Leaked City Documents Give Protesters Heads-up on Homeless Camp Cleanups

A stand-off between Seattle’s Navigation Team and activists led to tense moments during an unsanctioned homeless camp cleanup in the Ravenna Woods in April.

Protestors blocked a garbage truck from going into the area to pick up waste and debris. The city’s Navigation Team scheduled the cleanup after a felon living in the camp was arrested with 30 rounds of assault rifle ammunition, brass knuckles and several large knives.

Immediately following the cleanup, questions were raised about how activists had known about it, since the city does not publish the schedule ahead of time.

KIRO 7 filed a public disclosure request and obtained emails that reveal that aides in Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant’s office, and sometimes Sawant herself, are forwarding the cleanup lists to community activists, including those behind the protest at the cleanup in April.

The activist who received forwarded information about the Ravenna Woods cleanup tweeted the night before

That list has been forwarded to members of the public at least 10 times since the beginning of the year.  Sawant has been an outspoken critic of the unsanctioned camp cleanups.  (KIRO 7, August 16, 2018)
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The Ravenna Woods homeless camp is just one of hundreds or thousands similar camps in cities across the United States. Regardless of how you feel about the clean-up and removal of homeless camps, this story shows another issue with regard to data privacy and security.

Individuals with access to data may misuse that information or provide it to individuals for whom it was not intended. When the actions of government are seen to be inappropriate, controversial, or illegal it becomes easier for activists groups, journalists, and others to develop sources of information inside of these government agencies.

Technical means can prevent some types of disclosure, but generally speaking, once an insider has control of information there is very little that can be do to prevent its compromise if the insider is untrustworthy.

An Insider Threat Awareness course is available on-line from CDSE.

It should also be noted that community activist groups may have good sources of information and the ability to analyze large amounts of raw data.