Matt Cagle

@matt_cagle
552 Followers
116 Following
52 Posts
Attorney focused on surveillance and privacy at ACLU of Northern California. These are my views.
Matt CagleOct 10, 2024
Jake SnowOct 10, 2024

I wrote in Tech Policy Press about the tech industry's Tobacco-style campaign to undermine privacy and stop states from passing stronger laws.

We know that Big Tech wants to sabotage privacy law. But look at whose footsteps they're following.

🧵 1/ https://www.techpolicy.press/big-tech-is-trying-to-burn-privacy-to-the-ground-and-theyre-using-big-tobaccos-strategy-to-do-it/

Boosts 🚀 appreciated!

Big Tech is Trying to Burn Privacy to the Ground–And They’re Using Big Tobacco’s Strategy to Do It | TechPolicy.Press

Jake Snow is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California.

Tech Policy Press
Matt CagleMar 8, 2024
David Greene (no not that one)Mar 7, 2024

Gag order lifted. So now we can talk about how the SFPD, once again, issued an illegal search warrant to Indybay seeking unpublished journalistic materials even though California law bars search warrants against journalists

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/victory-eff-helps-resist-unlawful-warrant-and-gag-order-issued-independent-news

Victory! EFF Helps Resist Unlawful Warrant and Gag Order Issued to Independent News Outlet

Over the past month, the independent news outlet Indybay has quietly fought off an unlawful search warrant and gag order served by the San Francisco Police Department. Today, a court lifted the gag order and confirmed the warrant is void. The police also promised the court to not seek another warrant from Indybay in its investigation.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Matt CagleMar 4, 2024
scott fMar 4, 2024

San Francisco Police have more racial disparity in deadly force than 92% of big-city police departments. We need more accountability, not less. Vote #NoOnPropE by Tuesday.

source: https://policescorecard.org/ca/police-department/san-francisco. #SFPol

Police Scorecard: Seattle, WA

Get the facts about police violence and accountability in Seattle, WA. Evaluate each department and hold them accountable at PoliceScorecard.org

Police Scorecard: Seattle, WA
Matt CagleFeb 22, 2024
Electronic Frontier FoundationFeb 22, 2024
Buying residents’ geolocation data? A swarm of police drones overhead? Robot dogs? San Francisco Police could pursue any of these and much more without accountability under Prop E, EFF’s Saira Hussain tells @reasonmagazine. #NOPEonE https://reason.com/2024/02/22/proposition-e-would-make-it-easier-for-police-to-surveil-san-francisco/
Proposition E Would Make It Easier for Police To Surveil San Francisco

San Francisco's Proposition E, on the ballot March 5, would turn city residents into guinea pigs for police surveillance experiments.

Reason.com
Matt CagleFeb 14, 2024
In the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, we along with partners @eff rang the alarm on California police agencies that were sharing driver locations with agencies in states with anti-abortion laws. Now we’re calling out state agencies that continue to do so in defiance of California’s driver privacy law. How we got here: https://www.aclunc.org/blog/californians-fought-hard-driver-privacy-protections-why-are-police-refusing-follow-them
Californians fought hard for driver privacy protections. Why are the police refusing to follow them? | ACLU of Northern CA

Matt CagleFeb 9, 2024
Check out this reporting on our recent letter to California’s attorney general calling out police agency defiance of the state’s driver privacy law. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/some-calif-cops-still-sharing-license-plate-info-with-anti-abortion-states/
Some Calif. cops still sharing license plate info with anti-abortion states

Cops weaponizing license plate data harms vulnerable populations, lawyer says.

Ars Technica
Matt CagleFeb 8, 2024
Companies and legislators are using misleading test scores to justify the expansion of facial recognition by government agencies. In a new piece, ACLU data scientist Marissa Gerchick and I explain why there is no such thing as a "magic number" that will prevent the harms associated with government use of this tech. https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/when-it-comes-to-facial-recognition-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-magic-number
When it Comes to Facial Recognition, There is No Such Thing as a Magic Number | ACLU

Companies and legislators are using misleading test scores to justify the expansion of facial recognition into our communities. That flawed approach understates the threat this dangerous technology poses to civil rights.

American Civil Liberties Union
Matt CagleJan 30, 2024
evacideJan 30, 2024
If you live in San Francisco, please vote in March and vote NO on Prop E: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/01/san-francisco-vote-no-proposition-e-stop-police-testing-dangerous-surveillance
San Francisco: Vote No on Proposition E to Stop Police from Testing Dangerous Surveillance Technology on You

San Francisco voters will confront a looming threat to their privacy and civil liberties on the March 5, 2024 ballot. If Proposition E passes, we can expect the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) will use untested and potentially dangerous technology on the public, any time they want, for a...

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Matt CagleJan 26, 2024
Jake SnowJan 26, 2024

Amazon seems to have (quietly) gone back on its promise not to sell facial recognition to law enforcement.

Remember: temporary corporate beneficence is not a substitute for real laws to protect people. Ban it.

https://fedscoop.com/doj-fbi-amazon-rekognition-technology-ai-use-case/

Justice Department discloses FBI project with Amazon Rekognition tool

The disclosure comes after Amazon said in 2020 that it would institute a moratorium on police use of Rekognition.

FedScoop
Matt CagleJan 22, 2024
Andy GreenbergJan 22, 2024

Police used a DNA sample to extrapolate the supposed face of a murder suspect—a controversial technique.

Then they tried to feed *that* pic into face recognition software to get an ID. Total pseudoscience.

Wild find by @dmehro in @ddosecrets’s Blue Leaks.

https://www.wired.com/story/parabon-nanolabs-dna-face-models-police-facial-recognition/

Cops Used DNA to Predict a Suspect’s Face—and Tried to Run Facial Recognition on It

Police around the US say they're justified to run DNA-generated 3D models of faces through facial recognition tools to help crack cold cases. Everyone but the cops thinks that’s a bad idea.

WIRED