Category Archives: Surveillance

The many ways the government is watching us with an emphasis on digital spying

Press Room, Surveillance

Grassroots activism brings reform to California

 

October 15, 2014 by Matthew Kellegrew

On Tuesday September 30th, California governor Jerry Brown signed SB 828 , otherwise known as the Fourth Amendment Protection Act, into law making California the first state in the union to push back against unconstitutional NSA mass surveillance. The bill makes state-level participation or cooperation with federal surveillance operations a crime if the state agency knows the spying is unlawful. SB 828 is the product of the BORDC/ Tenth Amendment Center -led OffNow coalition . OffNow represents a grassroots led transpartisan network of organizations that crosses political, racial and generational lines to work together to restore constitutional protections in the face of unprecedented levels of governmental surveillance.

 

Continue reading Grassroots activism brings reform to California →

Press Room, Surveillance

The Day We Fight Back Against Mass Surveillance – Bay Area Convergence

 

February 10, 2014

For Immediate Release

Contact – The Day We Fight Back – Bay Area Convergence

Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Media Alliance (510) 684-6853, tracy@media-alliance.org

David Solnit, SF Bay Projection Department (510) 967-7377, dsolnit@gmail.com

The Day We Fight Back – Bay Area Convergence February 11th

Shining A Light on the NSA: Outdoor Projection at Room 641A, NSA Interception Site at 611 Folsom Street

San Francisco-On Tuesday February 11th at 6:00pm, Bay Area residents will join people all over the world outraged by revelations about National Security Agency and private corporations blanket electronic surveillance in The Day We Fight Back, a national online protest.

The San Francisco event will be at AT&T, 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco. The AT&T building houses an NSA interception room in Room 641A. Continue reading The Day We Fight Back Against Mass Surveillance – Bay Area Convergence →

Press Room, Surveillance

Media Alliance Joins Off-Now, The Nullify NSA Coalition

 

Another organization is joining the team!
Media Alliance, a California based organization working toward a just, accountable and diverse media system, is the newest OffNow.org Coalition partner. They will be working with many other groups to fight back against unlawful NSA spying through local and state civic action.
Continue reading Media Alliance Joins Off-Now, The Nullify NSA Coalition →

Press Room, Surveillance

Feinstein Endangers Silicon Valley Prosperity

 

Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle  Dec 26 2013

It’s not a good feeling when your congressional representatives dip into your pocketbook, but that’s how thousands of California’s tech workers feel today. It’s an old story with a new twist, because we’re not talking about an unwanted tax increase or a regulatory action. We’re taking about the FISA Improvements Act, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Patriot Act for the next decade. Continue reading Feinstein Endangers Silicon Valley Prosperity →

Press Room, Surveillance

EFF Files 22 Firsthand Accounts of How NSA Surveillance Chilled the Right to Association

 

For Immediate Release: November 7th, 2013

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has provided a federal judge with testimony from 22 separate advocacy organizations detailing how the National Security Agency’s (NSA) mass telephone records collection program has impeded the groups’ work, discouraged their members and reduced the numbers of people seeking their help via hotlines. The declarations accompanied a motion for partial summary judgment filed late Wednesday, in which EFF asks the court to declare the surveillance illegal on two levels—the law does not authorize the program, and the Constitution forbids it.
Continue reading EFF Files 22 Firsthand Accounts of How NSA Surveillance Chilled the Right to Association →

Press Room, Surveillance

86 Organizations Petition Congress To Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance

 

June 11, 2013

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Email: tracy@media-alliance.org, Cell (510) 684-6853

86 Organizations Petition Congress to Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance
Letter Demands Patriot Act Reform of Section 215, Congressional Hearings and Accountability

A letter signed by 86 public interest and civil liberties organizations was delivered to Congress this morning, in the wake of a week of explosive reports in the UK Guardian and the Washington Post from former Booz Allen NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The reports detailed several government programs, including one that provides access to metadata for telephone calls and another that provides warrantless access to online activities culled from the servers of nine leading Internet companies, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.  Continue reading 86 Organizations Petition Congress To Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance →

Press Room, Surveillance

Predictive Policing’ Isn’t In Science Fiction, It’s in Sacramento

 

by Jessica Mendoza   Christian Science Monitor

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Officer Matt McPhail happened to be at his desk when the first alert went off.

A Nissan sedan had crossed the intersection of San Juan and Truxel where the Sacramento police had just placed one of two custom-built surveillance cameras. The system ID’d the vehicle as stolen.

“I said, ‘Hey, if anybody’s in the area, you know, keep an eye out for this car,’ ” recalls Mr. McPhail, a public information officer for the department. “And a helicopter was in the area and some officers went by and found it.” Continue reading Predictive Policing’ Isn’t In Science Fiction, It’s in Sacramento →