Blog
We can be pretty sure that each new day will bring two things: new threats to our civil liberties, and new stories of people standing up for their rights and winning. Behind every court ruling is a person. Behind every landmark law is a movement. Read the stories and hear the voices that ground our work.
Twitter Cuts Off Fusion Spy Centers’ Access to Social Media Surveillance Tool
Dec 15, 2016
As of this week, Twitter has made sure that federally funded fusion centers can no longer use a powerful social media monitoring tool to spy on users. After the ACLU of California discovered the domestic spy centers had access to these tools, provided by Dataminr (a company partly owned by Twitter), Dataminr was forced to comply with Twitter’s clear rule prohibiting use of data for surveillance.&n...
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President-Elect Trump Will Soon Have the Keys to the Surveillance State
Nov 21, 2016
On January 20, President Obama will hand Donald Trump the keys to the surveillance state. What can you do to protect against government spying?
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Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Provided Data Access for a Surveillance Product Marketed to Target Activists of Color
Oct 11, 2016
The ACLU of California has obtained records showing that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram provided user data access to Geofeedia, a developer of a social media monitoring product that we have seen marketed to law enforcement as a tool to monitor activists and protesters.We are pleased that after we reported our findings to the companies, Instagram cut off Geofeedia’s access to public user posts, a...
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Police Use of Social Media Surveillance Software is Escalating, and Activists are in the Digital Crosshairs
Sep 22, 2016
It goes without saying that speaking out against police violence or government overreach shouldn’t land you in a surveillance database. But it can, and it does.The ACLU of California has received thousands of pages of public records revealing that law enforcement agencies across the state are secretly acquiring social media spying software that can sweep activists int...
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It's Time to Shine a Light on Police Surveillance in Fresno
Sep 21, 2016
When you are having meetings about transparency and building trust with law enforcement, the last thing you expect to hear is that they may be secretly spying on you. But that is exactly what happened to us as community activists with Fresno Faith In Community/Live Free.
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Interrupting Surveillance in Silicon Valley and Beyond
Sep 21, 2016
Public cynicism about government is at an all-time high – and we all know the reasons. That's why it's pretty remarkable when activists use public government processes to attack a scary and overwhelming problem like surveillance – and it works.
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How the Fight to Stop Oakland's Domain Awareness Center Laid the Groundwork for the Oakland Privacy Commission
Sep 21, 2016
When Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA in 2013, I didn’t yet know that my own city of Oakland had futuristic surveillance problems of our own. Oakland had quietly embarked on a path towards building a city-wide surveillance network called the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), comprised of over 700 cameras throughout schools and public housing, facial recognition software, automated license p...
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ACLU to FCC: Stop Secret Discriminatory Stingray Surveillance
Sep 01, 2016
The ACLU and EFF are urging the Federal Communications Commission to order local police to stop using Stingrays, at least until the FCC can create rules to protect against excessive secrecy and abuse.
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Five Years Later, BART's Cell Service Shutdown is Still a Wakeup Call
Aug 11, 2016
Five years ago today, BART made the unprecedented decision to shut off cell service at multiple stations in order to suppress a protest. Scores of riders were left without the ability to communicate.
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Facebook's Expansion Plans Could Displace Thousands in Menlo Park
Jul 20, 2016
Facebook’s proposed headquarters expansion would inject tens of thousands of new workers into one of the tightest housing markets in the country, yet its environmental study denies any impact on housing demand or displacement pressures.
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When Privacy Gets in the Way of Becoming a Pokémon Master
Jul 13, 2016
I’m the first to admit: I love Pokémon Go. Another thing I love? Privacy. I was shocked to find out that in signing up to explore the Pokémon world, I'd given Pokémon Go permission to explore my Gmail inbox.
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Will Apple's New Patent Push Delete on Ability to Record Police?
Jul 01, 2016
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 ...
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