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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

State Supreme Court: Work messages on a public employee’s cell phone are public record

Published: 
Friday, August 28, 2015
Work-related text messages on a public employee’s personal cell phone are public records subject to disclosure, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled Aug. 27.
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Letter to SPD regarding request for public records considering Black Lives Matter protests

Document, Published: 
Friday, August 21, 2015
On February 23, 2015, we sent your office a public records request for records related to the Ferguson/Black Lives Matter protests that occurred on November 28, 2014. We received no production from your office until May 20, 2015. This response was only a partial response, and you indicated that we would be receiving the second installment of records on or about July 1, 2015. This date has now been moved out to August 12, 2015. The responses we have received from your office thus far have raised some concerns, which our office finds very troubling.
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Seattle Police Admit Mishandling ACLU's Black Lives Matter Request

Published: 
Friday, August 21, 2015
The Seattle Police Department has repeatedly failed to meet its own deadlines for producing records we requested seven months ago related to the SPD’s handling of Black Lives Matters/Ferguson protests held in November 2014.
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Support Reasonable Regulations on Government Drones

Published: 
Friday, May 15, 2015
For decades, local law enforcement has used aviation for specific and limited purposes, such as search and rescue, high-speed chases, and traffic control. Helicopters require costly equipment and fuel and risk loss of life, so law enforcement has used them sparingly.
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Washington Becomes a Leader in Restricting Use of Invasive Stingrays

Published: 
Monday, May 11, 2015
Governor Inslee has signed into law a bill restricting the use of cell site simulator devices (popularly known as “Stingrays,” after a particular model).  Stingrays are emblematic of the threats to privacy posed by new technologies and expanding government surveillance activities. The new law makes Washington state a leader in regulating Stingrays and includes judicial education and data retention provisions that are the first of their kind in the nation.
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Washington Becomes a Leader in Restricting Use of Invasive Stingrays

News Release, Published: 
Monday, May 11, 2015
Governor Inslee today signed into law a bill restricting the use of cell site simulator devices (popularly known as “Stingrays”). The measure (HB 1440) requires that a judge find there is probable cause that use of a Stingray will lead to evidence of criminal activity, and it includes judicial education and data retention provisions that are the first of their kind in the nation.
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Military Internet Surveillance of Civilians Must Be Excluded From Criminal Trials

Published: 
Thursday, April 30, 2015
For years, with seemingly little to no oversight, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services has been monitoring vast amounts of non-military U.S. Internet traffic and communications, looking for evidence of criminal activity.
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Pull the Plug on the Patriot Act

Published: 
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
The past few years have seen numerous attempts to reform the notorious Patriot Act and its problematic provisions which the NSA has interpreted to permit unprecedented dragnet surveillance. None have been successful, thanks in large part to the continued fearmongering of the “war on terror.”
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State Legislature Acts to Regulate Stingrays

News Release, Published: 
Friday, April 17, 2015
In a bipartisan action, the Washington Legislature has approved legislation to regulate government use of cell site simulator devices, better known as Stingrays. The bill, HB 1440 – “Prohibiting the use of a cell site simulator device without a warrant,” passed the House by a unanimous vote yesterday after the Senate also had passed it unanimously. It now awaits Governor Inslee’s signature to become law.
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Reining in the Surveillance Society at Town Hall Seattle

Published: 
Friday, March 20, 2015
The ACLU-WA hosted a talk at Town Hall Seattle on March 11th on Reining in the Surveillance Society. 
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