On February 24 2016, the ASUC (UC Berkeley undergraduate student government) unanimously passed a resolution asking for campus police to be banned from participating in Urban Shield, the annual police militarization expo. The graduate student government body is expected to follow suit. Continue reading UC Berkeley ASUC Passes Resolution Campus Police Should Not Participate in Urban Shield
Santa Clara County may be the first in the nation to implement a transparency ordinance controlling the purchase and use of all spying equipment in the county. Continue reading Surveillance Equipment Transparency Ordinance May Debut in Santa Clara County
MA commented on CDCR’s proposed lethal injection regulations, specifically on access for journalists and witnesses to executions. Continue reading New Lethal Injection Regulations from CDCR
MA submitted these comments to the Berkeley Police Review Commission looking at the events of December 2014, when local Ferguson support rallies were dealt with violently by the Berkeley Police Department.
Among other problems, several members of the press both mainstream and alternative were manhandled and injured by law enforcement.
Following the submission of these comments, the PRC voted to set up a subcommittee (probably including MA) to work on a new press credentialing policy for the City of Berkeley. Continue reading Press Credentialing
On September 18th, a bill banning all private prisons was introduced into Congress by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representatives Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison and Bobby Rush. Press statement from Texas-based Grassroots Leadership below. Media Alliance is proud to join the national coalition supporting the Justice is Not For Sale Act. Continue reading Justice is Not For Sale Act Introduced to Congress
The Speak Free Act of 2015 is a federal anti-SLAPP bill introduced in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis by Reps Anna Eshoo and texas republican Blake Farenthold.
SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation and describe lawsuits filed primarily to discourage, harass and intimidate public participation and free speech.
Anti-SLAPP laws provide a way for those targeted via SLAPP suits get the suits dismissed fairly rapidly and avoid being drained by long and resource-consuming lawsuits designed not to prevail on the merits, but to exhaust the target into silencing themselves to get out from under the lawsuit.
Discussion of CISA (CISPA Without The “P”) – KPFA Radio – July 27 2015
Press Release from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
WASHINGTON –A broad coalition of civil rights, privacy, and media rights organizations released shared civil rights principles for the use of body worn cameras by law enforcement. Continue reading Civil Rights Principles for Police Body Cameras
