Oakland’s Creepy New Surveillance Program Just Got Approved
by alethoBy Linda Lye | EFF | August 1, 2013
Earlier this week, the Oakland City Council voted
to approve the second phase of a $10.9 million surveillance center that
would enable the City to engage in widespread warrantless surveillance
of Oakland residents who have engaged in no wrongdoing whatsoever. This
is a terrible blow to privacy.
The so-called Domain Awareness Center (DAC) would consolidate a vast network of surveillance data.
The project was initially supposed to be about port security. But in a
classic illustration of mission creep, the project as proposed would
have pulled in over 1,000 cameras and sensors pointed at Oakland residents,
including 700 cameras in Oakland schools. While surveilling
schoolchildren is not going to secure the Port of Oakland, it would
allow for the comprehensive tracking of innocent Oakland residents. The
DAC would enable the city to track individuals when they visit the
abortion clinic, the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, or the union hall, or
engage in other private activities. Although proponents of the project
claimed that it did nothing more than consolidate existing surveillance
systems, the mere combination of surveillance data is extremely
intrusive. A mosaic depicts far more information than any individual
tile.
Shockingly,
the City Council was poised to approve the project even though there
was no privacy framework in place whatsoever. Although the City’s
proposed contract with a vendor to build the DAC took pains to prescribe
in minute detail the precise manner in which, for example, metal
framing systems are to be installed (studs are to be placed not more
than 2 inches from abutting walls), there were no privacy provisions
addressing key issues such as data retention and dissemination.
Disappointingly, and in the face of enormous opposition, the City Council voted on Tuesday
to approve the DAC. The resolution it ultimately adopted requires the
City Council to approve privacy policies and specifies which
surveillance systems can be included in the DAC (the cameras in Oakland
schools are no longer included). While the resolution contains a few
nods to privacy, the City Council still put the cart before the horse.
The City Council would never have approved a construction project, only
to say that they’d review financial costs after the project is built.
But it did just that with privacy costs.
You can follow Linda Lye on Twitter at @linda_lye.
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