Name: San Francisco Takes Small Step to Establish Oversight Over Business Association Surveillance
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San Francisco Takes Small Step to Establish Oversight Over Business Association Surveillance

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Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItThe San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week voted unanimously in favor of requiring all special business districts—such as the Union Square Business Improvement District (USBID)—to bring any new surveillance plans to the Board before adopting new technologies.&nbsp;The —passed in the wake of an EFF , a lawsuit brought by local activists, and a sustained local coalition effort—challenging police use of the USBID camera network to monitor last summer's protests - is non-binding and it will be up to City agencies to determine whether and how to carry out the request. We'll be watching to see if the city follows through, but one thing we already know: much more must be done to address the problem.Under San Francisco's surveillance oversight ordinance, the San Francisco Police Department and other City agencies are generally forbidden from using new surveillance technology without Board approval and a public process. Despite this requirement, during the height of the Black-led protests against police violence, the USBID provided SFPD with live access to its network of hundreds of cameras. Police investigators also requested and received a "data dump" of all images from certain cameras covering large portions of the protest. On behalf of three protesters, EFF and the ACLU of Northern California filed a seeking a court order to stop the SFPD from acquiring, borrowing, or using non-city networks of surveillance cameras absent prior Board approval. The City's resolution rightfully calls for more surveillance transparency and accountability from business improvement districts, but the onus is still on the City to ensure its departments fully comply with the surveillance ordinance.Instead, this resolution focuses on the troubling growth of these public-private camera networks. Over the last few years, several San Francisco business improvement districts and community benefit districts (essentially non-profits approved by the city to collect and spend property assessments) have accepted money from to build out camera networks equipped with advanced video analytic capabilities. Another—the Castro Community Benefit District—has been weighing its own surveillance camera network, but its vote on the issue after an found that police had also accessed BID cameras in order to monitor San Francisco’s 2019 Pride Parade as well as Super Bowl celebrations.As a non-binding resolution, last week's vote only urges the Office of Workforce and Economic Development and San Francisco Public Works to put these new requirements in motion. The Board also ordered the agencies to send a copy of the resolution to all 17 of the City's business improvement/community benefit districts to put them on notice. The resolution was authored by Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Gordon Mar, and Matt Haney."The City has an interest in ensuring that the Districts remain accountable and transparent to the public, and it is in the best interest of the public that the City should hold the Districts to the same good government standards and public health and safety laws set forth in the Charter and Municipal Code of the City and County of San Francisco," the resolution says. "There is a particular interest in transparency, accountability, and good government with respect to Districts’ acceptance of private contributions and with respect to Districts’ use of surveillance technology."&nbsp;Share ItUpdate: This post has been updated to reflect that the hearing date in this case has been moved to January 21.By Hope Williams, Nathan Sheard, and Nestor ReyesThe authors are community activists who helped organize and participated in protests against police violence in San Francisco after the murder of George...EFF and the ACLU of Northern California recently the San Francisco Superior Court to rule that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) violated the law when it obtained and used a remote, live link to a business district’s surveillance camera network to monitor protests in...San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is honored to announce that Kade Crockford, Director of the at the ACLU of Massachusetts, Pam Dixon, executive director and founder of , and Matt Mitchell, founder of ...The Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas will be . Those attending this weekend’s hybrid event will have a with the man who heads the department responsible for surveillance of immigrants, Muslims, Black activists, and other marginalized...In March 2016, “smart” doorbell camera maker Ring was a growing company attempting to market its wireless smart security camera when it from an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Gang and Narcotics Division, who was interested in purchasing a slew of devices.The Los...Woodland, California—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to obtain materials showing how police are trained in the use of force, after the organization cited third-party copyright interests to illegally withhold them from the public.The lawsuit, filed under California’s Public Records...An organization calling itself is aiming to create public-private surveillance networks in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. The organization claims that it is building off of a “successful model for public safety” that it built in San Francisco. However, it’s hard to call that model successful...Along with other civil liberties organizations and activists, EFF has long warned that Amazon Ring and other networked home surveillance devices could be used to monitor political activity and protests. Now we have documented proof that our fears were founded. According to emails obtained by EFF, the LAPD sent requests...This summer’s was one of the largest political movements in the history of the United States--and with it, came a massive proliferation of government surveillance technology aimed at activists and demonstrators. EFF has been standing up for the right to protest without being...The full weight of U.S. policing has descended upon protesters across the country as people take to the streets to denounce the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others who have been subjected to police violence. Along with riot shields, tear gas, and other crowd control measures...Share It

Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItThe San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week voted unanimously in favor of requiring all special business districts—such as the Union Square Business Improvement District (USBID)—to bring any new surveillance plans to the Board before adopting new technologies.&nbsp;The —passed in the wake of an EFF , a lawsuit brought by local activists, and a sustained local coalition effort—challenging police use of the USBID camera network to monitor last summer's protests - is non-binding and it will be up to City agencies...

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Matthew Guariglia is a policy analyst working on issues of surveillance and privacy at the local, state, and federal level. He received a PhD in history at the University of Connecticut where his research focused on the intersection of race, immigration, U.S. imperialism, and policing in New York City. He is a frequent contributor to the Freedom of Information-centered outlet Muckrock and his bylines have also appeared in the Washington Post, Slate, and Motherboard.

https://www.eff.org/about/staff/dr-matthew-guariglia-0

Matthew Guariglia

Dave Maass

We're the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We defend your civil liberties in a digital world.

San Francisco Takes Small Step to Establish Oversight Over Business Association Surveillance

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