Mike Katz, Democrat for Congress

What I Stand For

Restoring the Rule of Law

The government as well as the governed must be subject to the law and accountable for violating it.

Stopping Mass Surveillance

We all have the right to live our lives without being watched and listened to by the government and private entities.

Good Governance

I support a strong government that can ensure justice, promote the general welfare and guarantee freedom and human rights to all.

I’m a cybersecurity engineer and a privacy/mass surveillance researcher in my free time. I grew up in a military family and spent my childhood in England and Air Force bases throughout the western United States. I went to college at UC Berkeley, where I majored in Environmental Science. I have worked as cybersecurity engineer in Silicon Valley and San Francisco for the last three decades.

I started my human rights activism during college, when I joined Amnesty International. Later, I worked with School of the Americas Watch and co-founded Derechos and the Center for Human Rights and Privacy (CeHRP). I am currently Director of Research both for CeHRP and Oakland Privacy. For the last decade, I have focused on the use of mass surveillance, in particular license plate readers/Flock cameras and cell site simulators.

I served two terms on the San Leandro School Board, including twice as Board President, am a former member of the California Democratic Central Committee and former associate member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. I am the father of two young women and a big Formula 1 fan.

Mike (on the right) at the EFF’s 2019 Pioneer Awards – Oakland Privacy was one of the Award recipients

Website Under Construction

The tech industry has enjoyed a free reign for too long. Corporations are offshoring jobs and replacing them with AI, shedding ethical standards, lobbying against regulations and helping create a surveillance state which endangers us all. Billionaires escape taxation while the social safety net is gutted and healthcare subsidies eliminated. In the name of profit and greed, Americans are losing our human and privacy rights. We are waging needless wars, destroying the planet and killing innocent people.

I’m the father of two girls, a former School Board member, a lifelong Democrat, a techie and a human rights activist. As Director of Research for CeHRP and Oakland Privacy, I’ve fought to raise awareness of ICE’s use of Flock cameras and Palantir technologies. I’m running to revive privacy, labor and environmental rights, reign in Big Tech, abolish ICE, reduce military spending and end the genocide of Palestinians. I support Medicare for All, wealth taxes and sensible AI and crypto regulations. I oppose wars of aggression and support joining the ICC. I will fight for free speech on campuses and free college tuition. I stand with immigrants, the LGBTQ community, people of all colors, Muslims and the working class. Love triumphs over hate. Thank you for voting.

Help us stand up to Trump and his billionaire allies

Videos and News articles

As one of the foremost mass surveillance researchers, Mike is often interviewed. Here are some of the articles mentioning him througout the years.

Remarks at the 2019 Pioneer Awards

EFF - 2019 (video)

"My work for Oakland Privacy comes from the belief that only from transparency can you have oversight, and from oversight derives accountability. So many examples of technology that have been acquired and used by law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area were never known about by the city councils that oversaw those police agencies."

On making Oakland a real sanctuary city

Oakland City Council - 2017 (video)

"Ice and HSI have decided to muddy the waters when they identify themselves as police when they enter our community..."

On national license place database

AP - 2014 (video)

The Homeland Security Department abruptly reversed course Wednesday and dropped plans to ask a private company to give the government access to a nationwide database of license plate tracking

License-plate readers let police collect millions of records on drivers

Reveal - 2013

The paperback-size device, installed on the outside of police cars, can log thousands of license plates in an eight-hour patrol shift. Katz-Lacabe said it had photographed his two cars on 112 occasions, including one image from 2009 that shows him and his daughters stepping out of his Toyota Prius in their driveway.

Alameda County Sheriff Hosted ICE at Urban Shield

East Bay Express 2018

“I think the principalities that have passed sanctuary ordinances shouldn’t be doing anything to assist ICE, and that includes training their special response team as part of Urban Shield,” said Mike Katz-Lacabe

San Jose continues license plate reader installation after early successes

ABC Eyewitness News 2024 (video + text)

"Not only of the information being compromised, but for the ability of someone who has access to that to abuse it," Katz-Lacabe said. "And the fact is, we do not have good mechanisms of oversight that would actually review the logs to determine whose accessed it and what for to determine if there's abuse."

ISSUES

This section is under construction. I invite you to share your questions about my positions by e-mailing me.

Privacy Rights

When elected, I will champion a national privacy rights bill that will put an end to the sale and sharing of your personal information without your permission. Although the government must get a warrant to Read more

ENDING IMPUNITY

The Trump administration is working to turn America into an authoritarian regime. Trump and his sycophants are attacking the Constitution and the rule of law, destroying our government institutions and committing crimes – including murder Read more

NO MORE WARS

America has a troubled history of engaging in wars of aggression that result in massive loss of civilian lives, economic and social devastation for the targeted countries, destruction of the environment, the loss of American Read more

ECONOMIC EQUITY

Billionaires have been getting richer from policies that essentially transfer wealth from the middle and lower classes. These policies increase poverty and squeeze the middle class. As ordinary Americans struggle to pay for healthcare, housing, Read more

THE RULE OF LAW

The Trump administration has launched an attack on the judicial system and the rule of law in America. He built on the Biden’s administrations violations of international law and its attacks on the ICJ and Read more

ABOLISH ICE

ICE is no longer an immigration enforcement agency, but an untrained, heavily armed, paramilitary force, given illegal and criminal orders, that is being used by the Trump administration not only to terrorize immigrants, but to Read more

Mike Katz