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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License Plate Readers

CA State Auditor Says CA ALPR Use Imperils Privacy

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A state audit of license plate reader use by CA law enforcement agencies requested by State Senator Scott Weiner concluded that existing policies were largely not compliant with existing state law and that laws needed to be strengthened.

The CA State Auditor stated “the law enforcement agencies we reviewed must better protect individuals’ privacy through ensuring that their policies reflect state law. In addition, we found that these agencies must improve their ALPR data security, make more informed decisions about sharing their ALPR data, and expand their oversight of ALPR users.”

 The auditor went on to state: “the statewide survey of law enforcement agencies we conducted found that 70 percent operate or plan to operate an ALPR system, and this raises concerns that these agencies may share the deficiencies we identified at the four agencies we reviewed”.

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Data Privacy

Kick The Tires of the CCPA

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In celebration of Data Privacy Day (earlier this week), and the operational start of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), privacy advocates invited CA legislators to take the law out for a spin.

Our practice companies: Tik-ToK, a youth-oriented social media network, and Experian, one of the 3 leading credit bureaus in the country.

While legislators are trying out their new law, you can also join the impromptu test. See if you can find out what Tik-Tok and Experian have collected about you, and ask them to stop selling it, and tell us how it goes!

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Uncategorized

Oakland Privacy’s Year in Bullet Points

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Some of the things Oakland Privacy had a hand in in 2019…

  • Urban Shield – Dead.
  • San Francisco enacts a surveillance equipment regulation ordinance (SERO) and facial recognition ban.
  • Oakland and Berkeley pass facial recognition bans.
  • Oakland rejects new Bearcat for OPD.
  • Richmond, CA terminates its Vigilant ALPR contract, honoring their ordinance prohibiting doing business with ICE contractors.
  • Oakland Privacy receives EFF’s Barlow award “extending freedom and innovation in the realm of information technology.”
  • Two dozen industry bills designed to weaken the CA Consumer Privacy Act before it went into effect defeated or reduced to neutral impact.
  • California revised Use of Force legislation passed and signed into law.
  • Three year moratorium on police use of facial recognition in California signed into law.
  • Oakland begins process of creating a police militarized equipment regulation ordinance, similar to its surveillance equipment regulation ordinance.
  • Berkeley passes ordinance requiring that certain commercial establishments accept cash, following in San Francisco’s footsteps earlier in the year.

A flyer with this information and a short writeup about Oakland Privacy, etc:

OP-2019-accomplishments-flyer-1Download
Data Privacy

Privacy Groups Comment on CA AG Privacy Regs

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California’s statewide privacy coalition weighed in on the regulatory plans for the California Attorney General to administer and enforce the California Consumer Privacy Act.

The verdict? Pretty good job by Becerra’s office, but a few things can always be better. Like what? Read on.

And grab a copy of a request to a company to quit selling your data. You can start filing on January 1!

(Thank you to Common Sense Media for the template form.

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