Ángel Díaz Profile picture
Jun 18, 2020 9 tweets 5 min read Read on X
TODAY: the NY City Council votes on the POST Act, a bill that would require the NYPD to make basic disclosures about the surveillance tools it uses, and what steps are taken to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of New Yorkers.

Stay tuned.
The Speaker notes that the POST Act has been strengthened since the hearing. He's referring to this reporting req:

"any potentially disparate impacts of the surveillance technology impact and use policy on any protected groups as defined in the New York city human rights law."
OK here we go. You can watch the stream here: council.nyc.gov/livestream/#vi…
Prime Sponsor @Vanessalgibson says the POST Act will bring New York in line with cities like San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Cambridge, Nashville, and others in holding police surveillance accountable.

"This is the floor, not the ceiling."
PASSED!!! New York City has Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology.

#POSTAct passes 44-6, a veto-proof majority of the City Council!
This moment couldn’t have happened without New Yorkers taking to streets and demanding racial justice and police accountability. The POST Act brings surveillance oversight to the nation’s largest police force & is a 1st step in addressing NYPD's reliance on broken & biased tech.
@BrennanCenter will use this law to continue fighting for our constitutional rights and freedoms, and to advocate for an equal justice system that respects the rule of law.
This bill was years in the making. It was drafted years ago by lawyers at @BrennanCenter & @NYCLU, & endured several rounds of pushback from NYPD & elected officials (some of whom now support the same bill).

S/O to Rashida Richardson, @marikoinNY @michaelwprice, @msisitzky.
Thanks to all the organizations that called, emailed, met with council staff, and made noise about the POST Act at every public hearing: @STOPSpyingNY, @NYCLU, @LegalAidNYC, @CAIRNewYork @NLGnews, @NationalAction, @es_indivisible, @accessnow, @ACLU, @BklynDefender, and more.

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More from @AngelSDiaz_

Sep 22, 2020
After the death of a local teen, grieving classmates wore lanyards, said his name, & filmed music videos. NYPD labeled them a gang.

Today, 31 organizations and academics call on the NYPD Inspector General to audit the NYPD's gang database. brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
We believe the gang database’s vague and subjective standards make it unreliable as an investigative tool and result in ongoing discrimination against Black and Latinx New Yorkers. slate.com/technology/202…
The racial bias of the gang database is uncontested: NYPD testified it is 97.7% Black or Latino.

Under the guise of gang policing, the NYPD is continuing the same discriminatory policing that fueled their illegal stop-and-frisk program. theintercept.com/2019/06/28/nyp…
Read 10 tweets
Sep 10, 2020
This summer, a Black family was arrested and held face-down in asphalt after an ALPR thought their SUV was a stolen motorcycle from another state.

A new @BrennanCenter report analyzes the legal and policy landscape of this pervasive surveillance tool. brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
The basics: ALPRs use cameras and software to scan the plates of every car that passes by. They can log the time and date, GPS coordinates, and pictures of the car. Some versions can even snap pictures of a car’s occupants and create unique vehicle IDs. theintercept.com/2019/07/09/sur…
In 1 week, the LAPD scanned more than 320 mil plates. Private companies like Vigilant Solutions sell cops (and ICE) access to their private database of billions of scans, while Flock Safety sells ALPRs to paranoid homeowners and lets them share with police cnet.com/news/license-p…
Read 11 tweets
Sep 10, 2020
THREAD: I analyzed Citizen's contact tracing app when they were pitching it to NYC. Unsurprisingly, its approach to privacy is terrible, continues to encourage paranoia-as-a-service, and has wide latitude for law enforcement access.
This app collects A LOT of personal information, including location data, copies of gov-ID, COVID-19 diagnosis information, and undefined “health information.” They only commit to deleting Bluetooth data & gov-id in 30 days. Nothing else is subject to any regular deletion policy.
Location data is hard to anonymize, but Citizen isn't really interested that. They'll show you a map that makes it easy to re-identify a sick person.

This creates a dangerous opportunity for exposing people’s identities and subjecting them to online/offline harassment. Image
Read 10 tweets
Aug 13, 2020
Great piece, featuring very important points raised by leading thinkers in this space.

I would raise a few more, with a focus on the US and its marginalized communities: slate.com/technology/202…
1) Most GIFCT removals are for "glorification." That can capture a broad swath of content, incl. general sympathies with a group or debate about its grievances.

If that sounds fine, consider your own support for BLM or antifa, and our gov's attempt to label them as terrorists. Image
2) The closed-door involvement of the US government in the GIFCT is worrying, not comforting.

Consider the FBI's investigation of the fictional Black Identity Extremist movement, and its current interrogation of protestors for connections to antifa. theintercept.com/2020/06/04/fbi…
Read 6 tweets
Jul 22, 2020
Twitter has policies that prohibit platform manipulation, violence, terrorism, harassment, and hateful conduct. But today's actions announce a number of ad-hoc decisions that introduce new vaguely defined terms. Why? Here's a short analysis:
First, again, you have to read platform announcements in conjunction with a secondary source to understand that's going on. In this case, it's this piece from @BrandyZadrozny and @oneunderscore__: nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
There are existing rules against platform manipulation, which covers things like spam, coordinated activity, and multiple accounts. But Twitter made these removals under a new prohibition against "coordinated harmful activity." What does this term mean? What's different?
Read 10 tweets
Jul 20, 2020
Thread on DHS' new PIA for expanding the Terrorist Screening Database to include ppl suspected of association w/"Transnational Organization Crime."

Serious concerns w/vague definitions, bad data, & wide info-sharing; Latinos are likely the most at risk.
dhs.gov/sites/default/…
Last year, a federal judge ruled that the terrorist screening database violated the rights of Americans that were on the list. Rather than scale back, this PIA covers an expansion to track even more people. Many of the same concerns apply. nytimes.com/2019/09/04/us/…
The PIA acknowledges that this new category goes beyond the initial purpose of the watchlist (terrorism). But because the President said this group of people is ALSO a national security threat, it's fine? 🤷🏽‍♂️ Image
Read 10 tweets

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