“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…
Category: Transparency Ordinance
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…
In the Face of Trump’s Surveillance Threats, Local Movements Demand Disclosure of Police Technologies
By Candice Bernd, Truthout President Trump issued a proclamation on May 15 dedicating last week to law enforcement officers, saying he would make it a “personal priority” to ensure police are “finally treated fairly.” Meanwhile, around the country, a different set of…
Oakland Poised To Protect Civil Liberties
Update 5-10-17: Oakland’s Public Safety Committee voted unanimously on May 9 to support the Surveillance Technology Ordinance. Thanks largely to your letters, calls and emails. My guest piece in the East Bay Express, on why Oakland needs to adopt a…
Oakland: Rise Up Against Secret Surveillance
Oakland’s Public Safety Committee will vote on the ordinance on May 9 at 6pm at City Hall at Oscar Grant Plaza. We need you there. ** (Reprinted from the ACLU of Northern California) Everyone deserves to feel safe in their…
City of Providence Set to Pass Wide Ranging Community Safety Act Ordinance
On June 1, The Providence City Council voted 13-1 to adopt the Providence Community-Police Relations Act. Key Points of the CSA Prohibition on racial profiling and other forms of profiling Police cannot use race, ethnicity, color, national origin, language, gender, gender…
Reining in and Raining on the Surveillance State
Groundbreaking legislation that will put limits upon the local surveillance state is up for consideration in the Bay Area these next few months. With a new administration being handed the vast resource of existing Federal surveillance capabilities, it is more…
Praise for Oakland’s Proposed Surveillance Equipment Regulation Ordinance!
Passed out of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission on Thursday, Jan 5th, 2017, the proposed Surveillance Equipment Regulation legislation (OPAC-Surveillance-Ordinance-Adopted – PDF) received praise from a number of people involved in civil liberties work. Here are some quotes and statements of support…
BART must be open about how its spies on its riders…
An op-ed appeared in the December 12th edition of the East Bay Times, authored by former Oakland City Councilperson Wilson Riles, regarding the surveillance equipment regulation ordinance now being created by the BART Board and its staff in consultation with…
A Letter to the President on Surveillance Tech
By Eric Neville, Oakland Privacy Member. Dear President Obama: I question the legitimacy of using any secret technology in attempt to uphold the law. As an illustration of the inherent vitiation of the legal process, I offer the Stingray cell…