Surveillance Equipment Regulation Ordinance Up for Consideration

Tell the City Council to pass the Privacy Commission's version. No weakening. No watering down. Real change. 

Subject: Surveillance And Community Safety Ordinance
From: Office Of The City Administrator
Recommendation: Adopt A Surveillance And Community Safety Ordinance Which Prescribes The Rules For The Acquisition And Use Of Surveillance Equipment And Technology, Establishes Oversight, Auditing And Reporting Requirements, And Imposes Penalties For Violations

It’s been a little over three years since we came together to stop the DAC – the surveillance octopus orwellingly named the Domain Awareness Center.

Out of that effort came the establishment of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission by the Oakland City Council. One of its mandates was to propose an ordinance to regulate all use of surveillance equipment by the City of Oakland, including and especially by OPD.

The ordinance the Commission has crafted, approved unanimously in January, is now up for consideration by the Oakland City Council. It will first be taken up by the Council’s Public Safety Committee on May 9, 2017. This is a crucial hearing.

We need and would very much like you to send a simple letter of support for the ordinance to City Council members. Here’s a brief summary of what the ordinance will do:

• Public hearings on every new gadget and computer program that can be used for surveillance or monitoring
• Approval or denial by vote of the Council on such equipment and software acquisition.
• Approval or denial by vote of the Council on any proposed information sharing with Federal agencies (e.g. ICE).
• Evaluation of civil rights concerns, and a cost/benefit analysis, BEFORE approval.
• Putting in place a privacy and use policy before any equipment or software can be deployed, specifying what it may – and may not – be used for, and how long any data it may gather may be kept.
• A public report every year on how and when the equipment or software has been used. 
• Imposes penalties for violations of the ordinance or a use policy.

Send Them An Email: Tell the City Council NOW to pass the Privacy Commission's version. No weakening. No watering down. Real change.