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Agenda Item
5.3 26-0537 Subject: OPD Cellebrite Technology
From: Oakland Police Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution (1) Authorizing The City Administrator To Enter Into A Professional Services Agreement With Cellebrite, Inc. For The Provision Of Universal Forensic Extraction Devices And Related Services For The Oakland Police Department, For A Contract Amount Not To Exceed One Hundred Forty Thousand Dollars ($140,000) For The Period July 1, 2026, To June 30, 2027; (2) Waiving The Competitive Multistep Solicitation Process And The Local/Small Local Business Enterprise Program Requirements; And (3) Accepting The 2024 Cellebrite Annual Report And Making A Determination Regarding Whether The City Should Continue To Use This Technology
I strongly oppose this measure. Oakland should not do business with a surveillance company with a documented history of human rights abuses and ties to international conflict. Our tax dollars should be divested from invasive policing technologies and reinvested into community resources like housing and healthcare that address the root causes of crime.
I have lived in Oakland for 24 years. I unqualifiedly oppose the use of electronic surveillance in Oakland. And as such, I am especially against Oakland signing the no-bid OPD contract with the Israeli company Cellebrite (Item #5.3) that Israel, which continues to carry out a genocide in Gaza and is executing in Lebanon and elsewhere, benefits from. Cellebrite's products have been used against Palestinians, journalists, and activists and have been deployed by ICE.
I STRONGLY oppose this measure. Cellebrite is an Israeli surveillance company on the BDS list that Oakland has no business doing business with! Cellebrite surveillance tools were used on thousands of detained Palestinian civilians during the war on Gaza, on journalists and activists in Serbia, Jordan, and Kenya, and are deployed by ICE through $48 million in federal contracts. Many countries that have used Cellebrite technology have been implicated in grave human rights abuses, including the persecution of journalists, civil rights activists, political dissidents, and racial/ethnic minorities. Oakland and East Bay residents deserve better! Surveillance is NOT safety, and investing in increased surveillance and policing will not reduce crime or provide more protection for our communities. Rather than continuing to fund and enforce a culture of punishment, our governments should be investing in the people’s wellbeing by supporting us in getting our essential needs met. That means funding healthcare, access to nutritional foods, housing, education, arts and culture. Investing in life-affirming programs is what will make all of us safer, stronger, and enable cycles of abundance and care to keep flowing in our communities.
OPD has used a Cellebrite data extraction tool to crack cellphones and access and extract data for years but only recently began abiding by the City's surveillance technology laws that require annual auditing and reports and presentation before the Privacy Advisory Commission. OPD requires a warrant to use Cellebrite but in the past has used clauses in the conditional release of formerly incarcerated residents to pressure them into allowing them to use it on their phones—a practice now banned once a use policy was put in place.
Cellebrite is a now notorious Israeli-based company whose products have been used throughout the world by totalitarian regimes to extract cell phone data from dissidents and reporters. The technology was most recently used during the Gaza genocide. Because Cellebrite is now acknowledged as a surveillance technology, city law requires that the OPD must also submit an annual use report. OPD argues no other company makes the technology, but this is untrue as this report shows. OPD is also asking to change requirements on demographic usage because the device can only be used with a warrant or with recorded permission under the new use policy.
OPD used Cellebrite for years without following Oakland's surveillance law, and is now asking to stop tracking the racial data that shows 65% of the people whose phones get cracked are Black.
Please stop giving police officers access to dangerous technology that is used to target minorities in our city.
I STRONGLY OPPOSE this resolution. The city of Oakland should not use cellebrite. Cellebrite is ineffective and insecure (see historic data leaks), and to enter this contract in full awareness of this constitutes knowing violation of the 4th amendment of the Constitution. Its capabilities are exaggerated by their marketing team and its vulnerabilities and safety flaws are brushed under the rug by their PR team. Cellebrite just doesn't live up to the value it claims to provide.
Cellebrite doesn't help law enforcement do their jobs. It is a poor crutch to mask incompetence, and the money would be better spent on training our brave and hard-working officers to do better detective work.
