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

Blog

Police in riot gear, holding batons, on a California street

Help Wanted: How You Can Act Locally To Stymie Trump’s Agenda

February 15, 2017

File Under :

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

Donald Trump told the American public, repeatedly, that upon taking office his policy agenda will include efforts to identify and immediately deport millions of undocumented immigrants , to track and surveil Muslims throughout the country, and to... Read more »

Blog

Trump Has the Keys to the Surveillance State, but CA has a Long History of Changing the Locks

January 19, 2017

File Under :

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

When Donald Trump takes the oath of office, he will inherit an unprecedented surveillance state that includes expansive powers and databases filled with information on millions of people. Read more »

Blog

man holds sign saying "Fascism is not our national policy yet"

Dissent is Patriotic. It’s also a Powerful Antidote to Propaganda - #ACLUTimeMachine

January 11, 2017

File Under :

Free Speech, Privacy and Government Surveillance

Fifty-five years ago this January, the ACLU of Northern California was busy filling orders from across the country for copies of its recently produced film, “Operation Correction.” The film was a response to a piece of Red Scare propaganda, “... Read more »

Blog

Dataminr protest social media surveillance demo

Twitter Cuts Off Fusion Spy Centers’ Access to Social Media Surveillance Tool

December 15, 2016

File Under :

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

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,... Read more »

Case

Gill v. DOJ (Challenge to Federal Suspicious Activity Reporting)

File Under :

Free Speech, Privacy and Government Surveillance

The ACLU Foundations of California filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s Suspicious Activity Reporting program - a vast expansion of the federal government’s domestic intelligence network. The SAR program targets First Amendment-... Read more

Blog

President-Elect Trump Will Soon Have the Keys to the Surveillance State

November 21, 2016

File Under :

Privacy and Government Surveillance, Technology and Civil Liberties

On January 20, President Obama will hand Donald Trump the keys to the surveillance state. What can you do to protect against government spying? Read more »

Blog

The family of Julia Harumi Mass at Heart Mountain internment camp in 1944

Lessons from Internment: Racial and Religious Profiling Are Never Warranted

November 21, 2016

File Under :

Immigrants' Rights, Privacy and Government Surveillance, Racial Justice

My mother was seven years old when she and her family were evacuated from the West Coast and forced to live in an Army barrack behind barbed wire in an internment camp in Heart Mountain , Wyoming. Born in Los Angeles, she had been taught in school... Read more »

Case

In re Ricardo P. (Electronic Search)

File Under :

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

This case arises from the decision by a California trial court to impose an expansive “electronics search condition” on a young probationer that required him to submit his electronic devices and online account passwords for a search as a condition... Read more

Article

Map of California, showing the proliferation of police surveillance technology

Dear Attorney General Kamala Harris, It's Time to Act on Surveillance Technology

File Under :

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

Dear Attorney General Harris: On your watch as California’s top cop, law enforcement agencies up and down the state have been secretly using social media surveillance software that has been marketed to monitor protests and activists of color. Read more

Blog

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Provided Data Access for a Surveillance Product Marketed to Target Activists of Color

October 11, 2016

File Under :

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

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... Read more »