My husband, Mike Katz-Lacabe, is a human rights and privacy advocate. Several years ago, he discovered that the SLPD was secretly using license plate cameras to photograph both cars and the areas around them – and were keeping those records indefinitely. Since then, police departments have refused to share this data from citizens, but if you drive a car in the Bay Area, you can assume that the police has access to hundreds of photos of your car, you and the area around it. Mike’s activities have been covered by the news media. Here, in reverse chronological order, are stories [Continue Reading]
Media
The following are *some* of the news articles still available online that quote or speak about Mike. I’ve omitted some of the ones about schools because there are just too many of them. News articles about Mike’s work on license plate reader are here. City Surveillance Cameras Will Have Microphones, San Leandro Times 9/11/14 Katz-Lacabe Vies for Council Seat, San Leandro Times 8/21/14 City Council Opens Door for Big Brother, San Leandro Times 7/23/14 Toro’s School Board Seat on Nov. Ballot, San Leandro Times 6/6/14 Council Looks at Law on Tree Removal , San Leandro Times 5/29/14 School Board [Continue Reading]
Today my husband, Mike Katz-Lacabe, was a guest of Brian Copeland on his KGO radio show. They discussed the controversy around raising the flag of the People’s Republic of China in San Leandro as well as the use of license plate cameras. It’s only 20 minutes, so listen up! BTW, Brian Copeland said that neither Councilmember Benny Lee, the architect of the flag proposal, nor any other supporters of the flag were willing to go to the show and stand up for their views.
Accountability Starts Here! Tell me how I’m wrong. Really, this is your chance. In a Facebook thread, Councilmember Diana Souza accused me of making assumptions and “twisting things”. I’ve been very critical of Souza’s 7 years in the Council, so it’s not surprising that she feels that way. But is she right? I demand accountability from my elected officials, surely my readers have the same right to demand it from me. I do make assumptions. I have to. When the City – or its officials – fail to be transparent, the only way to fill in the gaps is to [Continue Reading]
Mayor Stephen Cassidy seems to be getting very nervous. He stopped me – and only me – from being able to post comments to his notes on his Mayoral Facebook page after I started writing about his lack of integrity and his repeated violations of open government laws. He seems to be getting pettier and more fearful, though. His latest stunt is to ban me from following his official Mayor account on twitter. A twitter ban doesn’t stop you from reading someone’s tweets or replying to them – it just stops you from re-tweeting them. So it would seem that [Continue Reading]