Data Privacy

Why I Opposed AB 3080

by  •  • 0 Comments

by Saoirse Grace, 2024 Privacy Rights Fellow

Much has been written about the legal, social, and practical reasons AB 3080 must be stopped. I agree—it must be. For those unfamiliar, AB 3080 is a bill in the California state legislature that proposes to force Adult Industry content providers to verify users’ age. As of August 18 the bill did not emerge from the suspense file in the Appropriations Committee. But we can assume this won’t be the last try. One thing that is missing from this discourse is how people weaponize concepts like morality, a desire to protect children, and urgency in order to create a state of affairs in which laws that would otherwise be plainly outlandish can take root.

Read more →

Uncategorized

And …. We Are A Non-Profit

by  •  • 0 Comments

Non-profit industrial complex, here we come.

Seriously, we are pleased to announce that after 12 years as an anarchist collective, Oakland Privacy has finally taken the plunge into 501c3 status. Our Tax ID# is 93-4007475.

What this means for you: You can make a *tax-deductible* donation to Oakland Privacy. If you happen to be a foundation, you can give us a grant.

What this means for us: We have more paperwork to do. We do not anticipate any major changes to our operations. Our core group is now a board of directors and we formally adjourn our semi-annual board meetings. But we intend to operate collectively, as always, and function as a volunteer group, as always.

On to the brave new world …

Uncategorized

Meet Saoirse Grace – 2024-2025 Privacy Rights Fellow

by  •  • 0 Comments

Oakland Privacy is pleased to annouce that Saoirse Grace has been selected as the 2024-2025 Privacy Rights Fellow. The fellowship is a part-time advocacy and organizing position generously funded by the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment.

Here is a bit about Saoirse: Please join us in welcoming her to Oakland Privacy!

Saoirse Grace is a transsexual Oakland-based researcher who applies postmodern and postcolonial theory to questions of gender, surveillance, itinerancy, homelessness, privacy, and art. She graduated Magna cum Laude from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2016 and has written about critical legal theory, critical race theory, immigration law reform, the GDPR, and the application of Constitutional law to cutting-edge technology and its uses by state actors and private enterprise. She has extensive experience with the Freedom of Information Act, the California Public Records Act, and has published an exhaustive analysis of the Third Amendment’s applicability to Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Saoirse has been involved in progressive organizing in the Bay Area since she moved here in 2013. She is an excellent bicycle mechanic, an award-winning experimental filmmaker, the former voice of Berkeley Bowl on X, and an avid Formula 1 fan (the cars, not the races).

Drones

London Breed’s Prop E May Violate State Law

by  •  • 0 Comments

Proposition E on the San Francisco March 2024 ballot, sponsored by the group Safer San Francisco and championed by SF Mayor Breed, seems to violate 2021 state law (Assembly Bill 481). The ballot initiative purports to allow SFPD to use drones (unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV’s) in vehicle pursuits or active criminal investigations.

But since the adoption of AB 481, which became state law in January of 2022, drones are controlled military equipment and can only be used by CA law enforcement agencies after the governing board of the city or county votes to approve the use and an associated use policy. San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors did not include drones in their annual military equipment review and approval. A local ballot intitiative cannot alter state law when the state law governs charter counties by statute and AB 481 does so.

Read more →

Video Surveillance

Video from AC Transit Tempo Platform Cameras Given to OPD and SLPD Without Court Orders

by  •  • 0 Comments

Update: AC Transit has replied to our letter and stated they will agendize a discussion of the audit for an upcoming board meeting.

When AC Transit proposed adding platform cameras to Bus Rapid Transit platforms along East Oakland’s International Avenue, Oakland Privacy worked with community advocates and the Board of Directors to get a privacy policy in place. That privacy policy called for an annual audit.

The Oakland Observer put in a public records request for that audit and recently received a completed audit from August 2023. The audit says a better logging system is needed for video requests and documents that 42% of out-of-agency-requests from Oakland PD and San Leandro PD did not provide evidence of a court order, as required by the policy.

See the audit document below and Oakland Privacy’s letter to the Board.

Read more →

Uncategorized

Oakland Privacy’s Year in Bullet Points 2023

by  •  • 0 Comments

Some of the things Oakland Privacy had a hand in in 2023:

  • California Fusion Center Research Project initiated by Oakland Privacy
  • Bad facial recognition state legislation killed.
  • ALPR regulation bill introduced in CA legislation and sponsored by Oakland Privacy..
  • Oakland Privacy’s letters of support and objection are quoted extensively by legislative analysts for a number of bills re: privacy, surveillance, policing and transparency.
  • Oakland will replace its aging, cruiser-mounted (but currently disabled) ALPRs with lots of new Flock fixed-location ALPRS, BUT will reduce to retention time to 30 days from its current six months to two years.
  • Newsom signs 20 bills supported by Oakland Privacy in the areas of privacy, surveillance, and governmental transparency and vetos a bill (at our request) to expand the focus areas for California’s fusion centers.
  • City of Pasadena tables a proposed cell site simulator purchase after Oakland Privacy warns them they are violating state law.
  • Oakland Privacy reveals that Kaiser Permanente is using Flock cameras in their medical center parking lots across the State .
  • ALCO Board of Supervisors agrees to end the use of scattershot munitions in the mental health housing unit at Santa Rita Jail. ALCO also agrees to re-establish drone video retention to 60 days unless entered into evidence, remove boilerplate authorization language inserted into the policy in 2021, and to add to the policy a blanket prohibition on the weaponization of drones.

2022 2021 2020 2019