A move to undermine SF's law that controls police surveillance - 48 hills

"The San Francisco Board of Supes passed a landmark privacy law in 2019 that requires the cops to report in public when they develop or use surveillance technology to spy on people. It's been a success: Every year, the supes get a report on new spy tech, and the public gets a chance to see who is watching, and how. It also bans facial recognition technology, which is widely regarded as racist and unreliable."

"Any alleged violation of this Chapter 19B for which the City received notice under subsection (c) and that is not corrected by the Department within 30 days of receipt of the notice, constitutes a legally cognizable basis for relief. First, the private individual or organization has to notify the city of the violation. Then the city gets 30 days to fix it. Only if the city fails to act is a lawsuit allowed."

"In 2024, Secure Justice, a nonprofit, sued the city, saying that in 42 instances, the SFPD failed to provide the necessary notice. Among other things, the lawsuit states that the cops are violating the rules against using facial recognition technology. In 2021, Secure Justice received documents that confirmed that SFPD was violating the prohibition on FRT by outsourcing FRT use to third partiesólike the Daly City Police Department and the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (ìNCRIC,î a local federal-state fusion center) The group gave the city notice to correct the problems, but that never happened, the suit alleges."

San Francisco law requires police to publicly report development or use of surveillance technology and bans facial recognition. The ordinance produces annual reports to the Board of Supervisors and gives the public visibility into surveillance deployments. The law includes an enforcement mechanism that allows private parties to sue if the city receives notice of a violation and the department does not correct it within 30 days. In 2024, Secure Justice sued, alleging 42 instances of failure to provide required notice and outsourcing of facial recognition to third parties including Daly City Police Department and NCRIC.

Read at 48 hills