Facial Recognition, Transparency Ordinance

SF’s Stop Secret Surveillance Act

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This spring, the city of San Francisco will consider Oakland Privacy’s signature surveillance transparency regulation legislation, but with a twist.

The Stop Secret Surveillance Act, introduced on January 29, 2019 by Supervisor Aaron Peskin and Board of Supes prez Norman Yee, adds a total ban on the use of facial recognition software by city government.

This is the first time a SERO ordinance has pre-emptively declared that the use of a particular kind of surveillance tech is, ipso facto, unacceptable for use by the government.

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Police Militarization, UASI

“You Can’t Shoot or Arrest a Wildfire.”

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Just Saying No [More] Urban Shield

So said truly one of many speakers during a seven hour meeting in Oakland on the 26th of February, 2019, at which Urban Shield had a heart attack. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors kept their word from a year ago and voted to end Urban Shield “as it is currently constituted,” approving recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee it created that would give Urban Shield a new heart, a new name, and a new purpose.

Thank the Board of Supervisors for their vote right now!


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Immigration and ICE

2019 Law To Protect DMV Records May Not Be Working

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**Update: Assembly Bill 1747 was introduced in the CA Legislature to specifically forbid the use of any state databases for immigration enforcement.

In 2018, then State Senator Ricardo Lara authored a bill, SB 244, that was signed into law. The bill protected documents submitted to get a driver’s license or state identification card from disclosure to any third party, including ICE or CPB, without a subpoena, court order or a written certification describing the specific circumstances of a health or safety emergency and why there wasn’t time to get a court order.

The law was particularly important because, 5 years earlier, California had implemented AB 60, which authorized the State to issue drivers licenses and ID cards to undocumented residents.

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Police Militarization, UASI

2019 Bay Area UASI Grants

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Every year, law enforcement agencies go to the Homeland Security till and ask for some new crime fighting gadgets. Here’s the list of what Bay Area law enforcement agencies want in 2019.

*Sonoma County wants an LRAD (long range acoustical device or sound cannon) and a mobile surveillance tower for “large events”.
*San Mateo County wants an armored tactical transport van for their SWAT team.
*Oakland wants an armored firefighting vehicle
*San Francisco’s Sheriff wants a drone and a mobile surveillance robot
*Santa Cruz wants a drone with an infrared camera.

Download the complete list.

Use of Force and Tasers

Taser Forum: San Mateo County

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Following community pressure after the October 3 death of Chinedu Okobi a 36 year old Black man who was tasered by San Mateo County Sheriffs after being stopped for “walking erratically”, San Mateo’s Board of Supervisors is convening a community forum on tasers.

The event will be held on the evening of Feb 11th at 400 County Center in Redwood City and will be preceded by a 5pm rally outside the County headquarters. Oakland Privacy (and one of our members as an individual) submitted comments to the Board, which can be read here.

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