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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 2015)
S to w t Roote • January 30-Fetoruaiy 5, 2OK5 Commentanf Page 13 Oregon poised to give outdated privacy laws a reboot BY BECKY STRAUS C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N I S T ' ? dward Snowden revealed to the world the great extent of government overreach and mass surveillance on a national scale. As the 2015 Oregon Legislature convenes in Salem next week, curbing warrantless spying here at home ’ should be at the top of its agenda. With Sens. Chip Shields (D-Portland) and Tim Knopp (R-Bend) and Reps. Jennifer Williamson (D-Portland) and John Huffman (R-The Dalles), the ACLU of Oregon will advocate for key bills to protect Oregonians’ privacy. B Regulate automatic license plate reader surveillance technology Law enforcement agencies are now deploying license plate reader surveillance technology in Oregon without adequate or consistent privacy restrictions. Many agencies are retaining the location information and photograph of every vehicle that crosses the camera’s path, not simply those that generate a h it In the aggregate, this stored private location data can reveal the travel histories of thousands of Oregonians who have committed no crime. Longer retention periods and the absence of restrictions on sharing allow the government to assemble the individual puzzle pieces of where we have been over time into a single, high-resolution image of , our lives. We are urging the Legislature to impose consistent statewide guidelines for government’s use of automated license plate recognition, or ALPR, surveillance technology, including benchmarks for use of the technology, safeguards limiting how long the data can be retained, and protections against unnecessary sharing of individuals’ Becky Straus is the legislative director for the American Civit Liberties Union of Oregon. data between government and private companies. Prohibit unwarranted access to electronic communications and location information Electronic communication - through e-mail, cell phones and social media - has increasingly eclipsed postal mail and other hard-copy methods as our primary means of communication. Unfortunatiey, some government agencies interpret our outdated privacy laws to allow them to intercept and access a treasure trove of information about who we are, where we go and what we do ® the information being collected by search engines, social networking sites and other websites every day. Similarly, location tracking information - GPS records, cell phone location records, etc. - can reveal very sensitive information about a person’s life, ranging from which friends they are seeing to where they go to the doctor to how often they go to church. We believe that the constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures should protect these types of information held by third parties - such as internet Service providers and phone Companies — unless the government has probable cause of wrongdoing and gets a court order. But waiting for the courts to enforce the Constitution relating to newer technologies could take many years and may not be successful. Our proposed legislation will reboot our privacy laws to ensure that that online and other digital activity, as well Who Am I b y Sean S h e ffie ld I think it is a mixture Of culture and childhood heroes Who make us My heroes were Dr. Martin Luther Kang and Malcolm X I tried to bring compassion and understanding To people like Dr. King did But also a passion and a fire To my arguments like Malcolm X Every now and then I let The Hulkmania run wild Growing up In a gang neighborhood Gave me an understanding Of different cultures And a determination That feeds me to this day All of these things Make me Who I am Today o m ü m u t ç 1U L Û U U 11 U d C K U lg receive the same protection as is guaranteed to offline activity. Cellphone search? Get a warrant! probable cause. Detail privacy-protective policies for police body cameras Even before, but certainly in the wake of The type of data stored on a. smartphone the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, can paint a near-complete picture of even Mo., last year, many Oregon law the most private details of someone’s enforcement agencies were looking to equip personal life. Before the age of . officers with body cameras to record their smartphones, it was encounters with impossible for members of the public. police to gather this While the ACLU much private generally takes a dim information about a We are werfelog this session view of the proliferation w ith legislators to reconcile person’s of surveillance in our communications, the many Im portant gnostloas society, we hope that historical ahestl body cameras« Who de body cameras can be movements and different. Guided by the cides when they are on or oil? private life during right privacy policies, How long should the footage an arrest Today, body cameras have the many police officers be retained and how should It potential to serve as a routinely search the be used? Is a ll footage subject much-needed check on contents of a to p ublic records disclosure^ or police misconduct and person’s cellphone only that which serves a police hold officers during an arrest accountable for abuse of accountability inaction? encounter. power. We are working Sometimes officers this session with do so with the aid of legislators to reconcile companies like the many important Cellebrite that produce tools that strip a questions about body cameras. Who decides cellphone of all its data on the scene. Such when they are on or off? How long should searches are a highly concerning invasion of the footage be retained and how should it be privacy and are,; in the ACLU’s opinion, used?; Is all footage subject to public records unconstitutional. disclosure, or only that which serves a Last term, the U.S. Supreme Court police accountability function? agreed with this position and directed law ACLU was successful in the 2013 session enforcement to get a warrant before with important wins on law enforcement use searching à cellphone. By codifying and of drones and privacy protections for social narrowing this ruling, our legislative media accounts at work and at Oregon proposal affirms that individuals are entitled universities. The Legislature should advance to smartphone privacy and that government this 2015 package to take the next step to agents may not search a cellphone unless rein in the surveillance state. alberta co op ~ r D C ® 1 7 Kristina Wright | Real Estate Agent Bellmoore Realty 5 0 3 /4 7 9 . 5 7 6 4 Kristina@R3rtlandH0meGal.com Tlke"on Facebook @ Portland Home Gal • a knaMedgeabie marketer • with a designed e/e good.local.food o f ess t o w all 9am- 10pm daily • D a professional photogafts . and a responsive agent All wrapped into one persor?
