Alameda Labor Council, OEA and Alameda Greens Speak Against the DAC.

ALAMEDA LABOR COUNCIL, AFL-CIO
Resolution In Support of Civil Liberties in Oakland and Alameda County Adopted unanimously at the Mar. 10, 2014 Alameda Labor Council Delegates’ Meeting.

Whereas the Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO, supports and promotes American freedoms and constitutional civil liberties;
 

And, whereas the particular rights to peaceably assemble and speak freely are essential to the collective exercise by working families and their unions of their rights to organize and to bargain collectively;
 
And, whereas the Alameda Labor Council advances the struggles for justice by organized labor, and others seeking fairness and equality including previously expressing support for the movements for civil rights, against apartheid, and against police brutality;
 
And, whereas political surveillance and repression were historically used by both the federal and local governments against such labor and human rights leaders as Harry Bridges of the ILWU and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.;
 
And, whereas City of Oakland officials said under their proposal for the Domain Awareness Center (“DAC”) they intended to use its planned mass surveillance capacity to control the protected activity of Oakland residents and visitors to assemble and speak freely chilling the exercise of these First Amendment rights in Alameda County;
 
And, whereas, under an existing political surveillance program a worker in Alameda County was recently fired from his job after the police photographed him participating in a demonstration and then shared the photographs with his employer;
 
And, whereas, while we acknowledge the Oakland City Council’s vote last week to limit the DAC to the Port of Oakland only, the DAC proposal had contemplated warrantless surveillance to collect and stockpile comprehensive information about City residents and visitors who engaged in no wrongdoing whatsoever potentially violating the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure;
 
Now therefore be it resolved, under the privacy protection provisions of the California State Constitution, and under the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution, the Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO urges the City of Oakland and its elected representatives to continue to protect the privacy and constitutional rights of working families and affected visitors to and residents of Oakland and Alameda County.
  

Oakland Education Association.
March 4, 2014.

Dear Oakland City Council Members,

On Monday, March 3, the Representative Council of the Oakland
Education Association passed, unanimously, a motion endorsing the
Oakland Privacy Working Group’s March 3, 2014 Open Letter to
the City Council. The teachers of Oakland are concerned that this
project poses a potential threat of abuses of civil liberties and
violations of personal privacy. Whatever perceived benefits you may
believe the Domain Awareness Center bring to the city, the use of
city and federal funds to encourage further encroachment on freedom
is not in the best interest of the citizens of Oakland.

On behalf of the 2400 OEA Members, over 65% of whom call
Oakland their home, I urge you to vote against any funding for the
DAC.

Thank you for your consideration of this serious matter.

Trish Gorham, President
Oakland Education Association

GREEN PARTY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, COUNTY COUNCIL
Resolution Against the DAC and to Support Civil Liberties in Alameda County.
Adopted unanimously at he Mar 8, 2014 County Council meeting.

Whereas the rights to speak freely and peaceably assemble are required to promote peace and freedom, and to the realization of the values and mission of the Green Party of Alameda County and of all Greens and environmentalists;

And, whereas political surveillance and repression are used against environmental and animal rights activists including those fighting to reduce or end fossil fuel dependency, to protest old growth forests and wilderness, and th stop experimentation on animals;

And, whereas City of Oakland officials proposed a Domain Awareness Center (“DAC”) with mass surveillance capacity against the protected activity to speak and assemble freely of Oaklanders and others, chilling the exercise of their First Amendment rights;

And, whereas the DAC proposal potentially violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizure by contemplating warrantless mass surveillance to stockpile comprehensive information about City residents and vistors;

Now therefore be it resolved that the Green Party of Alameda County urges the elected officials in the City of Oakland to unplug the DAC and protect the privacy and constitutional rights of all affected persons in Alameda County.