Privacy

Updated 04.18.13: Because of the efforts of community activists, this proposal was withdrawn.

04.02.13 The Dayton City Commission is considering a request from the Dayton Police Department to work with a local company to provide aerial surveillance. If approved, the city will pay $120,000 to Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS) for 120 hours of airborne surveillance this summer.

According to PSS, these planes can monitor an area four times as large as Dayton’s downtown. The rapid-fire cameras used on the plane make the captured data more like film than still photos. Police can zoom in on any part of the image, in real time. This means that they could track your car down the street or watch you swimming in your backyard.

The police department’s proposed guidelines do not require a warrant prior to surveillance; lack clear retention and sharing policies; and fail to provide for independent oversight.

The ACLU of Ohio has been working with a group of local activists to push for new guidelines which address these civil liberties concerns. The program is on the agenda for a special meeting before Dayton’s City Commission on Tuesday, April 9, 2013.

To download a brief overview of domestic aerial surveillance in Dayton, click here.

Read a post on warrantless aerial surveillance in Dayton at the ACLU Blog of Rights.

Currently, there is a surge of activity in state legislatures all over the nation aimed at regulating domestic drone use. The vast majority of these bills include a requirement that law enforcement officials obtain a warrant before using drones in an investigation.

The Heritage Foundation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police,the national Republican Party, and the ACLU all agree that guidelines on domestic drone use will help protect against unreasonable government intrusion.

The ACLU of Ohio recommends legislation to guide the use of drones in Ohio and protect Ohioans’ civil liberties. This legislation should require:

• Warrants prior to drone use;
• Retention and sharing policies to govern the use of any captured data;
• Explicit, written, and publicly accessible policies and procedures are in place for the use of drones;
• Independent audits of drone deployment; and
• A ban on the weaponization of domestic drones.

Click here to learn more.

Ohioans of all political parties want their privacy protected, and to be free from intrusive government surveillance. Privacy concerns identified by the ACLU of Ohio include the following:

• Warrantless use of drones;
• Employers and school officials demanding access to employee and student social networking profiles;
• The use of automatic license plate readers by police; and
• Warrantless cell phone location tracking.

In October 2009 the ACLU learned of a new University of Akron policy requiring job applicants to submit to a DNA test at the discretion of the school. After criticism from the ACLU and a Faculty Senate resolution denouncing the policy, the University’s general counsel recommended that the University repeal the provision.

“Joe the Plumber” and privacy
During the 2008 presidential campaign, it was discovered that state officials approved the use of government databases to obtain information about Joseph Wurzelbacher, also known as “Joe the Plumber.” The ACLU of Ohio called for immediate action to mandate that state agencies implement privacy protections.

In response, the Ohio General Assembly passed H.B. 648 in December 2008, which limits the use of state-created databases to legitimate purposes and punishes employees who use them for the wrong reasons. Read our press release and testimony in favor of H.B. 648.

Currently, there is a surge of activity in state legislatures all over the nation aimed at regulating domestic drone use. The vast majority of these bills include a requirement that law enforcement officials obtain a warrant before using drones in an investigation.

The Heritage Foundation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police,the national Republican Party, and the ACLU all agree that guidelines on domestic drone use will help protect against unreasonable government intrusion.

The ACLU of Ohio recommends legislation to guide the use of drones in Ohio and protect Ohioans’ civil liberties. This legislation should require:

• Warrants prior to drone use;
• Retention and sharing policies to govern the use of any captured data;
• Explicit, written, and publicly accessible policies and procedures are in place for the use of drones;
• Independent audits of drone deployment; and
• A ban on the weaponization of domestic drones.

Click here to learn more.

Many airports now require passengers to go through a scanner that uses radiation to provide agents with an electronic image of your naked body. Passengers who opt out will be subjected to a standard pat-down procedure. The ACLU believes that routine full body scanning, embarrassingly intimate pat-downs and racial profiling threaten our civil liberties and are not proven to be effective in enhancing security. Read more on the national ACLU website.