A charter amendment on data

For: Needed measure will guide policies, laws to guard privacy

Privacy has become a hot topic across the country. With emerging technology creeping into every sphere of our private and public lives, protecting the privacy of San Francisco residents and visitors has become a seemingly endless game of whack-a-mole. And while emerging tech is neither inherently good nor bad, lawmakers and the general public have yet to truly come together around a set of guiding principles to ensure that consumers’ privacy rights are protected.

Proposition B on San Francisco’s November ballot would establish a set of principles that put your privacy before profit — a privacy “bill of rights.” Among other core principles, Prop. B would mandate that legislators establish laws to protect sensitive personal information — including your race, sexual orientation, national origin or religious affiliation — from unwarranted collection or disclosure. These principles include the ability to move around the city freely, meet with friends and organize with groups without being tracked at every turn. These principles aim to secure your personal information from unauthorized access or manipulation.

Widely recognized innovation has also brought with it the specter of public harm. Just this year, as residents and visitors hopped aboard private scooters in San Francisco, most riders didn’t realize that by clicking through the terms of service, they were consenting to having their credit reports run and shared with thirdparty advertisers, loan providers and government agencies.

Last month, while BART considered acquiring facial recognition surveillance technology (or “biometric” surveillance tech), articles circulated about this technology’s inability to accurately identify people with darker complexions. Particularly in the context of the Trump administration’s disastrous immigration policies, the consequences of any misidentification were too severe to entrust to any law enforcement agency.

And, in the wake of a presidential election hacked by using personal information scraped from Facebook, lawmakers have all but idled while the European Union advances comprehensive data privacy protections. Shielding our constituents’ personal information from abuse is as urgent as ever.

Prop. B’s privacy protections would be implemented through legislation that must be revisited at least every three years for the sake of ensuring that San Francisco privacy protections keep pace with a rapidly evolving industry. Prop. B is not a guarantee of privacy, but because the principles will guide the development of laws and policies, it will be an effective tool to create the protections that we need.

As your personal information is collected by every device, no abuse of that information is off limits — unless we all insist on mandating it. In the coming years, insurance companies may base their premiums on wearable tech that monitors your heart rate and body temperature. People will soon depend on the convenience of voicecontrolled microwaves and other mundane household objects capable of listening to your every conversation.

Everyone should have a fundamental right to privacy, and cities have a critical role to play in catalyzing state and federal policy to ensure that right. In lieu of a self-regulating industry that is willing to put its profit motive below your personal privacy rights, it falls to all of us to ensure that our cherished privacy is afforded the protections it is due.

San Francisco has broad jurisdiction to set new best practices in the area of data privacy regulation. By establishing a moral basis and the political will to put your privacy before profit, Prop. B is a critical step forward.

This November, join us in supporting Prop B.