Do not waste our tax dollars on this junk! Vote no!
I'm an Oakland resident and property owner, and I am opposed to the procurement of Cellebrite products and services in the name of public safety.
Cellebrite's technology is capable of considerable overreach. A search warrant for my hone does not automatically grant unlimited access to every physical place I visit. Why then are we entertaining the idea of a search warrant granting a complete digital copy of my entire phone? Would the council members be willing to submit to regular Cellebrite scans as anti-corruption measures? Or does that feel like a breach in your rights as a human being?
Surveillance technology is not actually about safety or crime prevention. In fact, surveillance technology needs crime to justify its existence. Surveillance is about vengeance and punishment.
Vengeance and punishment are not the values I want fueling my community. I want to live in a community that values mercy and mutual trust. I want a government that addresses problems at their root cause. Cameras do not dissuade folks from choosing crime - living wages, affordable housing, affordable healthcare, and free spaces to have fun create a well-knit community.
I strongly oppose contracting with Cellebrite for use of their surveillance technology. They have an established track record of having their technology used to commit human rights abuses across the world, including in Gaza and in collaboration with ICE. Rather than spending public money on a contract with a deeply unethical surveillance technology company, we should be putting more money into supporting the infrastructure and basic needs of Oakland's residents, like housing, education, and transit.
Please vote no on this partnership with Cellebrite.
Booooo. Entering into an agreement with Cellebrite is an awful idea. It's used by ICE and the Israeli government to cause harm to people like me and you. Act with care for the people you serve, Oakland City Council!!
Booooo. Entering into an agreement with Cellebrite is an awful idea. It's used by ICE and the Israeli government to cause harm to people like me and you. Act with care for the people you serve, Oakland City Council!!
Oakland should not be contracting with companies from Israel, a country which has recently and repeatedly committed war crimes, particularly when that contract is for extracting data from our digital devices. Please vote no.
As an Oakland resident, I strongly oppose this proposal. Expanding surveillance without clear safeguards puts residents’ privacy at risk and sets a precedent that’s hard to reverse. We should prioritize solutions that build trust and safety without increasing monitoring of our own community.
Surveillance technology is a slippery slope that erodes our privacy and freedom. Adopting this measure does not align with our values as Oakland citizens. Safety does not come from surveillance and punishment; it comes from support and community services and resources for those struggling.
I strongly oppose this measure - Israeli companies do not need to surveil us or Oakland taxpayer’s money. We must boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel.
Please oppose this agenda item. Please do not sell our data to an Israeli firm. This will do nothing to make our communities safer. It will only increase surveillance and foreign influence where it has no business being.
I strongly oppose this contract because it is not in alignment with our values as a sanctuary city. Surveillance does not make us safer, it puts the most disenfranchised of us in MORE harm. Thank you
it's pretty clear that the people of Oakland oppose this measure, so the question becomes "Why is the City Council entertaining it?" and I suspect the reasons are not representative of the interests of the people of Oakland.
I strongly opposed the contract with Cellebrite, a company with a track record of human and civil rights abuse and working with ICE. We know we are being told surveillance technology will make us safer and we know this is a lie. Please stop investing money in surveillance technology that threatens our right to privacy. If you care about public safety, invest in what actually works- economic supports, social services, child care, alternative education opportunities. No to the partnership with Cellebrite.
I strongly oppose Oakland’s prospective partnership with Cellebrite, an Israeli company that has been used to commit human rights abuses against journalists, civil rights activists, political dissidents, and racial/ethnic minorities in many countries around the world.
Further, Cellebrite partners closely with ICE, which has been terrorizing our neighborhoods by kidnapping residents without criminal history and tearing apart families who belong here.
Oakland already over-polices low income neighborhoods - we do not need our tax money to contribute to more advanced policing technologies that surveil Oakland residents. We need more funding to support community care that helps prevent people from committing crime by taking care of residents’ basic needs - food security, housing, healthcare, education, etc.
Please vote NO to entering a partnership with Cellebrite. They are a fascistic technology company and Oakland should steer clear of partnering with them.
