Archive

On November 23, 2009, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and civil rights allies filed an amicus brief in Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Plaintiffs argued that MTC, the planning body for all twenty-six independent transit operators in the Bay Area, consistently under-funded AC Transit, a bus line with high minority ridership, in comparison to other transit systems li... Read More

Over 12,000 individuals, from California and across the country, have submitted comments objecting to the new execution plan recently released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The revised plan, released for public comment on January 4, 2010, is part of the CDCR's efforts to kick-start executions which have been on hold in California for four years. Read More

Back in July 2008, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a new policy regarding searches of documents and electronic devices at the border. CBP asserts it has the right to conduct these searches of any traveler – citizens and noncitizen alike "absent individualized suspicion," – meaning no suspicion of wrongdoing is even required to conduct a search. Despite an update to the policy in August ... Read More

Computerworld is reporting that the hacking attack on Google (which prompted it to tell the Chinese government it would no longer censor on its behalf) exploited a system the company set up to help the government access its users' data:They apparently were able to access a system used to help Google comply with search warrants by providing data on Google users, said a source familiar with the situ... Read More

Over the past several years, there have been two reliable things about Facebook: it has often stated that privacy was important to the company – two years ago, privacy was "the vector around which Facebook operates" – and its actions have often contradicted that.As we start a new year, it doesn't look like much has changed.A month ago, when Facebook announced a major privacy overhaul, users were t... Read More

On January 5, President Obama addressed airport security in remarks responding to the Christmas Day attack on a plane headed for Detroit.The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union:"We welcome President Obama's emphasis on better information and intelligence sharing between government agencies. Our limited security resources should... Read More

The ACLU recently submitted a statement about behavioral advertising to the Joint Subcommittee Hearing of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The statement explained that wide collection of personal information of a consumer "draws a personal portrait unprecedented in scope and detail" and asked Congress to pass laws that protect us from having this information accessed and used against us.... Read More

With the holiday season underway, travelers are bracing themselves for the countless hassles that come with modern travel. Most have adapted to waiting on long security lines, taking off their shoes and parting with their bottled water. But international travelers often don't realize that they might also have to endure border officials viewing their Web histories. And their financial records. And ... Read More

Responding to public outcry over Wednesday's new privacy settings, Facebook backtracked today, announcing that it would allow users to hide their list of friends from both visitors to their profile and search results. However, you've still lost the ability to control this information: you can't select specific groups who can see your friends lists (it's either displayed or it isn't) and you can't ... Read More

In a move to create stricter privacy guidelines, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the latest version of its grant application today that includes new requirements for video surveillance. It will now be recommended that applicants for DHS grant money perform privacy assessments if grant money is to be used to purchase, install or support cameras. The American Civil Liberties Union... Read More