Just as the 2020 holiday season was beginning in earnest, Solano Superior Court Judge Bradley Nelson upheld the gift of surveillance accountability that the California State legislature had provided state residents when they passed 2015 s Senate Bill 741 (Cal. Govt. Code § 53166). Judge Bradley s order brought positive closure to a battle that began last March when Electronic Frontier Alliance member Oakland Privacy notified the Vallejo City Council, and Mayor, that their police department’s proposal to acquire a Cell Site Simulator (CSS) violated California state law.
Introduced by then state-senator Jerry Hill, SB 741 requires an open and transparent process before a local government agency in California may acquire CSS technology. EFF explained this in our own letter to the Vallejo Mayor and City Council days after the illegal purchase had been approved. Specifically, the law requires an agency to write, and publish online for public review, a policy that ensures the collect