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Surveillance

The advance of technology presents both opportunities for and challenges to liberty. As new technologies are implemented, their impacts on civil liberties must be considered. The ACLU supports uses of technology that enhance privacy and freedom while opposing those that undermine liberty and move us closer to a surveillance society.
Seattle has passed the strongest surveillance transparency and accountability protections in the country!
Judge fines Tacoma Police Department for withholding public records about invasive surveillance device
Seattle City Council adopts nation’s strongest law to protect utility customer personal data
Amazon Should Stop Selling Face Surveillance Technology to the Government
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Resources

ACLU Urges King County Council to Halt Funding for Law Enforcement Records System

News Release, Published: 
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
We are urging King County Council to halt funding for Mark43, a record management system for the Sheriff’s Office that might infringe on civil liberties.
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Seattle Adopts Nation’s Strongest Regulations for Surveillance Technology

News Release, Published: 
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
The Seattle City Council adopted legislation, the strongest in the nation, that will help bring transparency and accountability to the City’s acquisition of surveillance technology.
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Seattle’s Smart Meter Project Lacks Protections for Privacy

News Release, Published: 
Friday, May 26, 2017
The ACLU-WA is concerned about the lack of protections for privacy, as well as lack of transparency, in Seattle City Light’s new smart meters project that collects data about electricity usage
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The City is Right to Push Back on FBI Pole Cams

Published: 
Friday, July 1, 2016
The public is entitled to know far more about the FBI’s use of surveillance cameras on utility poles.
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ACLU Files to Join Microsoft Lawsuit Against U.S. on Secret Surveillance Requests

Published: 
Thursday, May 26, 2016
The ACLU has filed a motion seeking to join Microsoft’s lawsuit challenging gag orders that prevent the company from telling its customers when the government has ordered it to turn over their data.
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Historic Ruling: ACLU Lawsuit Against CIA Torture Psychologists Can Proceed

News Release, Published: 
Friday, April 22, 2016
A federal judge in Spokane said that he would allow a lawsuit against the two psychologists who designed and implemented the CIA program to move forward. The ruling is unprecedented for a case seeking to bring accountability for the CIA’s torture program.  
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They are watching. Are you?

Published: 
Thursday, March 3, 2016
New surveillance technologies and the problems associated with them are complex and have a cost to our privacy and security, as well as to public budgets. Without privacy protections, clearly defined operating procedures, enforcement provisions, and audits, communities should rightly fear that government will use these systems in ways that infringe upon their civil liberties, now or in the future.
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