Archive

Today, the ACLU of Northern California filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice to find out more about the federal government's use of a sophisticated surveillance tool used to track people's cell phones and commonly known as a "stingray."Stingrays are highly intrusive and indiscriminate. To locate a suspect's cell phone, Stingrays mimic a cell tower and obtain ... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California this week was forced to file a lawsuit against Sacramento County officials after they failed to respond to requests for public documents. It's a case that underscores why it was so important that the state legislature last month backed off plans to weaken the California Public Records Act: the fact is that even with the law intact, it often... Read More

This week, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued a terrific decision in our lawsuit against the FBI for records about surveillance of the Occupy movement. We hope that this decision will lead to the shining of some much-needed light on the FBI and its surveillance of political protest movements. Read More

Late last month, the ACLU of Northern California broke the news that California utilities were turning over the smart meter data of large numbers of customers to third parties—with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) alone handing over the records of 4,062 customers in a single year. Based on SDG&E's responses to follow-up questions from the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), we have ... Read More

Earlier today, state law enforcement officials sent a letter to Google re-emphasizing the importance of transparency and user control. We're glad to see more voices joining the call. The letter expresses concern about Google's 2012 decision to merge data from all of its services into a single collection. Read More

You may not be familiar with companies like Datalogix or Acxiom, but you can bet they're familiar with you. These companies and other "data brokers" operate behind the scenes, collecting and selling information about almost every American household including employment history, recent purchases, and more. But while these companies are happy to sell and share your personal information with other co... Read More

Oakland city officials yesterday announced that the City Council had taken initial steps toward approving a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the National Lawyers Guild against the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for use of excessive force against Occupy Oakland Protestors in October and November 2011. Read More

The California State Senate Wednesday passed the School Success and Opportunity Act (Assembly Bill 1266), sending the bill that ensures transgender students have the opportunity to succeed in school to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. Authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), the bill passed the Senate with a 21-9 vote (unofficial). The bill passed the California State Assembly ... Read More

A small silver lining to the PRISM scandal is that it has created the impetus for several large technology companies to finally start giving the public a glimpse into how the government is regularly dipping into their treasure trove of personal information. You may want to check out our handy new chart for a quick rundown of what's been said and done by which companies- from statements, to transpa... Read More

As everyone has now heard, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two historic decisions today for LGBT Equality – striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional and returning marriage to California, by dismissing the appeal in the Hollingsworth v. Perry (Prop 8) case for lack of standing. What does this mean? Essentially what we've been saying all along – that the folks who o... Read More