News & Commentary

Passengers in vehicles pulled over by the police have just as much right as drivers to challenge the legality of the traffic stop and its consequences, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 18.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, today, called on lawmakers to push for a major overhaul of the Real ID Act, calling it a "real nightmare" for Californians. The Department of Homeland Security's recently proposed delay for implementing the act would do nothing to prevent a national identity card system that violates personal privacy and increases identity theft, all while creating bigger bureaucratic messes, longer lines, and higher fees at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

HID Global Corporation has threatened to sue IO Active, a computer security company based in Seattle, with patent infringement if it gives its planned presentation at the BlackHat Convention this Wednesday, February 28, 2007, in Washington D.C. The presentation discusses vulnerabilities of HID RFID cards and demonstrates a handheld RFID cloner developed by the company to highlight these vulnerabilities.

On Wednesday, January 31, the Montana House passed an anti-REAL ID bill on a vote of 99-1. The bill is expected to head to the Senate next week. The text of the bill can be found here.

For more information about the Maine resolution rejecting Real ID, please visit Real Nightmare and the National ACLU website.

For more information about SB 30, please visit our Technology and Civil Liberties Page at Don't Chip Our Rights Away!

The San Francisco Police Commission may not approve surveillance cameras unless it finds that the potential for deterrence outweighs community concerns. The San Francisco Police Commission approved 25 new surveillance cameras around the city despite the fact that there was no evidence for the potential for deterrence and dozens of people came to the Police Commission meeting to voice their opposition.

Privacy is definitely back on the National agenda. In case you missed some of these stories, here is a little run-down on recent activities in Washington.

San Francisco just announced it has finalized its contract with Earthlink/Google.

The Police Commission is about to decide whether to install 25 new surveillance cameras in locations around San Francisco, including multiple cameras at 24th and Mission and 16th and Mission.

The Commission has supported the installation of cameras because it says "the community wants them."