Favorite New documents EFF received through public records requests have revealed that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) received live access to the hundreds of surveillance cameras that comprise the Union Square Business Improvement District’s (USBID) camera network in anticipation of potential protests following the police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee. The protests…
All posts tagged Street-Level Surveillance
Neighborhood Watch Out: Cops Are Incorporating Private Cameras Into Their Real-Time Surveillance Networks
Favorite Police have their sights set on every surveillance camera in every business, on every porch, in all the cities and counties of the country. Grocery store trips, walks down the street, and otherwise minding your own business when outside your home could soon come under the ever-present eye of the government. In a quiet…
Report: ICE and the Secret Service Conducted Illegal Surveillance of Cell Phones
Favorite The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has released a troubling new report detailing how federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Secret Service have conducted surveillance using cell-site simulators (CSS) without proper authorization and in violation of the law. Specifically, the office of the Inspector General…
How We Fought For and Won Access to Records About Predictive Policing in General Escobedo, Mexico
Favorite What started with a simple public records request became a journey into the absurd depths of Mexican bureaucracy. But we emerged victorious, and learned a lot about how a city experimented with a dangerous surveillance tool. Filing public records requests for government information is a vital tool that EFF uses to shed light on…
California Law Says Electronic Search Data Must Be Posted Online. So Where Is It?
Favorite Update, Feb. 1, 2023: Out of an abundance of caution, EFF has temporarily replaced the CalECPA disclosure data from 2020-2022 with new versions provided by the California Department of Justice (CADOJ) that do not include the “nature of investigation” and “facts giving rise to the emergency” columns. Following our publication of the data, CADOJ…
Surveillance in San Francisco: 2022 in Review
Favorite We love San Francisco. It’s EFF’s home. It’s often an example for other cities in regards to technology use and civil liberties. We helped make San Francisco the first city in the United States to ban government use of facial recognition, and one of the first to require community control of whether police can…
Police Drones and Robots: 2022 in Review
Favorite The rising tide of policing by robots and drones may seem relentless or even inevitable. But activism, legislative advocacy, and public outrage can do a lot to protect our safety and freedom from these technologies. This year began with a report that elucidated what police are doing with drones. Answer? Not much for now.…
VICTORY! San Francisco Bans Killer Robots…For Now
Favorite In a stunning 8-to-3 vote yesterday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the SFPD from using deadly force with remote-controlled robots. The Board also sent the killer robot policy back to its Rules Committee for revisions and more public comment. This is a big reversal: just one week ago, the Board voted 8-3…
44 Local Organizations Stand Against SFPD’s Killer Robots
Favorite EFF is announcing a letter signed by 44 community groups who stand united in opposition to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors authorizing the San Francisco Police Department to deploy deadly force with remote-control robots. The signers include racial justice groups, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, LGBTQ organizations, and labor unions. You can…
Let Them Know: San Francisco Shouldn’t Arm Robots
Favorite The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Nov. 29 voted 8 to 3 to approve on first reading a policy that would formally authorize the San Francisco Police Department to deploy deadly force via remote-controlled robots. The majority fell down the rabbit hole of security theater: doing anything to appear to be fighting crime,…