Activist Post -The City of Cambridge, Mass., has passed an ordinance that sets the stage to limit the acquisition and use of spy gear by law enforcement and other city agencies.
On Dec. 10, the Cambridge City Council passed an ordinance requiring its explicit approval before any city government agency can acquire, fund or use surveillance technologies. This includes, but is not limited to, automatic license plate readers, video surveillance, biometric surveillance technology including facial and voice recognition software and databases, social media monitoring software, police body-worn cameras, and predictive policing software. City departments seeking to use a previously-acquired surveillance technology in a new way must also receive council approval.
As part of the approval process, the agency seeking to use surveillance technology must produce and make public a detailed plan outlining its capabilities, how precisely it would be used, how its data would be preserved and protected, its acquisition and operational costs, and how potential adverse impacts on civil rights and civil liberties will be prevented.
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