News & Commentary

Public cynicism about government is at an all-time high – and we all know the reasons. That's why it's pretty remarkable when activists use public government processes to attack a scary and overwhelming problem like surveillance – and it works.

When Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA in 2013, I didn’t yet know that my own city of Oakland had futuristic surveillance problems of our own. Oakland had quietly embarked on a path towards building a city-wide surveillance network called the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), comprised of over 700 cameras throughout schools and public housing, facial recognition software, automated license plate readers (ALPRs), and 300 terabytes of storage for all the data they anticipated collecting on Oakland residents.

School is back in session, and by now, many students and teachers have returned to their classrooms to new and improved lactation accommodations policies.

It’s a victory for free speech and academic freedom – but Cal’s move to cancel the course for no good reason should never have happened in the first place.

Throughout the nation, police officers are legally allowed to take and keep your cash and property - even if you are never charged or arrested for a crime. All it takes is officers claiming they think your belongings were obtained through illegal means.

It’s hard to speak with your face pressed against concrete. Or when you can’t breathe. Or with a broken neck. And even when you manage to speak, people in power seek to silence you. Just ask the San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick.

The ACLU and EFF are urging the Federal Communications Commission to order local police to stop using Stingrays, at least until the FCC can create rules to protect against excessive secrecy and abuse.

Earlier this month, a too familiar tragedy unfolded in East Los Angeles when Los Angeles police officers shot and killed 14-year-old Jesse Romero. Witness accounts vary — the police department says Romero fled when officers approached him on suspicion of scrawling graffiti in his neighborhood, then fired at officers. Some civilians say he had a gun but tossed it away.As

Matt Coles, deputy legal director and director of the ACLU’s Center for Equality, is retiring after 29 years. Here’s why he’s my hero.