Archive

Imagine: You pull out your phone to record police misconduct—suddenly, your camera just doesn’t work. Turns out, your phone’s camera has been disabled by an infrared emitter. Apple’s newly patented technology may make this possible. The technology places an infrared sensor in your phone that has the potential to be disabled remotely. While the technology is being promoted as a tool to prevent the ... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit against the City of Hayward and its Police Department for charging the National Lawyers Guild unlawful and excessive costs as the price of disclosing body camera footage the NLG requested under the California Public Records Act. Read More

Santa Clara County has passed a landmark law to stop secret and discriminatory surveillance. The passage of this new law comes on the heels of San Jose's secret acquisition of a drone, the Santa Clara Sheriff's attempt to quietly buy an invasive cell phone tracking device, and revelations that Fresno and Bay Area police departments have been using social networking software that monitors Black Liv... Read More

In a vote this morning, the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors made Santa Clara the first county in the nation to institute consistent transparency, accountability and oversight measures for all surveillance decisions with a groundbreaking ordinance. Read More

It’s pretty simple: our social media content is protected by the First Amendment. That’s why the ACLU is concerned that the federal government is pressuring social media companies to limit content on platforms that hundreds of millions of people use every day. Read More

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter is no longer going to allow US intelligence agencies to access a Twitter-affiliated business service that compiles and analyzes the hundreds of millions of daily tweets on the service. Read More

This week, we’re attending the “Color of Surveillance” conference in Washington, D.C., meeting leaders and activists from across the country who are shining a light on discriminatory surveillance. When technology advances, the tools of surveillance change but the color of surveillance remains the same. Here in California, we’re seeing communities fighting back against the secretive purchase and un... Read More

Surveillance is on the rise in our communities, but basic transparency, oversight, and accountability remain the exception, not the rule. This guide provides a step-by-step framework to approach surveillance proposals, properly evaluate their true costs, and develop policies that provide transparency, oversight, and accountability. Read More

Privacy & Free Speech: It’s Good for Business is your essential guide to avoiding costly privacy and free speech missteps that can destroy user trust, lead to government investigations and expensive lawsuits, and damage the bottom line. Read More

When Twitter released its most recent transparency report in late February, users got their first glimpse into the content the company removes for violating its terms of service after it receives formal legal demands. This is a step forward. Read More