Matt Cagle
mattcagle.bsky.social
Matt Cagle
@mattcagle.bsky.social
ACLU NorCal attorney focused on surveillance, privacy, and technology. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Brown has over 1,200 cameras and it wasn’t enough because cameras are a security blanket we’ve all been sold. They don’t prevent crimes and they barely solve crimes but in the meantime surveillance companies got rich and no one had to address the societal root causes of crime and violence.
Brown University has over 1,200 surveillance cameras. Why that wasn’t enough to capture video of the shooting suspect | CNN
CNN spoke to several security experts to better understand the growth of Brown’s surveillance system, why its cameras failed to capture the attack or suspect, and the concerns about privacy and academ...
www.cnn.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
They’re killing people as a twitter joke. It’s depraved. Can’t let yourself lose the capacity to be appalled and disgusted and outraged by this.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces another boat strike in response to a request/wish from Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet.
December 5, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
I know it's too easy to grow numb to the constant flood of bigotry that comes out of his mouth but it does seem morally important you don't allow yourself or anyone else to become desensitized to this vile racism as a normal part of our politics
Trump on Somalis: "We're gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage."
December 2, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Today @eff.org & our @aclu-norcal.bsky.social team sued San Jose alleging its warrantless searches for driver locations are unconstitutional. This program is fed by a vast network of license plate readers and amasses people's private habits, associations, and movements www.aclunc.org/news/lawsuit...
Lawsuit Challenges San Jose’s Warrantless ALPR Mass Surveillance | ACLU of Northern CA
www.aclunc.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
The San Jose PD regularly conducts warrantless searches through its massive license plate reader database, allowing it to reconstruct detailed maps of a person’s movements through the City going back as far as a year. This poses a serious threat to communities’ privacy and freedom of movement.
November 18, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Today @eff.org & our @aclu-norcal.bsky.social team sued San Jose alleging its warrantless searches for driver locations are unconstitutional. This program is fed by a vast network of license plate readers and amasses people's private habits, associations, and movements www.aclunc.org/news/lawsuit...
Lawsuit Challenges San Jose’s Warrantless ALPR Mass Surveillance | ACLU of Northern CA
www.aclunc.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
They're going to the highest court in the land to avoid feeding children.
November 8, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
The second Trump administration is building a mass surveillance state to persecute immigrants and police online speech. We’ve already reached the point where if you step out of line or post disfavored opinions on the Internet, you could lose your job, your family, and even your freedom.
Mass Surveillance in the Trump Era | ACLU of Northern CA
www.aclunc.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Imagine having a kid in this daycare who watches as their teacher is bodily dragged away by masked goons.
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
November 5, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
BREAKING NEWS: A judge this morning allowed the lawsuit by @aclusocal.bsky.social & Walkup Melodia against the UC Regents on behalf of Palestine solidarity activists from UCLA (2 students and 2 faculty members) to proceed, marking an important preliminary victory for student speech on CA campuses.
November 4, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
They don’t even know who they’re killing. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/u...
October 30, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
ICE is using faulty and biased face surveillance technology to go after people they suspect of being undocumented.

This is a direct threat to the fundamental rights of every individual and has no place in our cities.
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 29, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Oh wow:

"During the fracas, a federal agent fired a pepper round that struck a (UCC) clergyman, Jorge Bautista, near the chin. The impact caked his face and clothing in orange powder. Bautista said the agent shot him in the face from about 5 feet away."

"'I’m in a lot of pain,'" Bautista texted…"
October 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
This is why we always say we are against tech fatalism. Surveillance isn’t inevitable and we need to abolish it as part of our broader struggles for justice.
Evanston has confirmed that it is deactivating its Flock ALPRs after many reports IL police were illegally sharing data with ICE and other federal agencies. content.govdelivery.com/accounts/ILE...
Statement: Evanston Deactivates Flock Cameras and Terminates Contract
content.govdelivery.com
August 27, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
October 23, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
A man was arrested for playing Darth Vader's theme music, "The Imperial March," behind National Guard troops walking through Logan Circle.

Now the ACLU is suing on his behalf. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 23, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Is he just gonna steal $230 million dollars from us?
Breaking News: President Trump wants $230 million from the Justice Department for investigating him, people familiar with the matter say. Any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. nyti.ms/4hmIi5X
October 21, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
A fun byproduct of unitary executive theory—if the president controls everyone under him, he can demand they transfer hundreds of millions in tax dollars into his bank account
Breaking News: President Trump wants $230 million from the Justice Department for investigating him, people familiar with the matter say. Any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. nyti.ms/4hmIi5X
October 21, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
NO TROOPS ON OUR STREETS
October 18, 2025 at 9:05 PM
What is this? An arch for ants?
President Trump is seeking to build a triumphal arch on a Washington roundabout to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary next year. Trump showed models of the proposed arch at a fund-raising dinner on Wednesday for another of his pet projects, a White House ballroom. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
October 18, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Cool, is he also going to apologize for pitching his company as an ICE contractor? www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
Amid criticism, Benioff apologizes, reverses course on National Guard
After strong backlash to his embrace of Trump and a week of blistering criticism, the Salesforce CEO has changed course.
www.sfchronicle.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
We at @aclu-norcal.bsky.social and @aclupa.org filed this motion to protect people exercising their First Amendment rights to speak out anonymously. These summonses are intolerable abuses of power by DHS.

The court JUST ordered Meta not to reveal anything to DHS until further notice.
October 17, 2025 at 10:20 PM
If ICE agents on *our public streets* aren't exempt from drunk driving laws, why should ICE agents on *our public streets* be exempt from laws banning masked government agents?
An ICE agent, who is being arrested for drunk driving and nearly killing his little kids & others, tries to stop the arrest by racially profiling the officers arresting him. Amazing to watch the courtesy given to him as he is belligerent and uncooperative
October 17, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Matt Cagle
Mr. Benioff: Military troops and armed federal agents don’t make our communities safer. Advocating to bring the National Guard to San Francisco is dangerous, and instills fear in people as they go about their daily lives.
Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 9:44 PM