Internet of Things

How Smart Is The Smart City?

by  •  • 0 Comments

Listen to a City Council meeting and you’ll never know what you’ll hear. Like on Tuesday September 25th, when we found out Berkeley was signing a franchise agreement for IKE Smart City kiosks.

After listening to the presentation, we had some questions.And we got some answers. And we followed up.

Pinhole cameras gone. Security cameras gone. People counters will now anonymize data.

That said, it was not enjoyable hearing the kiosk rep say that people counting data should be used by the city to see how many people are at protests. Wrong answer.

Oakland Privacy member Tracy Rosenberg wrote about that moment in the context of protests against the Trump regime.

Read more →

Uncategorized

Protecting Civil Rights Award

by  •  • 0 Comments

Oakland Privacy is honored to receive a Protecting Civil Rights award from the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR).

The award ceremony will be held at CAIR-Bay Area’s 24th Annual Banquet on October 27th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Tickets are $55 and include a full meal.

Please come, especially if you have been a part of Oakland Privacy’s journey.

Tickets here. 

Read more →

Immigration and ICE

Berkeley Set To Adopt Sanctuary Contracting Law

by  •  • 0 Comments

On October 16th, Berkeley’s City Council can approve the nation’s second Sanctuary Contracting Ordinance.

In May of 2018, Richmond became the first city in the country to prevent municipal contracts with companies that sell data to ICE. Now it is Berkeley’s turn as we try to build a region-wide resistance that will change the business decisions of companies. Using public money to subsidize the high-tech hunting of immigrants is a choice and we can make another, better choice here in Northern California. Sanctuary is not just a slogan.

More at www.deportice.org

East Bay Express:  Opinion: Will Berkeley Make It’s Sanctuary Status Real?

Facebook Event: Deport ICE – Berkeley Sanctuary City Contracting Law

Body Worn Cameras, Public Records

Two Key Law Enforcement Transparency Bills Become Law in 2019

by  •  • 0 Comments

 

In a rebuke to the state’s powerful law enforcement unions, California’s governor signed into law on September 30 two bills that will substantially increase law enforcement transparency.

The first, Assembly Bill 748, authored by SF rep Phil Ting, will mandate the eventual disclosure of police body camera videos when firearms are discharged or use of force results in death or great bodily injury. The bill premiminarily makes footage of critical incidents available after 45 days, with the ability for law enforcement to delay for as long as a year, but no longer.

The second, Senate Bill 1421, authored by East Bay rep Nancy Skinner, makes investigative and disciplinary records available as public records for incidents of firearms discharge, use of force resulting in death or critical injury, sexual assault or falsifying evidence. The bill preliminarily makes the records available after 60 days, with the ability of law enforcement to delay for as long as 18 months.

Both bills were strongly opposed by the Sheriff and Police Officers lobbying associations.

Uncategorized

Stare Into The Lights My Pretties

by  •  • 0 Comments

Thank you for joining us on September 23rd for Down Under Dystopia!

It was wonderful to see you all. Our feature documentary Stare Into The Lights My Pretties is available freely for noncommercial use.

So for those of you who wanted to recommend it for community or educational use, click on the link to get to the filmmakers authorized online viewer to stream the film.

Our animated short opener, iRony, is not available for online viewing, but if interested in a noncommercial use, contact us via email at contact@oaklandprivacy.org and we can put you into contact with the filmmaker directly.

 

Immigration and ICE

Salesforce: Cancel The Contract

by  •  • 0 Comments

 

On Tuesday September 25, activists will move from online organizing to up close and personal at the annual Dreamforce conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Dreamforce is the annual gathering of Salesforce developers and one of the largest tech conferences in the world.

Salesforce is a cloud computing company, whose customer relations management package (CRM) is one of the most heavily used software/tech platforms. The company has a contract with Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) and has faced requests from employees and customers to terminate in the face of the inhumane treatment of migrant families. Immigration support group RAICES turned down a $250,000 donation from Salesforce, saying they wanted the contract cancelled.

Activists will be present at the Dreamforce Conference to insist that language about changing the world for the better be accompanied by real world actions to end complicity with border cruelty.

Join Fight for the Future, Oakland Privacy, Defending Rights and Dissent, Media Alliance, Demand Progress, Greenpeace and many others to tell Salesforce to drop the contract or we’ll drop them.

Tuesday September 25 Moscone Center 747 Howard Street  San Francisco 9am – 11am

Facebook event