Director of Research at Oakland Privacy focused on law enforcement surveillance technologies (ALPR, StingRay, etc) and public records requests. Parent. Spouse. Card-carrying Antifa member. Posts are just me.
FLAG: Trump gets to keep tax immunity for himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization under the new 'deal' struck by Todd Blanche. The new order also reaffirms that Trump won't have to pay any taxes he might have owed the IRS.
Thank you @lastweektonight1.bsky.social for an excellent episode on policing tech. I think I could teach an entire seminar course on the policing related episodes. Brilliant stuff. youtu.be/lnBPhelCdWE?...
Police Surveillance Technology: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)YouTube video by LastWeekTonightyoutu.be
This week’s main story is about how police use surveillance tools like cameras, microphones, license plate readers, “cell site simulators,” and the practice of “predictive policing,” to create a world that has been lovingly described as “Big Brother on steroids.” Full segment at the link in our bio.
John Oliver covers police surveillance in his amazing, cutting way and gives a shout out to “Your Data Will Be Used Against You.” !!!! youtu.be/wagYax-0yJI?...
NEW: In 2025 ICE obtained DNA from nearly one million people and funneled it into an FBI criminal database. The collection likely included DNA from young children and was backed by the threat of criminal prosecution. The raw genetic material is stored indefinitely. Free to read:
ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young ChildrenInternal documents show ICE's DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.www.wired.com
RFK told Dana Bash that Lyme disease “almost certainly” came from gain of function research. Which is utterly false. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...
Lyme Disease Did Not Come From a Secret Military Lab, Contrary to FDA Chief's ClaimBacterium that causes it circulated long before the lab opened, decades of evidence showwww.medpagetoday.com
New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives. He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?" wapo.st/3S6rTuo
She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.wapo.st
BIG DEAL on voting rights this morning: Governor Spanberger just restored the voting rights of some 60,000+ Virginians. Her move reverses Youngkin's abrupt decision in 2023 to end automatic voting rights restoration, which brought Virginia back to a system of default lifetime disenfranchisement.
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Thousands With Past Felony Convictions - BoltsThis is the only state that, absent action by the governor, bans people convicted of any felony from voting for life. Virginians have an opportunity to end that system for good in November.boltsmag.org
"The Savannah Police Department says six employees have been placed on administrative leave after an internal audit found potential misuse of the department’s Flock Safety license plate reader system." 🤦♂️ #Flock #DeFlock #Axon #Surveillance www.wjcl.com/article/sava...
Six Savannah police employees placed on leave over alleged Flock misuseSavannah Police say six employees are facing investigation after an internal audit uncovered potential misuse of a license plate reader system.www.wjcl.com
Trump 2 has shown that the bulk of federal, state, and local "law enforcement" don't perform any useful functions at all. If they did, it would not be so easy to re-task them to brainless gestapo work like rounding up whole neighborhoods and waiting outside public buildings.
Melissa Gira GrantI wrote about how immigration arrests are at all-time highs, even as ICE is trying to assume a lower public profile. How are they doing this? Look to your local police.
it's too bad Florida officials are too stupid to realize that crashing out over an Ottessa Moshfegh story is the highest compliment you can pay Ottessa Moshfegh.
Lincoln MichelA college professors is fired for teaching an Ottessa Moshfegh story that causes "mild discomfort" for one student. Implication is that DeSantis government was involved in the firing. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/u...
"The number one group of people being surveilled by this technology are people who live at the border," EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social told @reason.com. "It's not migrants, it's not the cartels, it's people who live there."
Homeland Security is spending $1 billion on 'autonomous' border surveillance towersThe department plans to triple the number of surveillance towers along the U.S.-Mexico border over the next decade.reason.com
"Chico PD signed MOUs granting access to its #ALPR data as early as Feb. 23, 2023. Twelve sharing agreements were approved in 2023 with federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service and a branch of the U.S. #BorderPatrol.". Totally against state law. chicosol.org/2026/07/28/c...
City launches internal investigation into data sharing with federal agencies - ChicoSol NewsThe Chico Police Department, alongside the city attorney and city manager’s office, are conducting an internal investigation into the sharing of data produced by the automated license plate reader (AL...chicosol.org
COME WORK at the ACLU! @aclu-norcal.bsky.social is hiring attorneys to work on tech and civil rights (my team) and the criminal legal/immigration system. These folks will work at the cutting edge of legal and policy efforts in California and beyond. Apply here: www.aclunorcal.org/jobs/staff-a...
Staff Attorney / Senior Staff Attorney - ACLU of Northern CaliforniaDevelop and carry out litigation and policy advocacy to advance to protect and defend civil rights and civil liberties for all Californians.www.aclunorcal.org
My latest op-ed. This one is about two recent victories against the mass surveillance tool known as "reverse warrants" and the growing, non-partisan national movement against mass surveillance. thehill.com/opinion/crim...
‘Reverse warrants’ should worry all Americans who value their libertiesRecent judicial and legislative actions, including a Supreme Court ruling and a Delaware law, have significantly restricted the use of mass surveillance technologies known as reverse warrants to pr…thehill.com
An Azerbaijani court has sentenced nine journalists, media workers, and civil society activists to between 12 and 15 years in prison. It's the harshest verdict since the government began its ongoing crackdown on independent journalism.
Azerbaijan Jails Prominent TV Journalists, Media WorkersAn Azerbaijani court on July 27 sentenced nine journalists, media workers, and civil society activists to between 12 and 15 years in prison.www.hrw.org
Approximately 1 out of 3 women will experience sexual and/or physical abuse in their lifetime and you still have men claiming that allegations must be false because there are too many of them. It’s actually the opposite. The vast majority allegations will never become public
"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...
AI Companies Are Trying to Hide a Staggering Amount of DebtAI companies are pouring tens of billions of dollars into enormous data centers. They're being built on top of a mountain of hidden debt.futurism.com
David Barton is a fake historian who wrote a book on Thomas Jefferson that was so inaccurate his publisher was forced to pull it from the shelves. Now Barton, and his son Tim, are advising Trump on his anti-Smithsonian crusade.
Great work by the @brennancenter.org who compiled this resource of DHS surveillance tools and vendors with categorized charts that make it easier to see 2.9 billion in contracts www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
DHS’s Domestic Surveillance, Data Collection, and Analytics ToolsFueled by a budget boom, the Department of Homeland Security is expanding its technological arsenal, with little oversight or transparency around how these tools are used.www.brennancenter.org