BREWER INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO END
SURVEILLANCE OF PEOPLE IN DOC CUSTODY
AND EVERYONE THEY TALK TO ON THE OUTSIDE

"New York, NY — What if I told you there’s a City vendor that’s paid to listen in on your phone calls and capture your most sensitive personal data, including your location and voice print? It’s true. The Department of Correction (DOC) telecom provider records approximately 25,000 phone calls per day between people inside City jails and anyone they talk to: their parents, spouses, children, attorneys, doctors, and clergy.

The vendor, Securus Technologies, uploads every piece of data they capture to a paid subscription database used by law enforcement agencies across the country. Securus has a history of unlawful surveillance practices and data breaches. Earlier this year, a coalition of public defenders sued DOC, accusing them of capturing thousands of privileged phone calls between people in custody and their defense attorneys.

Legislation being introduced today by Council Member Gale Brewer would ban the recording of phone calls and other digital communications without permission from a judge, force the destruction of data that has already been collected, and create a private right of action for anyone whose communications are unlawfully surveilled or whose personal information was unlawfully collected, retained, or disclosed.

The bill is co-sponsored by Council Members Sandy Nurse, Yusef Salaam, Carlina Rivera, Diana Ayala and Shekar Krishnan."

...

“NYC’s Department of Correction and surveillance company Securus Technologies have constructed a far-reaching spying system with devastating impacts on those who rely on the jails’ phone system to stay connected. The End Correctional Community Surveillance Act (ECCoS) ensures that New Yorkers can talk to loved ones who are detained in city jails without fear that their private thoughts and intimacies will be spied on or their biometric, location, and financial information will be stolen,” said Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez, Director of Brooklyn Defenders’ Science and Surveillance Project. “Brooklyn Defenders thanks Council Member Brewer for introducing this landmark legislation to end a decade of predatory spying and restore dignity and basic human rights. We call on the Council to pass ECCoS immediately.”

Read the full press release here.