Transparency Ordinance

No More Non-Policies

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by Christina Rosalita

“Policy after Procurement” has been, until recently, the unofficial non policy of blatantly experimenting until there is dissent or surreptitiously monitoring and using excuses as needed to justify. This approach is not in keeping with the promise of a sanctuary state; not for anyone.

In response to this, real policies are now being established. The Surveillance Equipment Requisition Ordinance (SERO) and Sanctuary Contracting Ordinance, or “Deport ICE”, provide the regulatory structure necessary for responsible acquisition and use; including provisions for data sharing and duration of retention. “Deport ICE” ends direct data sharing with ICE, an agency that uses data for high tech hunting of immigrant communities.

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License Plate Readers

License Plate Readers: A Portrait of Fremont

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According to data from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), the city of Fremont collected 14.5 million license plates and photos from license plate readers located throughout the city from December 2016 to October 2017.

The installation of stationary license plate readers was approved by the Fremont City Council on July 14, 2015, without any public comment or discussion during the meeting.

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Net Neutrality

36 Major Netroots Groups Launch StopTheFCC.net To Save Net Neutrality

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On the day the FCC order ending net neutrality rules goes into effect, some of the country’s largest netroots group are launching an effort urging representatives to force a floor vote to save net neutrality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2018
Contact: Mark Stanley, 202.681.7582, press@demandprogress.org

Today, with the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality protections set to go into effect, a coalition of major netroots groups is launching StopTheFCC.net.

StopTheFCC.net is an activism site that will drive hundreds of thousands of emails and tens of thousands of phone calls to representatives’ offices urging them to sign a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to restore net neutrality.

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Fusion Centers, License Plate Readers

Fusion Center Sharing Report From Vigilant License Plate Database

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On June 5, 2018, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), the Homeland Security fusion center for the Norcal region, released via a public records request the sharing report for their account in the license plate reader database LEARN-NVLS, which is maintained by plate reader manufacturer Vigilant Solution.

The report (see below) listed 100+ agencies the fusion center is sharing its own license plate reader data with, including many outside the region (sample) –  Duluth Police Department(MN), the Fort Bend Sheriff’s Department (TX), The Grosse Ile Police Department (MI), The Pine Mountain Police Department (GA), Saugerties Police Department (NY), the Miami Police Department (FL) and the Gulfport Police Department (MS).

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Immigration and ICE

Richmond Makes It Official: Sanctuary City Contracting Law Ratified

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As the primary election polls were starting to close, at a bit after 9pm Pacific on June 5,  the Richmond City Council completed their second and ratifying vote on the Bay Area’s first Sanctuary City contracting ordinance, by a 5-1 vote.

The Sanctuary City contracting ordinance (template legislation is available at the Deport ICE website) allows cities and counties that are sanctuary jurisdictions to put their dollars where their mouths are, by ending municipal contracts and investments with ICE data brokers.

Richmond’s historic vote makes Richmond the first city in the United States to strengthen their sanctuary policy to exclude private parties providing information and vetting services to ICE.

Similar legislation is under consideration in Alameda, Berkeley and Oakland.

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Facial Recognition

35 Civil Rights Organizations Tell Amazon To Get Out Of The Facial Recognition Business

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35 civil rights organizations (including Oakland Privacy)  joined a sign-on letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to desist from marketing facial recognition technology to the government.

Public records requests reveal that the company has developed and sold a prototype product called “Rekognition” to police departments in Florida and Oregon. 

The company specifically describes the purpose of the technology to be “person-tracking.”

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