Blog

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

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

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

Today is not a typical ACLU day for me.I am going to Apple’s shareholder meeting to show my support for a company that is standing up for the privacy and security of people around the country and around the world.The federal government’s order for Apple to create a backdoor into the iPhone is not about just one phone. It is about all of our phones and devices, everywhere.Just like we rely on stron... Read More

The privacy and free speech mistakes of tech companies led to tons of embarrassing and costly stories last year. These missteps could've been avoided with better planning and processes in place, but many companies lack the resources to navigate this terrain. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California is outraged by the death of Hernan Jaramillo, who died in 2013 while Oakland police officers restrained him and ignored his cries of “I can’t breathe.” Footage of the incident was released this week by the Oakland Tribune. Read More

Anaheim Police have spent almost a decade secretly building an inventory of powerful cell phone surveillance devices and making them available to neighboring cities in Orange County, Documents obtained [MC1] by the ACLU of California reveal. Read More

This January, as you consider a gym membership or taking up a new instrument, you also have the opportunity to commit to something else: a more private and secure digital life. Here are six easy steps you and your loved ones can take to help safeguard your digital life this coming year. Read More

It’s a new year, and that means it’s time to move on from the past and turn towards the future. Put those holiday decorations back in boxes for the foreseeable future. Find a new strategy to ensure that you’re really going to live up to your resolutions this time. And enjoy a new era of digital privacy in California as CalECPA (SB 178) goes into effect. Read More

Facebook just announced concrete changes to its harmful “real name” policy. Following up on its promise to groups including the ACLU of California, the changes are meant to reduce risks such as abusive reporting and lockouts of users and their speech from the site. Read More