Archive

It was a really good week in California for privacy rights. The legislature passed the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA SB 178) with strong bipartisan support. The bill is now on Gov. Brown’s desk, and he needs to hear from all of us that it’s time to update privacy law for the modern digital world and sign CalECPA into law. Read More

In May and July of last year, the ACLU Foundations of California submitted requests under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and the Anaheim Police Department, seeking documents related to the use of StingRays – highly invasive surveillance devices that allow law enforcement to track a suspect’s cell phone and, in the process, obtain a wide var... Read More

With a growing chorus of voices demanding systemic police reform, California is poised to pass AB 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015, the first-of-its-kind bill to collect basic information on police stops in order to combat racial and identity profiling. The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), was approved by the California Senate today and will return ... Read More

SACRAMENTO – In a tremendous victory for the electronic privacy rights of all Californians, the California Assembly today passed the California Electronic Privacy Act (CalECPA, SB 178) with strong support from Republicans and Democrats. The bill, jointly authored by Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Senator Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, protects Californians against warrantless government access ... Read More

SB 249 would allow the DMV to issue driver’s licenses that include a tiny RFID chip that broadcasts your personally identifying information. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California is asking Del Norte, Fresno, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Tulare, Madera, and Shasta counties to reverse their policies of requiring payment in advance of traffic court dates, or face possible legal action. These counties are currently withholding the right to contest a traffic citation until the fines and fees for the citation are paid in full. This pr... Read More

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Nearly 800 faith leaders, victims of police misconduct, family members of people killed by law enforcement, and other community members staged a sit-in outside of Governor Brown’s office on Wednesday following a march and rally for police reform. Chants echoed through the halls as participants called on Governor Brown to affirm his support for a bill to combat racial and identity profiling by law ... Read More

By overwhelming majorities, California voters are concerned about their digital privacy and support efforts to increase protections included in the California Electronic Privacy Act (CalECPA, SB 178), a statewide poll released today has found. Read More

Since Michael Brown’s death, unarmed black men have been killed by law enforcement at alarmingly disproportionate rates. Specifically, reports indicate that black men account for 40% of 60 unarmed deaths at the hands of police this year, and are seven times more likely than white men to be shot to death by police while unarmed. At the state level, California holds the ominous record for the highes... Read More