In March 2014, the City Council established an Ad Hoc Advisory Committee to develop a Privacy and Data Retention Policy for the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The DAC is a joint project between the Port and the City of Oakland. The DAC is physically located within the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and it can collect and monitor live streams of video, audio, and/or data, watching for time-critical events that require an immediate response. This Committee developed the Policy and a set of additional recommendations for the City Council to consider. The Policy and recommendations were presented at the Public Safety Committee Meeting on February 10th, and are posted here on the City’s website. These documents have been open for public comment since March 2015. The public comments received through April 21, 2015 as well as a more detailed analysis of the additional recommendations were brought back to the Public Safety Committee in May 2015.
The Public Safety Committee met on May 12, 2015 to discuss the DAC Privacy Policy will be discussed again. For questions, contact Joe DeVries, Assistant to the City Administrator.
The DAC Ad Hoc Advisory Committee developed seven recommendations that either support the Policy or further its purpose to encompass future City Technology. A summary of those recommendations is listed below and a more thorough analysis can be found here.
- Establish a Standing Privacy Policy Advisory Committee of the City to provide guidance to the City Council on potential changes to either the DAC or the DAC Privacy and Data Retention Policy.
- Recommend to the City Administrator that a person is designated and shall serve as the Internal Privacy Officer within the DAC charged with ensuring the DAC Staff are abiding by the Policy, and that the City Auditor shall serve as the “Compliance Officer” who is responsible for reviewing the quarterly reports prepared by the Internal Privacy Officer, and that the Public Ethics Commission shall serve as an Ombudsman/Advocate to receive complaints from whistleblowers or the general public and to make policy recommendations to the Advisory Committee and City Council.
- Request the City Administrator or designee prepare an ordinance that makes violation of the Policy a misdemeanor punishable by fines and also enforceable by injured parties under a private right of action.
- Determine that changes must be proposed by/to the Privacy Advisory Committee and ratified by the City Council and that Privacy policy must be reviewed at least every year by the committee.
- Create a Permanent Standing Advisory Committee to examine the City as a whole and develop an overarching Privacy Policy that would reach beyond the limited scope of the DAC.
- Modify the City’s Whistleblower Ordinance to broaden protections and allow for more avenues to file a complaint when there is a DAC policy related potential violation.
- Consider establishing a Citywide Surveillance Technology Ordinance to allow for informed public debate and decision making by the City Council regarding privacy and retention policies for all Surveillance Technologies in the future.
To read the full Council Report from the February 10th Public Safety Committee Meeting go here.
Review the comments received as of April 21st at 5pm, click here.