Oakland has no justifiable use for a technology that was formed and hardened through the imposition of apartheid, and has since been used for various similar oppressive purposes around the world.
I strongly oppose this measure. Oakland should not do business with a surveillance company with a documented history of human rights abuses and ties to international conflict. Our tax dollars should be divested from invasive policing technologies and reinvested into community resources like housing and healthcare that address the root causes of crime.
Dear Councilmembers ~
I have lived in Oakland for 24 years. I unqualifiedly oppose the use of electronic surveillance in Oakland. And as such, I am especially against Oakland signing the no-bid OPD contract with the Israeli company Cellebrite (Item #5.3) that Israel, which continues to carry out a genocide in Gaza and is executing in Lebanon and elsewhere, benefits from. Cellebrite's products have been used against Palestinians, journalists, and activists and have been deployed by ICE.
I implore you to vote against this contract.
Thank you.
I STRONGLY oppose this measure. Cellebrite is an Israeli surveillance company on the BDS list that Oakland has no business doing business with! Cellebrite surveillance tools were used on thousands of detained Palestinian civilians during the war on Gaza, on journalists and activists in Serbia, Jordan, and Kenya, and are deployed by ICE through $48 million in federal contracts. Many countries that have used Cellebrite technology have been implicated in grave human rights abuses, including the persecution of journalists, civil rights activists, political dissidents, and racial/ethnic minorities. Oakland and East Bay residents deserve better! Surveillance is NOT safety, and investing in increased surveillance and policing will not reduce crime or provide more protection for our communities. Rather than continuing to fund and enforce a culture of punishment, our governments should be investing in the people’s wellbeing by supporting us in getting our essential needs met. That means funding healthcare, access to nutritional foods, housing, education, arts and culture. Investing in life-affirming programs is what will make all of us safer, stronger, and enable cycles of abundance and care to keep flowing in our communities.
OPD has used a Cellebrite data extraction tool to crack cellphones and access and extract data for years but only recently began abiding by the City's surveillance technology laws that require annual auditing and reports and presentation before the Privacy Advisory Commission. OPD requires a warrant to use Cellebrite but in the past has used clauses in the conditional release of formerly incarcerated residents to pressure them into allowing them to use it on their phones—a practice now banned once a use policy was put in place.
Cellebrite is a now notorious Israeli-based company whose products have been used throughout the world by totalitarian regimes to extract cell phone data from dissidents and reporters. The technology was most recently used during the Gaza genocide. Because Cellebrite is now acknowledged as a surveillance technology, city law requires that the OPD must also submit an annual use report. OPD argues no other company makes the technology, but this is untrue as this report shows. OPD is also asking to change requirements on demographic usage because the device can only be used with a warrant or with recorded permission under the new use policy.
OPD used Cellebrite for years without following Oakland's surveillance law, and is now asking to stop tracking the racial data that shows 65% of the people whose phones get cracked are Black.
Please stop giving police officers access to dangerous technology that is used to target minorities in our city.
I STRONGLY OPPOSE this resolution. The city of Oakland should not use cellebrite. Cellebrite is ineffective and insecure (see historic data leaks), and to enter this contract in full awareness of this constitutes knowing violation of the 4th amendment of the Constitution. Its capabilities are exaggerated by their marketing team and its vulnerabilities and safety flaws are brushed under the rug by their PR team. Cellebrite just doesn't live up to the value it claims to provide.
Cellebrite doesn't help law enforcement do their jobs. It is a poor crutch to mask incompetence, and the money would be better spent on training our brave and hard-working officers to do better detective work.
Do not waste our tax dollars on this junk! Vote no!
I'm an Oakland resident and property owner, and I am opposed to the procurement of Cellebrite products and services in the name of public safety.
