Video from the San Francisco Convergence at AT&T’s NSA Facility on February 11, 2014
Tag Archives: surveillance
DAC As Planned Was A Serious Case Of Mission Creep
Posted by Tracy Rosenberg on March 23rd, 2014
Oakland Tribune
The arguments for and against the Oakland Domain Awareness Center project are well-established. After hours of community testimony at the Oakland City Council meetings Feb. 18 and March 4, the council voted to rein in the planned surveillance center.
What isn’t so well-established is what the center was for in the first place, and what policies would prevent the Orwellian nightmare presented by DAC opponents. Continue reading DAC As Planned Was A Serious Case Of Mission Creep
Fusing California
By Tracy Rosenberg (published at Media Alliance, Peace Review and Utne Reader)
When it comes to our personal information, many of us assume our privacy is protected. Most of our friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and family members know some things about us. Perhaps one or two loved ones know much about us. We certainly do not expect our personal information to be available to a random army of people we have never met. And yet America’s Network of Fusion Centers is setting out to do just that. We’ve all seen the iconic images of increasingly militarized policing in the United States feature tanks rolling through the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and camouflage-wearing officers wielding assault weapons while patrolling downtown shopping districts. But law enforcement militarization also has invisible aspects, none more so than the surveillance data that flow out of a growing number of devices, ending up in places we might never expect.
Based on the idea that 21st century information-sharing among a large number of agencies—including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, National Security Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, and local police, fire, hospital, and emergency departments—will provide a shield against acts of violence, the 78-strong national fusion-center network ensures that a lot of data follow us around wherever we go and whatever we do.
May First/PeoplesLink Gag Order
Posted by on December 19th, 2014
May First/Peoplelink
Our friends and Media Action Grassroots Network colleagues May First/Peoplelink’s statement on their federal gag order.
May First/PeopleLink is one of the New York anchors for the national media justice coalition Mag-Net (Media Action Grassroots Network www.mag-net.org).
Recently they were subjected to a federal gag order due to their work with the Athens, Greece Indymedia Center.
Here is their statement on the gag order. Continue reading May First/PeoplesLink Gag Order
Information-Sharing In The Bay Area
by Tracy Rosenberg on January 28th, 2015
The January meeting of the Urban Area Strategic Initiative (UASI) featured this informative slide show about how the Bay Area’s fusion centers work together.
For more on fusion centers and how they work, check out this Media Alliance article “Fusing California” on the fusion center network.
Private Thoughts: On Fusion Centers, UASI and Fed/State Privacy Legislation
Private Thoughts is a new privacy series of short videos on surveillance and privacy from Restore the Fourth SF Bay Area. On UASI (Urban Areas Security Initiative) and fusion centers and on federal and state level privacy legislation including the Surveillance State Repeal Act, CAL-ECPA and SB 34 and SB 741, which are transparency rules for the use of automated license plate readers and cell phone stingrays.
Interrupting Surveillance-In Silicon Valley and Beyond
This blog entry was written by Media Alliance ED Tracy Rosenberg for the ACLU as part of a national rollout of surveillance equipment transparency ordinances developed and implemented by Bay Area anti-surveillance activists.
**
Interrupting Surveillance in Silicon Valley and Beyond
September 21, 2016
Issues : Privacy and Government Surveillance, Racial Justice, Technology and Civil Liberties
By: Tracy Rosenberg follow @twrling
Public cynicism about government is at an all-time high – and we all know the reasons. That’s why it’s pretty remarkable when activists use public government processes to attack a scary and overwhelming problem like surveillance – and it works.
Bay Area activists have seized on a strategy to localize the fight against government spying and enlist city councils and county supervisors – who are far more approachable and accountable than remote DC officials – as allies in building community control of surveillance equipment. City by city and county by county, transparency regulations are being discussed. As the motto of one of the most active community groups in the country Oakland Privacy says, “I’ve Been Watching You Watching Me.” Continue reading Interrupting Surveillance-In Silicon Valley and Beyond
Changing Oakland’s reputation With The Development Of A Privacy Policy
When out-of-towners think about Oakland, stories about dangerous flatlands filled with guns and gangs have been regular images. But we can change the story and, slowly, we are.
One more opportunity to rebrand Oakland as a progressive and forward-thinking city lies in front of us next Tuesday, when the city will begin a review of the privacy policy recommendations developed over the past year by the Ad-Hoc Privacy Committee.
Continue reading Changing Oakland’s reputation With The Development Of A Privacy Policy