Surveillance

The ACLU has long been concerned about the use of facial recognition systems and the broad fishing expeditions for which they can be used.  That’s why the ACLU of Washington worked hard to change the Seattle Police Department’s proposed policy for the Booking Photo Comparison Software (BPCS).

Ben Wizner is director of the ACLU’s national Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, and is a legal advisor to Edward Snowden.  He has visited Snowden in Moscow and communicates with him over encrypted channels.  Wizner was in Seattle recently and spoke to KUOW host David Hyde on “The Record” about privacy in the digital age.

A group of enthusiastic ACLU-WA activists met at the State Capitol on Tuesday to encourage legislators to support  House Bill 1771 and Senate Bill 6172 calling for reasonable, common sense limits to drone use by state and local government agencies.

Police departments across the state have adopted or are looking to buy on-officer recording systems, or “body cameras,” to provide oversight for law enforcement. These cameras can be very beneficial for accountability to prevent or identify police misconduct. But, they also pose risks to privacy for those captured in the recordings.

The Spokane City Council has passed an ordinance that will require Council approval to acquire and use some new surveillance equipment, such as drones and camera networks. We hope that more communities throughout Washington will consider passing similar oversight mechanisms with even stronger provisions and protections.

A national ACLU report on license plate tracking by law enforcement confirms that the problems we identified locally are reflected in communities throughout the U.S. Our study found that few police departments in Washington place any substantial restrictions on how the location information may be used.