Tech, privacy, surveillance, ACLU NorCal. On Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/@snowjake/. He/him. Views mine.
Automated License Plate Readers: Dangerous when they're right and dangerous when they're wrong. www.businessinsider.com/flock-camera...
Flock misread license plates in 71% of the alerts it sent to police in one California townFlock sent 1,427 alerts to Roseville police over two years, flagging cars as stolen or used in a felony. In 71% of them, Flock read the plates wrong.www.businessinsider.comCOME 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.orgPrivacy laws keep applying with particular force to the tech that tracks everything people do on the Internet, combines it into detailed profiles, tries to use those profiles to manipulate them, and sells their information to a violent and repressive government. WEIRD. www.mlex.com/mlex/data-pr...
CCPA private right of action may be broader than expected, but key issue lingers | MLex | Specialist news and analysis on legal risk and regulationA growing string federal court rulings in California is allowing CCPA private-right claims over data sharing with third-party trackers to proceed, even without a traditional data breach. But the early...www.mlex.comOne more thing, and it's important. If you are in California and you hear from a platform (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Google, Reddit, X) saying that the government has demanded information about you, you can reach out to the ACLU's intake line. www.aclunorcal.org/get-help/
Need Legal Help? - ACLU of Northern CaliforniaLearn about your legal rights and get help with a legal matter.www.aclunorcal.orgJake SnowThis is the fourth case @aclu-norcal.bsky.social has filed to stop efforts by DHS to target people they disagree with from speaking out online. Proud to contribute to these cases in collaboration with many colleagues from ACLU affiliates around the country.
This is the fourth case @aclu-norcal.bsky.social has filed to stop efforts by DHS to target people they disagree with from speaking out online. Proud to contribute to these cases in collaboration with many colleagues from ACLU affiliates around the country.
ACLU of Northern CaliforniaToday, we sued the federal government to stop Google from handing over personal information on a Canadian citizen who criticized Trump online. Under Trump 2.0, social media platforms have received hundreds of similar demands designed to chill speech the government doesn’t like.
One point I made during the hearing was that privacy notices can't avoid making judgments about what is safe for people to do with their personal information. A very quick 🧵.
Jake SnowI spoke at a @calprivacy.bsky.social board meeting yesterday about sharing and sale of location information to the federal government. Spoiler alert: it's bad and dangerous and CA should do something. Details and eventually a webcast link are here: cppa.ca.gov/meetings/mat...
I spoke at a @calprivacy.bsky.social board meeting yesterday about sharing and sale of location information to the federal government. Spoiler alert: it's bad and dangerous and CA should do something. Details and eventually a webcast link are here: cppa.ca.gov/meetings/mat...
California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)cppa.ca.govPowerful questions from @eff.org client Amandla Thomas-Johnson, re Google sharing of his information with ICE: "Am I now a marked individual? Can I travel safely to see family in the Caribbean? Who, exactly, can I hold accountable?" www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data.In 2025, Google gave Amandla Thomas-Johnson's data to ICE without giving him the chance to challenge the subpoena, breaking a nearly decade-long promise to notify users before handing their data to la...www.eff.orgThe Lochnerization of humanity's immortal soul has begun.
Karl Bodewhat kind of question is that to even ask in a headline
It's important that lawmakers are demanding answers here. Every user of social media (including our clients in the cases we've filed) deserves to know whether companies are stepping up to protect them or selling them out to a repressive government.
ACLU of Northern California“With these subpoenas, the government is intimidating anonymous social media users who are documenting ICE in their communities. Companies are capitulating to demands instead of fighting illegal subpoenas in court,” said ACLU attorney @snowjake.bsky.social.
The ACLU (including my team) has filed multiple actions to block subpoenas sent by DHS to identify people speaking out against its abuses. Today's NYT story shows that those cases are the tip of the iceberg: DHS has sent HUNDREDS of subpoenas to tech companies. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accountswww.nytimes.comThe Department of Homeland Security is abusing administrative subpoenas to terrorize people and stop them from speaking out. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
Homeland Security is targeting Americans with this secretive legal weaponUnder Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has weaponized administrative subpoenas to attack free speech, according to privacy and civil rights groups.www.washingtonpost.comWOW @nicoleozer.bsky.social, a brilliant privacy scholar and leader (and my former boss), has been appointed to the board of @calprivacy.bsky.social. This is ✨amazing news✨ for Californians' privacy. cppa.ca.gov/announcement...
California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)cppa.ca.govBREAKING: @aclu-norcal.bsky.social, Lieff Cabraser, and Tobener Ravenscroft just sued San Francisco landlords over AI-powered surveillance in people's homes. Our homes are the last refuge of privacy. What happens there is none of your landlord's business. www.aclunc.org/news/aclu-su...
ACLU Sues San Francisco Landlords over AI-Powered Surveillance in Tenants' Homes | ACLU of Northern CAwww.aclunc.orgACLU of Northern CaliforniaWhat people do in their homes is no one’s business but their own. But in many SF apartment buildings, landlords have forced tenants to accept so-called “smart home” systems that monitor their comings and goings and other behavior.
We at @aclu-norcal.bsky.social and @aclupa.org filed this motion to protect people exercising their First Amendment rights to speak out anonymously. These summonses are intolerable abuses of power by DHS. The court JUST ordered Meta not to reveal anything to DHS until further notice.
Shawn MusgraveLast night ACLU NorCal and ACLU PA filed a motion to quash another Homeland Security Investigations administrative subpoena aimed at unmasking online accounts: this time it's a "customs summons" for the "MontCo Community Watch” Facebook and Instagram accounts www.courtlistener.com/docket/71672...
If you're going out to protest this weekend and wondering how to protect yourself from digital surveillance, @aclu-norcal.bsky.social has a video for you (featuring, yes, me). We draw heavily from @eff.org's fantastic Surveillance Self Defense resource, available here: ssd.eff.org/module/atten...
Today, Prof. John Clarke at UC Berkeley (who is, full disclosure, my father-in-law) won the Nobel Prize in Physics! He also spoke out about how the Trump administration's cuts would "cripple science" and take a decade to rebuild.
The Associated PressBREAKING: John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis win the Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries in quantum mechanics.
"To them, if you are brown, they will hunt you down. To them, if you have dark skin, they will take you in." @mtajsar.bsky.social laist.com/news/politic...
Federal immigration arrests in SoCal are violating constitutional rights, new lawsuit arguesCivil rights groups allege feds have targeted people based on skin color and blocked detainees from seeing lawyers. Officials say actions have been lawful and “highly targeted.”laist.comA fist rapidly made contact with a face, raising punching concerns.
Apoorva MandavilliSCOOP: The CDC is planning to move information on cases of diseases like measles and polio to a data system managed by Palantir, raising concerns about patient privacy. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/h...