Mike Katz-Lacabe

JUST POSTED: A Russian energy giant has secretly moved to acquire a position in a massive Alaska gas project. Its part of talks between Witkoff/Kushner & Putin. But CEO of US company resigns after learning of Russian money in the project. A wowzer of a story. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

Pittsburg (CA) looks to implement a temporary moratorium on data centers at its October 26, 2026, meeting, following Hayward, San Francisco, and Oakland. pittsburgca.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/...

Kern Co. Sheriff to spend $142,402 for no-bid one-year contract for Cellebrite to break into locked cell phones and extract data. Includes Cellebrite Premium Unlimited , one-year Inspector service, Digital Collector service and Inseyets service subscriptions itsapps.kerncounty.com/clerk/minute...

Alameda Co. Sheriff will place two drones on a fire station roof at 19745 Meekland Avenue in Hayward as part of a 10-year agreement with the fire department. @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social www.alamedacountyca.gov/board/bos_ca...

Pleasanton (CA) ended its contract for Motorola license plate cameras in Oct. 2025. However, the cameras continued to collect and share data until July 2026. It's not in the interest of these surveillance companies to end surveillance when contracts end. www.cityofpleasantonca.gov/assets/our-g...

What happens when a city cancels its Flock mass surveillance contract? It turns out that nothing happens (for quite a while anyway), so city police disconnected the cameras. It is just not in Flock's interest to take down the cameras. www.thedrive.com/news/my-city...

Holy shit! Giving judges a financial incentive to evict people is absolutely insane!

Congratulations to Flock for implementing basic security controls that most companies have had in place for years AFTER journalism forced accountability. What other horrible things are going on within Flock and its mass surveillance system that we don't yet know about?

In August, Trump announced the “BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” But is it? The text of the accord — which grants the U.S. sweeping access to Venezuela’s oil reserves — has been one of DC’s most sought-after secrets. ProPublica got to see a copy. 🧵

On IG just now, @bradlander.bsky.social says he's been detained by the Israeli military. Israeli security forces have taken a NY congressional candidate on the eve of a US election.

Great to see the Privacy Act finally being used for its intended purpose. I just hope it’s not too late for an effective remedy.

Shooting at a car to stop a shoplifter is not justified. Even if no one was harmed, let alone shooting to death a 1 year-old baby.

Who woulda' thought Florida politics could be so swampy? Gov. Ron DeSantis allegedly diverted $10m in taxpayer money to his wife's charity. It's been headline news for months. Now the Florida GOP is suing TV stations, claiming it's a crime to report on records about the scandal.

Reminder for those in Sonoma County that this community forum on Flock cameras and license plate readers is tonight (Mon 10/19) at Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Kept hearing from Flock prostesters that they didn't understand how cameras went up with their tax dollars and without their knowledge. I read dozens of contracts and found 55 times the company testified their product is unique (despite the other ALPR cameras on the market) to avoid bidding process.

Savannah police officer shared her Flock login with her husband, an ICE officer. License plate reader data will continue to be used for immigration enforcement and other purposes unless we decide to stop mass surveillance. gizmodo.com/cop-fired-fo...

Here is the 2025 Annual Report from San Jose's Independent Police Auditor and its recommendations: @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=...

Richmond (CA) seeks to pay $20,000 to Policing Strategies for "objective statistical analysis" of the effectiveness of Richmond PD's license plate reader mass surveillance program at its Oct. 20, 2026, meeting. @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Hayward (CA) taking up a moratorium on data centers at its next meeting. hayward.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=...

What a coincidence that TikTok, partly owned by the pro-Trump oligarch Ellison family, shut down the account for a critical documentary of pro-Trump oligarch Elon Musk. </s>

Black women in America are more than twice as likely as white women to have a stillbirth. Getting physicians to take their concerns seriously is one reason for this disparity, they say: “If you’re a Black woman, you get dismissed.” From the archives:

In 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a Florida home, pledging it would be his principal residence. Seven weeks later, he attested a neighboring property would also be his principal residence. In reality, he does not seem to have lived in either home. (Published Dec. 2025)

NEW: Chicago-area cops took part in an undercover probe by ICE agents into Minneapolis mutual aid networks last spring, records obtained by WIRED show, including unspecified electronic surveillance, audio recordings, ALPR data by @awinston.bsky.social

NEW: ICE is trying to deport a mother of 4 while her husband is at Fort Benning in Army basic training. When she went to pick up the family's military IDs, Navy personnel turned her over to ICE. She's been in the US since age six. With @nancyayoussef.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

The Roads Have Eyes! 👁️ Turn on the Surveillance Layer in Map Options to see known license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo (ELSAG), Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada, and other outdoor surveillance cameras.

Come join me at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa on Monday 10/19 at 6pm for a community forum on Flock cameras and license plate readers. #ALPR @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social

So we fly a pride flag in our front yard in a very conservative neighborhood and it’s been there for the last few years. Someone put this in our mailbox and my goodness…

More people need to speak out like Nicole. Sports gambling will destroy our youth. The signs are already there. What a disaster. www.cjr.org/the-intervie...

NEW LAWSUIT: EPIC, @lwv.org, and @lulacorg.bsky.social is suing the Trump-Vance administration for their secretive & unlawful efforts to collect and compile millions of Americans’ voter records into a nationwide database and using it as a means to investigate supposed voter fraud. Read more ⬇️

Now here's some important national legislation that we can all support!

NEW @citizenlab.ca report We uncovered an Israeli firm using online ads to run vast spy operation This is the first-ever public confirmation of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered via targeted ads. 45 devices at @aljazeera.com confirmed infected citizenlab.ca/research/how...

We’re bringing the fight against warrantless ALPR searches to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Those two statements have absolutely nothing to do with each other except for ensuring that the company shareholders profit from people's fear by creating a mass surveillance state.

If you're wondering why Flock leaves cameras up after a contract end, part of their business model and marketing strategy is being able to advertise that their customers can access data from cameras all over the country. You may have canceled your contract, but the cameras still fuel the system.

It turns out that eternal vigilance is also the price to pay for privacy. Good advice for users of Android on Signal.

After a woman obtained public records indicating a Google datacenter would cover only one-third of the cost of a new solar plant to power the facility — contradicting its promises that ratepayers would not be on the hook — her electricity company sued her.

Vallejo PD to spend another $464,000 on Axon for body worn cameras, tasers, Fleet 3 dashcam/license plate readers, Axon Air, and other services. @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

When the Auschwitz Memorial has to fact check the new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia for being a nut.

A periodic reminder that you may not know all the data that your car collects, but police are paying to attend week-long courses on vehicle forensics to make sure that they know and that "Your Data Will be Used Against You." @profferguson.bsky.social itsapps.kerncounty.com/clerk/minute...

Kern Co. Sheriff doing its part to ensure a consistent supply of handguns on the streets by selling a Glock 47 to a retiring employee. itsapps.kerncounty.com/clerk/minute...