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OAKLAND, Calif.—A local privacy committee has sent a proposed surveillance oversight ordinance to the city council. This is a rare example of a major American city set to impose stricter controls on the acquisition, use, and evaluation of spy gear.
The “Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance” unanimously passed out of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission on Thursday night, formally moving it to the Oakland City Council. Passage of the ordinance was roundly applauded by local civil liberties advocates and legal scholars, some of whom spoke at the meeting.
“You are ahead of most of your peers across the country, and you are paving the way for them,” Nuala O’Connor, the president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group based in Washington, DC, told the assembled commission. (O’Connor was also the first chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security.)
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Source: Ars Technica – Oakland may become rare American city with strict rules for spy gear use