This article is adapted from an episode of our podcast, “Civic.” Click the audio player below to hear the full story.
Police drones fly over San Francisco hundreds of times a month. Automated license plate readers record vehicles as they move through the city. And increasingly sophisticated technology allows law enforcement agencies to collect, analyze and share information on a scale unimaginable just a generation ago.
City officials say these tools help police solve crimes, respond to emergencies and keep residents safe. Privacy advocates are dubious. They question San Francisco’s ability to control how the information is used, who can access it and where it ultimately ends up.
The debate has intensified amid expanded federal surveillance and immigration enforcement efforts, raising concerns about whether information collected locally could be used in ways that conflict with San Francisco’s sanctuary and civil liberties protections.
But these concerns didn’t first arise under the Trump administration. They have divided San Francisco for years, and their roots stretch back to the founding of the United States.
In “Somebody’s Watching You,” a three-part audio series from the San Francisco Public Press’ “Civic” radio show and podcast, we examine the history of government surveillance in the U.S., how San Francisco’s approach has evolved and what the growing reach of surveillance technology means for safety and civil liberties today.
This episode of “Civic” traces the history of government surveillance from the founding of the United States through the post-9/11 expansion of federal spying powers, examining how national security fears have tested civil liberties and shaped San Francisco’s ongoing struggle to balance public safety and privacy.
Through archival recordings, historical reporting and government testimony, we track a recurring pattern: Moments of crisis have opened the door to broader surveillance powers repeatedly, often followed by public resistance and demands for stronger protections.
The first installment looks at more than two centuries of American history, beginning with colonial resistance to British searches that helped inspire the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The episode traces how government surveillance expanded during periods of political upheaval and perceived national threats, including the monitoring of labor organizers and anti-war activists in San Francisco, the Bay Area incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the anti-communist investigations that brought protesters into San Francisco City Hall during the Cold War.
We also examine the FBI’s surveillance of civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., and the targeting of Bay Area activists during the 1960s. Revelations of widespread domestic spying in the 1970s eventually prompted new restrictions on intelligence agencies, part of a national reckoning that would help shape San Francisco’s own battles over government surveillance.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks marked another turning point. That history provides the backdrop for the next two episodes, which examine San Francisco’s participation in post-9/11 intelligence-sharing networks, its landmark privacy legislation, local expansion of police surveillance technology, and unauthorized sharing of surveillance data with federal and out-of-state agencies.
As San Francisco expands its surveillance capabilities, its past decisions raise an enduring question: How can the city use surveillance to protect public safety while safeguarding privacy, civil liberties and public accountability?
