On November 4, privacy experts from around the country convened at the NYU School of Law to talk about “Privacy Localism” or how local communities can fight back against the encroaching surveillance state. Oakland’s fight against the Domain Awareness Center…
Category: Transparency Ordinance
The Undue Influence of Surveillance Technology Companies on Policing
This September 2017 article in the NYU Law Review by Elizabeth Joh gives a few shoutouts to the work of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission and OP member Mike Katz-Lacabe. Download the full article below. The Undue Influence – Joh
SB 21 Dies In Sacramento
California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee, following the lead of law enforcement agencies invested in the secret and unaccountable use of ever more complex surveillance technologies, killed California’s statewide transparency ordinance today, ensuring that communities will not get a say in…
It Took A Village To Stop A DAC
by JP Massar No one had a clue the thing even existed. Buried deep within the consent agenda of the Oakland City Council for years, appropriations for the Domain Awareness Center and the implications thereof had gone unnoticed. Until,…
An Open Letter To Those Who Have Nothing to Hide
by Admin I love a good argument. Most that I have these days tend to focus on civil liberties, and the issue of government surveillance comes up frequently. It’s usually during these debates, running on some soliloquy-within-a-soliloquy about the ever-increasing…
Statewide Surveillance Transparency Ordinance (SB21) Passes 6-3
In its last policy committee hearing in Sacramento, SB21, a statewide surveillance transparency ordinance, passed the Assembly Privacy Committee on a 6-3 vote. It now travels to Assembly Appropriations, the Assembly floor and then to the Governor’s desk.
In the hearing, law enforcement (DA and Sheriff’s Associations) and the League of CA Cities continued to state their opposition to public disclosure and community control of the use of surveillance technologies. They said a few amazing things along the way.
The Day of Many Votes
On July 11, a whole bunch of good things happened: Alameda’s Board of Supervisors formally convened a working group to draft a surveillance transparency ordinance for Alameda County; SB-21 (the statewide surveillance transparency ordinance) passed the Assembly Privacy committee –…
Oakland Privacy Commission – License Plate Readers
In this brief clip from the July 6 Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission meeting, Oakland Police Department Assistant Chief John Lois stated under questioning that he was aware of no legal authority that allows the collection of data on people…
CA Assembly Public Safety Comm Supports SB 21- A Statewide Surveillance Transparency Ordinance
“California spends more time regulating barber shops and taco trucks than on regulating surveillance.” Brian Hofer, Chair of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission and member of Oakland Privacy, testified before the California State Assembly Public Safety Committee in Sacramento on…
SB-21, A Statewide Surveillance Transparency Law, Passes CA State Senate
SB-21 is a bill that would end secret surveillance by CA law enforcement agencies by mandating use polices, impact reports and biannual audits for all surveillance equipment and technology used in CA. SB-21 subjects all spying to an upfront…