Matt Cagle

Matt Cagle

Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California

Bio

Matt Cagle is a Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, where he works on digital rights issues, including privacy, surveillance, and free speech. Matt focuses on ensuring modern digital systems — be they private platforms or public projects — are publicly debated and implemented with equality and justice in mind. This includes work on the use of surveillance technology by local police, and the promotion of best practices for online platforms. Prior to joining the ACLU full-time, Matt worked in private practice advising startups on privacy issues. He holds degrees from the University of Arizona and Stanford Law School, where he was a member editor of the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Featured Work

News & Commentary
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  • Privacy and Surveillance|
  • +1 Issue

Recordings Show the California Highway Patrol’s Aerial Surveillance of Racial Justice Protests

In the summer of 2020, when so many of us joined Black-led protests and peacefully took to the streets to march, mourn, demand an end to police brutality and call for justice for George Floyd and the many other Black lives taken by police, California police spied from above with high-definition video surveillance.
News & Commentary
Police body camera pinned to the front of a police officer's shirt, a police badge to the left
  • Privacy and Surveillance|
  • +1 Issue

California Just Blocked Police Body Cam Use of Face Recognition

The state of California just made it clear: Face recognition surveillance isn't inevitable. We can — and should — fight hard to protect our communities from this dystopian technology.