Oakland Privacy joined 41 other civil rights groups to endorse the USA Rights Acts which was introduced today to meaningfully reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The USA Rights Act creates a search warrant requirement that closes the “backdoor” loophole, permanently ends the “about” exception which had allowed for warrantless searches of communications that mentioned intelligence targets, requires the government to give notice when using information derived from Section 702 surveillance against US persons or on US soil, declassifies FISA court opinions, and sunsets in 4 years. More details available here.
The contract states: “This action is to request the approval to procure database information to identify criminal suspects, businesses and assets of targets of investigations for potential arrest, seizure and forfeiture. These database services shall be obtained from West Publishing Corporation. West Publishing Corporation is the only known source capable of providing the required information. This information will be used by ICE/HSI/AFU offices located not only in Washington, D.C. but also in 26 SAC offices and multiple RAC offices throughout the United States and US territories”.
On October 3, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance subjecting all local law enforcement agreements with federal partners to abide by the city’s laws and undergo civil rights and privacy reviews.
238 human rights organizations,(including Oakland Privacy), demanded that the White House rescind the latest iteration of the unconstitutional and discriminatory “Muslim ban” executive travel order. In an open letter released on September 27, 2017, the groups stated ““If you refuse to rescind this unlawful order, we commit to do all in our power to protect those communities being targeted by EO-3 and to support litigation to defeat this unconstitutional ban. History will long remember, and we will not quickly forget, this singular assault on America’s commitment to freedom of religion.”