Cellebrite's technology is capable of considerable overreach. A search warrant for my hone does not automatically grant unlimited access to every physical place I visit. Why then are we entertaining the idea of a search warrant granting a complete digital copy of my entire phone? Would the council members be willing to submit to regular Cellebrite scans as anti-corruption measures? Or does that feel like a breach in your rights as a human being?
https://medium.com/spodeklawgroup/how-cellebrite-works-and-what-it-means-for-your-federal-or-new-york-criminal-case-bb890687d7e8
Surveillance technology is not actually about safety or crime prevention. In fact, surveillance technology needs crime to justify its existence. Surveillance is about vengeance and punishment.
Vengeance and punishment are not the values I want fueling my community. I want to live in a community that values mercy and mutual trust. I want a government that addresses problems at their root cause. Cameras do not dissuade folks from choosing crime - living wages, affordable housing, affordable healthcare, and free spaces to have fun create a well-knit community.
I strongly oppose contracting with Cellebrite for use of their surveillance technology. They have an established track record of having their technology used to commit human rights abuses across the world, including in Gaza and in collaboration with ICE. Rather than spending public money on a contract with a deeply unethical surveillance technology company, we should be putting more money into supporting the infrastructure and basic needs of Oakland's residents, like housing, education, and transit.
Please vote no on this partnership with Cellebrite.
Booooo. Entering into an agreement with Cellebrite is an awful idea. It's used by ICE and the Israeli government to cause harm to people like me and you. Act with care for the people you serve, Oakland City Council!!
Booooo. Entering into an agreement with Cellebrite is an awful idea. It's used by ICE and the Israeli government to cause harm to people like me and you. Act with care for the people you serve, Oakland City Council!!
Oakland should not be contracting with companies from Israel, a country which has recently and repeatedly committed war crimes, particularly when that contract is for extracting data from our digital devices. Please vote no.
As an Oakland resident, I strongly oppose this proposal. Expanding surveillance without clear safeguards puts residents’ privacy at risk and sets a precedent that’s hard to reverse. We should prioritize solutions that build trust and safety without increasing monitoring of our own community.
Surveillance technology is a slippery slope that erodes our privacy and freedom. Adopting this measure does not align with our values as Oakland citizens. Safety does not come from surveillance and punishment; it comes from support and community services and resources for those struggling.
I strongly oppose this measure - Israeli companies do not need to surveil us or Oakland taxpayer’s money. We must boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel.
Please oppose this agenda item. Please do not sell our data to an Israeli firm. This will do nothing to make our communities safer. It will only increase surveillance and foreign influence where it has no business being.
I strongly oppose this contract because it is not in alignment with our values as a sanctuary city. Surveillance does not make us safer, it puts the most disenfranchised of us in MORE harm. Thank you
it's pretty clear that the people of Oakland oppose this measure, so the question becomes "Why is the City Council entertaining it?" and I suspect the reasons are not representative of the interests of the people of Oakland.
I strongly opposed the contract with Cellebrite, a company with a track record of human and civil rights abuse and working with ICE. We know we are being told surveillance technology will make us safer and we know this is a lie. Please stop investing money in surveillance technology that threatens our right to privacy. If you care about public safety, invest in what actually works- economic supports, social services, child care, alternative education opportunities. No to the partnership with Cellebrite.
I strongly oppose Oakland’s prospective partnership with Cellebrite, an Israeli company that has been used to commit human rights abuses against journalists, civil rights activists, political dissidents, and racial/ethnic minorities in many countries around the world.
Further, Cellebrite partners closely with ICE, which has been terrorizing our neighborhoods by kidnapping residents without criminal history and tearing apart families who belong here.
Oakland already over-polices low income neighborhoods - we do not need our tax money to contribute to more advanced policing technologies that surveil Oakland residents. We need more funding to support community care that helps prevent people from committing crime by taking care of residents’ basic needs - food security, housing, healthcare, education, etc.
Please vote NO to entering a partnership with Cellebrite. They are a fascistic technology company and Oakland should steer clear of partnering with them.
Oakland has no justifiable use for a technology that was formed and hardened through the imposition of apartheid, and has since been used for various similar oppressive purposes around the world.
The City of Oakland should not enter into a contract with Cellebrite, or any other company based in the genocidal, apartheid state of Israel.