Privacy and Government Surveillance

Privacy is guaranteed under the California Constitution – including the right to be free from unwarranted government surveillance. Individuals, not the government or corporations, should determine how and when other people can access our personal information.

About Amazon's dangerous new facial recognition tech... Read more

SB 1186 can restores CA's power to fight secret surveillance... Learn more

CalECPA updates digital rights to keep up with modern world. Read More

A Smart Surveillance guide for communities. Download

ACLU reta encarcelamientos de adolescentes inmigrantes por la administración Trump

August 11, 2017

File Under :

Criminal Justice and Drug Policy, Immigrants' Rights, Privacy and Government Surveillance

Read the English version » SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Abogados representado a niños inmigrantes y a sus familias demandaron hoy al Procurador General Jeff Sessions, la Oficina de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) y al... Read more

What's Wrong with Airport Face Recognition?

August 4, 2017

File Under :

Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has launched a “Traveler Verification Service” (TVS) that envisions applying face recognition to all airline passengers, including U.S. citizens, boarding flights exiting the United States. This system raises... Read more »

Oakland residents at tonight's packed house committee meeting

ACLU Urges Oakland to Protect Civil Rights & Public Safety

File Under :

Criminal Justice and Drug Policy, Immigrants' Rights, Privacy and Government Surveillance

ACLU of Northern California organizer Tessa D'Arcangelew gave the following statement at tonight's meeting of the Oakland Public Safety Committee as it voted to disentangle Oakland and the Oakland Police Department from ICE's deportation machine and... Read more

If the Government Spied on You, How Would You Know?

June 21, 2017

File Under :

Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

We’re suing the Justice Department to disclose when the government tells people it electronically spied on them. Read more »

ICE agents standing in front of a home, knocking on the door.

ICE Using Powerful Stingray Surveillance Devices In Deportation Searches

May 23, 2017

File Under :

Immigrants' Rights, Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

ICE obtained a warrant to track and locate the cell phone of an immigrant from El Salvador who the government believed to be removable from the country. This is the first evidence we’ve seen of ICE using a Stingray in a specific immigration... Read more »

The Right to Protest: Social Conflict and Repression in the Americas

May 23, 2017 - 3:00pm

File Under :

Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

Matt Cagle (ACLU of Northern CA) will be speaking in Buenos Aires about the impacts of technology-based surveillance on protestors and communities vulnerable to government discrimination. Read more

Oakland's Surveillance Technology Ordinance Passes Out of Committee

File Under :

Criminal Justice and Drug Policy, Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

The Oakland City Council's Public Safety Committee has voted to move forward with Oakland's groundbreaking Surveillance Technology Ordinance. ACLU of Northern California organizer Tessa D'Arcangelew gave the following statement at tonight's meeting: Read more

Protect Privacy, Resist Profiling: Malkia Cyril & Nicole Ozer

Oakland: Protect Privacy, Resist Profiling

May 9, 2017 - 6:30pm

File Under :

Privacy and Government Surveillance, Racial Justice, Technology and Civil Liberties

Join experts Nicole A. Ozer (ACLU of California) and Malkia Cyril (Center for Media Justice) for a conversation about digital rights and freedom in the Trump era. Read more

Why Did the Government Search an Artist’s iPhone at the Border?

May 4, 2017

File Under :

Free Speech, Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

In late February, Aaron Gach was returning to the United States from Brussels. An artist and activist, he had been abroad exhibiting works about mass incarceration, government control, and political dissent. In his pocket was a smartphone. During a... Read more »

A Victory for Digital Privacy: AB 165 Halted in California Assembly

April 14, 2017

File Under :

Education Equity, Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

Facing opposition from over 60 groups including the ACLU of California, AB 165 is dead, for now. The unnecessary, harmful bill would've exposed millions to invasive digital searches at California schools. Read more