Facial Recognition

San Mateo County Sheriff Used Clearview AI 2,700+ Times

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Public records requests associated with the expose of Cleaview AI, a shady facial recognition startup that scraped billions of images from social media and then sold access to that database to at least 2,200 customers, reveal that the San Mateo Sheriff’s Department was a prolific Clearview AI user.

Buzzfeed had previously reported the SMC Sheriff had conducted “about 2,000” searches. The email correspondence between Clearview staff and county staff show the actual number to be “2700+”.

Jimmy Chan, deputy sheriff in San Mateo County asks for “clarification” on the data breach reported by Clearview AI in order to “answer inevitable questions that will come from our command staff and to help formulate a response to any media/public relations query that will be forthcoming”.

The email correspondence dates from February 25-27, 2020 and can be viewed here.

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Body Worn Cameras, Transparency Ordinance

Body Worn Camera Policy Modified by Council Review in Berkeley

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On March 10, the Berkeley City Council completed their mandatory review of body worn camera policy under the surveillance transparency (CCOPS) ordinance passed in the City in March of 2018.

Surveillance transparency laws require the legislative body to formally approve the law enforcement policy. Berkeley’s mandated review resulted in significant improvements to the policy, including the submission of an initial report in the event of grave bodily injury death prior to the viewing of footage by an involved officer.

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Predictive Policing, Transparency Ordinance

Santa Cruz Committee Unanimously Forwards 1st Predictive Policing Ban in US

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On March 11, the Public Safety committee of the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously recommended passage of a surveillance transparency ordinance for the City of Santa Cruz.

The proposed ordinance includes a complete ban on the use of predictive policing technologies, including Predpol, a company located in Santa Cruz and one of the early adopters of the software.

The legislation is sponsored by Mayor Justin Cummings, the first Black mayor in Santa Cruz history.

The ordinance is expected to reach the City Council agenda for adoption sometime in April.

ACLU press release

Police Militarization, UASI

Bay Area UASI 2020

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Every March, the Department of Homeland Security gifts Bay Area law enforcement with funds for new equipment through the Bay Area UASI. 55 out of 146 requests will be fulfilled and the winners are ….

  • The City of Vallejo and Highway 37 will get $90,000 worth of automated license plate readers.
  • Sonoma County will get a $290,000 mobile incident command vehicle
  • The City of San Jose will get $232,000 worth of new Shotspotter sensors, automated license plate readers and cameras and a $150,000 video downlink from helicopter
  • The Santa Clara County Sheriff will get a $465,000 helicopter FLIR infrared system
  • Here in Alameda County, the Alameda County Sheriff is preparing for mass fatalities with a $100,000 mass care trailer, a $100,000 Rapid DNA Instrument for Decedent Identification During  Mass Fatality Incidents, a $250,000 Mass Casualty Incident bus and a $249,000 Emergency Mass Notification system.
  • The City of San Francisco gets a $550,00 Tanker Truck.

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Encryption

25 Groups Object to Graham-Blumenthal Anti-Encryption EARNIT Act

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25 civil society groups, led by the Open Technology Institute at New America and including Oakland Privacy, sent a letter objecting to the EARNIT Act, which seeks to weaken encryption standards.

The letter states: “By setting the stage for adoption of best practices that, whether directly or indirectly, require companies to avoid offering strong device encryption or end-to-end encrypted messaging services, the bill could create encryption backdoors. Backdoors to encryption make everyone in society more vulnerable to privacy, cybersecurity, and other risks.”

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Facial Recognition

40 Civil Rights Groups Ask Colleges To Keep Facial Recognition Off Campuses

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An open letter from an assortment of civil rights groups, including Oakland Privacy, asked university administrators to keep their campuses free of facial recognition.

On March 2, students and faculty at schools across the country will organize to reject facial recognition’s false promises of safety, and stand against the idea of biased 24/7 tracking and analysis of everyone on campus.

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