Facial Recognition, Transparency Ordinance

San Francisco Approves Oversight of Surveillance Tech and Becomes 1st in the Country to Ban Use of Facial Recognition.

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At the May 14 meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the City of SF became the 10th jurisdiction in the country to adopt a comprehensive oversight protocol for the acquisition and use of surveillance tech. The 8-1 vote was one shy of unanimous, as Supervisors Ronen and Walton who were both indisposed, are co-sponsors of the Act.

The Stop Secret Surveillance Act, sponsored by Supervisor Aaron Peskin, requires board approval of existing and new equipment, use polices and civil rights impact reports to be created for each methodology and annual reports summarizing use, all available to the public. 

San Francisco’s Stop Secret Surveillance Act also bans the use of intrusive facial recognition software by the City, which has been demonstrated to be dangerously inaccurate and racially biased. San Francisco has become the first municipality in the nation to ban its use.

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License Plate Readers

Reining in License Plate Readers

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The use of automated license plate readers by law enforcement agencies has become ubiquitous over the last decade. It is probably the most extensive mass surveillance program in the United States. The terrabytes of car images, of whch 99.5% or more will never be connected with any criminal action, have led to problematic storage and sharing methodologies including the use of federal fusion centers like NCRIC and privately held databases like Morotola’s LEARN database (formerly owned by Vigilant Solutions). Such databases have been accessed by numerous federal agencies including ICE and Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force and even the IRS.

Now the State of California is taking another look at license plate readers, after mandating publicly posted usage policies. Assembly privacy chair Ed Chau has unveiled AB 1782 which would subject all ALPR operators and end users in the State to significant limitations on the retention and sharing of license plate reader data.

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License Plate Readers, Transparency Ordinance

BART Proposes License Plate Readers At All Parking Lots

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Update (5/20/19): Oakland Privacy follow-up letter to BART suggests a) the use of rear camera readers which capture license plates only, without collateral pics of vehicle occupants or interiors and b) limitations on access to BART ALPR data from other federal and local agencies who use the fusion center database. See full letter below.

Update (4/29/19): Ryan Devereaux at The Intercept released a story this morning confirming that a private intelligence contractor pulled information about family separation protests in 2018 off of social media, compiled a dossier and sent it to all the federal fusion centers, including NCRIC. This unconstitutional surveillance of First Amendment protected activity is unacceptable. Combined with previously revealed information about CPB and ICE blanket access to DMV records via the CLETS database, it is becoming clear that BART providing real time geolocation data to the federal fusion center is an existential threat to immigration activists, and all who engage in First Amendment-protected activities.

Update: BART approved the policy on a preliminary basis and will be running a one station pilot (station TBD), with any further expansion requiring a return to the board and a review of the policy.

SF Examiner: BART Board Approves Automated License Plate Surveillance in Parking Lots

NBC Bay Area: BART Board Approves License Plate Readers in Parking Lots

SF Gate: BART Board Approves Policy Governing Use of License Plate Readers

Mercury News: BART Revives Plan To Put License Plate Readers in Parking Lots

A proposal to be discussed at the April 25 meeting of the board of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) plans for the installation of automated license plate readers (ALPR) at all BART parking lots. On the April 25 meeting agenda, a license plate reader use policy and surveillance impact report will be presented for approval and to begin the process of mass surveillance of all BART riders who use the system’s parking areas.

The proposal would upload the data to the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), a Department of Homeland Security federal fusion center.

BART flirted with the use of license plate readers in system parking lots in 2016, when operational staff started a pilot program at McArthur BART in secret. After public protest, the Board of Directors voted to end the pilot program, but it continued despite the board vote throughout that year and 2017 and BART uploaded tens of thousands of scans to Homeland Security.

It was a bad idea then and it is a bad idea now. Here are a few reasons why.

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Facial Recognition, Transparency Ordinance

Stop Secret Surveillance SF Act

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Update: The Stop Secret Surveillance Act passed the rules committee on May 6 by a unanimous 3-0 vote! The full board will be voting on May 14th. The meeting begins at 2pm at City Hall in Room 250. Take action below to encourage the Supervisors to support it.

San Francisco’s surveillance transparency ordinance with a twist (a ban on municipal use of facial recognition software) took a giant step today towards adoption, adding two additional co-sponsors in Supervisors Hilary Ronen and Matt Haney at the April 15th Rules committee hearing. They joined Supervisors Shamann Walton, Board President Norman Yee and bill sponsor Supervisor Peskin

After a few technical amendments are noticed and the Rules committee advances the measure on May 6, a full board vote will follow, possibly as soon as May 14th.

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