by Ursula Curiousa “Do you think you’re being watched?” This question is as loaded as a gun, but commonly pops up in mental health screening protocols. So what if I do think multiple law enforcement agencies have access to the…
On July 13, the Vallejo City Council allocated time on the agenda for Oakland Privacy and the ACLU of Northern California to present on why the City, famous for an extremely high rate of police violence, would benefit from a…
On Monday June 7, the board of the Community Benefits District in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood became the first SF CBD to reject a networked camera system being gifted to the city’s business districts by Ripple CEO Chris Larsen. Larsen’s…
The Aaron Swartz Day Police Surveillance Project teamed up with Priveasy to create a set of tools designed to assist in the ongoing fight for police and sheriff accountability. Bad Apple (https://BadApple.tools) contains a) a searchable database of verified oversight…
The City of Berkeley has moved ahead with an oversight and transparency ordinance for controlled military equipment like armored vehicles and assault rifles. To the best of our knowledge, they are the first city in the country to do so.…
Oakland Privacy was honored to receive a 2021 James Madison Award from the Norcal Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists for our lawsuit and advocacy with the City of Vallejo and their purchase of a cell site simulator. As…
In June of 2016, Santa Clara County became the first municipality in the country to adopt a surveillance transparency ordinance, also known as CCOPS. Santa Clara’s ordinance, being the first one, is comprehensive. On January 26, 2021, the Santa Clara…
Senate Bill 210 passed the California Senate Judiciary Committee on March 23 by a 9-1 vote. A bill has been introduced in the CA State Legislature to refocus California’s ubiquitous automated license plate readers from tracking the movements of every…
Some of the things Oakland Privacy had a hand in in 2020: Deeply involved in the successful effort to get Santa Cruz to pass a facial recognition and predictive policing ban. Initiated and concluded a successful lawsuit against Vallejo re:…
Update: Oakland terminated its MOU with the JTTF task force on 10-20-20. On October 13 at 2:3opm, Oakland’s Public Safety committee will debate a measure from City Council chair Rebecca Kaplan to withdraw the Oakland Police Department from the Joint…