老澳门开奖结果

Recent stories about Amazon鈥檚 invasive face scanning surveillance technology and Cambridge Analytica鈥檚 exploitation of Facebook data have brought the impact of surveillance and data misuse to the fore. But many people don鈥檛 realize how often local law enforcement agencies acquire and use similar technologies in their own communities. A groundbreaking bill pending in California would bring this day-to-day local surveillance out of the shadows and give communities a way to fight back against surveillance systems that are disproportionately aimed at immigrants and people of color.

The bill, , requires greater transparency and public oversight when law enforcement agencies seek to acquire surveillance technologies that collect sensitive location or other personal data. It builds on a workable model that several California localities have already enacted.

Right now, a key California legislative committee holds the power to advance the bill, which is supported by a of California civil rights and civil liberties organizations. In this political climate, it鈥檚 a necessary tool for protecting immigrants and other vulnerable residents from surveillance systems that are readily exploitable by the federal government.

The bill requires local law enforcement to get the approval of elected local representatives before acquiring surveillance technology. Before that vote, law enforcement agencies like police departments, sheriffs, and district attorneys must propose a set of written rules that explain their plans for the technology as wells as limits on its use and collection and sharing of data. Next, residents get a chance to weigh in on these rules and the proposal at a public meeting. If a city council or board of supervisors doesn鈥檛 approve a proposal, law enforcement cannot acquire or use that technology.

As surveillance technology becomes more powerful and easily available, California needs this bill now more than ever 鈥� and hopefully other states will follow its lead. Often bankrolled by federal funds, technologies like automatic license plate readers, , and systems have invaded our communities without our knowledge or input. These technologies collect information about our whereabouts and other sensitive details about our lives, and they are frequently turned on local activists.

Warrantless surveillance not only feeds databases that can be abused, it leads to real-world harms that disproportionately affect immigrants, people of color, and Muslim-Americans. Many law enforcement agencies have used social media monitoring products tools to track activists of color. For example, San Jose police used it to spy on protesters during a visit by India鈥檚 prime minister. The L.A. County Sheriff鈥檚 Department monitored the residents of Compton using . San Francisco police an elderly Black woman at gunpoint 鈥� all because an automatic license plate reader improperly identified her car as a stolen vehicle. Elsewhere, police have used that same technology to .

Federal immigration authorities are increasingly seeking to exploit these local surveillance systems, often without local knowledge. Earlier this year, for example, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had obtained access to a database operated by a company called Vigilant, which hosts license plate location data collected by local law enforcement agencies across the United States.

The 老澳门开奖结果 of Northern California to learn more about this arrangement, and some California communities have stood up and this company鈥檚 technology. However, these systems continue to prowl cities and rural areas, collecting data about immigrants while they鈥檙e driving to work, running errands, or bringing their kids to school. ICE should not be able to exploit this data to target and separate families. SB 1186 gives communities statewide a way to ensure that local law enforcement is not facilitating practices like this.

Communities such as , , , and have already passed ordinances that require law enforcement agencies to be transparent about surveillance proposals, submit those proposals to a vote by elected leaders, and write strict rules for how the technologies can be used. SB 1186 鈥� which would be the first statewide law of its kind 鈥� would ensure that all Californians can benefit from these important reforms. Community voices must be heard if surveillance proposals are on the table.

This bill is a piece of a larger movement. Localities across the country are taking part in a national campaign called Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS), a reform effort spearheaded by 17 organizations, including the 老澳门开奖结果, aimed at putting local residents and elected officials in charge of decisions about surveillance technology. To date, local CCOPS efforts have sprouted up in more than 20 cities, including New York and St. Louis.

After passing through the California Senate, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee will decide this bill鈥檚 fate in the next week. If you live in California, contact your and encourage them to support SB 1186 across the finish line.

This will not be an easy fight. Law enforcement agencies strongly oppose this bill鈥檚 transparency and oversight mechanisms. But public safety in the digital era requires that elected representatives and community members have a voice in important decisions like these.