Matthew T. Cagle

As artificial intelligence begins to make real the stuff of science fiction, attorneys like Cagle are fighting to make sure the story doesn’t have a bad ending.

A seven-year veteran of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Cagle’s practice focuses on potential threats to civil liberties that spring up when emerging technologies are applied to the real-world.

This year, he organized and led the coalition effort behind the passage of San Francisco’s historic ban on the use of facial recognition software by police and other city departments. The city’s ban was the first in the nation, though other cities have begun to follow suit. Since 2014, he has also spearheaded the ACLU of Northern California’s efforts to pass city and county ordinances throughout California giving residents more democratic oversight and control over the use of potentially threatening new surveillance technologies like drones and license plate readers.

“As technology has evolved, and new systems powered by artificial intelligence grow capable of monitoring our private lives and harming communities, our work has evolved, and today it’s more important than ever that communities have a seat at the table when important surveillance decisions are being made,” Cagle said.

Corporate accountability and transparency are key parts of Cagle’s work. When word got around in 2018 that Amazon was selling its facial recognition technology to U.S. law enforcement agencies, it was Cagle who broke the story. Cagle said he was motivated to investigate after finding out that Amazon was selling facial recognition technology through its website, submitting public records requests to law enforcement agencies find out more.

“What I found was that not only was Amazon offering systems capable of tracking entire communities, but it was working hand in hand with law enforcement to help them deploy the technology and to solicit feedback for new features,” Cagle said. The ACLU’s report and subsequent advocacy blew the lid on Amazon being in the facial recognition business, leading to renewed congressional attention to the issue.

Cagle has also worked to reveal and limit dragnet surveillance of social media speech by law enforcement agencies. Using public records advocacy in 2016, Cagle uncovered the widespread use of social media monitoring software by California law enforcement agencies to spy on users of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Cagle’s reporting led several of the networks to make policy changes designed to prevent potential abuses in the future.

“My work is really focused on making sure digital systems work on behalf of people, not against them,” he said. “It’s really important, because technology really supercharges the way our data can be collected,” Cagle said.

— Steven Crighton