in 2003.[12][13] They attended Swarthmore College, but dropped out to pursue music full time.[14] In 2014 Greer helped organize the Internet Slowdown Day, an online protest in favor net neutrality.[15][16] In 2017, FastCompany called Greer “the woman leading the fight for net neutrality.”[17]

Through their work with Fight for the Future, Greer befriended Chelsea Manning and helped organize campaigns demanding Manning's release from prison.[18][19] Upon Manning's release in 2017, Greer organized a benefit album to raise funds for her living expenses, with artists including Against Me!, Thurston Moore, Graham Nash, and Amanda Palmer.[20][21]

In 2019, Greer penned an op-ed in BuzzFeed News with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello about a campaign that prompted major music festivals like SXSW, Coachella, and Bonnaroo to say they will not use facial recognition surveillance at their events.[22][23] Greer regards surveillance capitalism as "fundamentally incompatible with basic human rights and democracy."[24][25][26]

In 2009, Greer released the album Never Surrender.[27][28] In 2016 they recorded a cover of the Anne Feeney song "You Will Answer" with the band Anti-Flag for a benefit album after Feeney was diagnosed with cancer.[29] Greer and Feeney were longtime friends and touring partners.[30][31] In 2019, Greer released the album She/Her/They/Them, which Billboard described as an "at-times folky, sometimes punk rock album".[32] Vice characterized the album as "an eclectic mix of folk punk".[33]

In 2021, they released the album Spotify is Surveillance. According to Greer, the album was “very much a product of the coronavirus quarantines,”[34] and called it “an open letter to transphobes."[35] Greer noted in an interview with Fast Company that the album was also intended to raise awareness of the control of corporations such as Spotify over popular culture.[36] The album features audio samples from Chelsea Manning and Ursula K. Le Guin.[37] A review of the singles “Back Row” and “The Tyranny of Either/Or,” noted that the songs "further show off her capacity for anthemic energy".[38] Rolling Stone magazine described the latter as "a pop-punk anthem that could fit in with Green Day’s nineties hits."[39] A Pitchfork review of the album gave it a score of 6.7 out of 10.[40]

• Official website