Privacy

Guest writers from the COS-DC coalition detail what it's like for sex workers to be under the constant watch of government surveillance, and how it connects to historically harmed neighbors and even residents across the District.

The release of the D.C. Police Reform Commission report recognized D.C.'s need for surveillance oversight legislation, an action the Community Oversight of Surveillance has advocated for the past few years. Is D.C. ready to recognize the dangers of unchecked government surveillance?

The ACLU-DC has asked the D.C. Superior Court to reconsider two parts of its November 9 order regarding the personal Facebook accounts of D.C. activists Legba Carrefour and Lacy MacAuley.

Marijuana is decriminalized in D.C., but remains criminalized under federal law.

While Bill 26-0525 is a strong start, the Committee on Health should make some key changes to strengthen the legislation. This includes ensuring that any HIPAA exemptions are tailored to protected health information, making sure consent cannot be buried in broad terms of service language, and shortening the right to deletion period to 45 days to be in line with other states' deletion requirements.

While we support the District in moving towards more energy efficiency, the ACLU-DC strongly opposes the creation of infrastructures for pervasive mass surveillance and have concerns about the use of a public-private partnership to execute such a project.

With good laws in place, recording of police-civilian encounters will promote police accountability, deter officer and civilian misconduct, and provide objective evidence to help resolve civilian complaints against police without significantly infringing on privacy.