Archive

Yahoo is making another attempt to move into the social networking space this week with the launch of "Pulse." It encourages users to share "Updates," including comments on news items, pictures posted to Flickr, and other content shared on various Yahoo services with others–and makes it easy for anyone to track these updates. Here's our quick take on Pulse's plusses and minuses for privacy.PlusYah... Read More

Update! The judge in two movie industry lawsuits against BitTorrent users has ordered the plaintiffs to explain why they lumped thousands of users into only two lawsuits. U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the District of Columbia issued orders in each of the cases yesterday requiring the plaintiff to show in writing by June 21 why all of the defendants except one in each case (that's defe... Read More

Time Warner Cable recently asked a federal court to quash subpoenas it received seeking the identities of thousands of its customers. The subpoenas came as part of several lawsuits filed by members of the movie industry who allege the individuals downloaded certain movies using BitTorrent.The lawsuits were all filed by the Washington, D.C., law firm "U.S. Copyright Group" (USCG). Six virtually ide... Read More

Today, an Alameda County judge granted a preliminary gang injunction in North Oakland. The ACLU of Northern California opposed the injunction, and filed a brief outlining civil liberties concerns. Read the response of Jory Steele, Managing Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California... Read More

California's sex education policies are the envy of most other states. California is alone in having never accepted Title V federal abstinence-only-until-marriage funds, and state laws require that sex education in schools and state-funded community programs be comprehensive and bias-free. California's laws have served as models for other states and the federal Responsible Education About Life (RE... Read More

The Oakland City Attorney's proposed gang injunction is a misguided tactic for curbing violence, and a misappropriation of scarce public safety dollars.During a recent visit to a youth center in Oakland, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "We don't want to get tough on crime, we want to get smart on crime."Being smart on crime requires winning strategies to enforce existing laws today and inv... Read More

Facebook has come under withering fire recently for its recent string of privacy-unfriendly practices, from its "privacy transition" that took away privacy controls to "instant personalization" that instantly shares personal information with third party pages without the user's consent.These failings led over 80,000 people to sign ACLU petitions demanding that Facebook give users control over all ... Read More

Facebook has been taking heat for its recent privacy-unfriendly practices, from the "privacy transition" that took away privacy controls to "instant personalization" that instantly shares personal information with third party pages without the user's consent. In response, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg published an op-ed in the Washington Post today, claiming that Facebook has "heard the feedback" a... Read More

Google has just announced the release of "Encrypted Search," allowing search users to prevent third parties from intercepting and viewing their search terms or search results. Although limited right now, this is a positive step by Google and a good example of how companies can use technology to improve--rather than erode--the privacy of their users. (Encrypted Search will eventually be available a... Read More

Rochelle Hamilton is an out lesbian high school student in Vallejo. For months, she faced harassment from her teachers because of her sexual orientation. She was even forced to attend a counseling group designed to discourage homosexuality. Robby M. faced years of harassment and bullying from his peers because of his sexual orientation. He and his mom pleaded for the school to intervene, but the s... Read More