Blog
We can be pretty sure that each new day will bring two things: new threats to our civil liberties, and new stories of people standing up for their rights and winning. Behind every court ruling is a person. Behind every landmark law is a movement. Read the stories and hear the voices that ground our work.
Californians - Speak Up for Cell Phone Privacy
Jan 14, 2014
This Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission will decide an important issue - whether to initiate a rulemaking to update privacy protections for the modern smartphone age. Join the ACLU of California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ask them to stand up for your cell phone privacy.
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Mission Control: Privacy and the Xbox One
Dec 23, 2013
Are you giving - or, better yet, hoping to get - a new Xbox One this holiday season? With the recent news that the NSA is spying on gaming networks, we put together some important privacy information and tips to help you better protect yourself.
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Verizon Heard Us Loud & Clear – Will Publish Transparency Report
Dec 20, 2013
We took the fight for civil liberties into the corporate boardroom and today we mark an important victory. Verizon is finally going to break its silence and publish a transparency report about government demands for information. Last month, we filed shareholder proposals with AT&T and Verizon, calling on both companies to reveal what customer information they hand over to U.S. or foreign governmen...
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NSA and Phone Companies: Can You Hear Us Now?
Nov 20, 2013
ACLU of Northern California files shareholder proposal with AT&T and Verizon, time for companies to break silence on data sharing with government.
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New ACLU of CA Report Shines Light on Transparency
Nov 12, 2013
From revelations of widespread NSA spying to high profile data breaches, transparency is more important than ever. Our new policy paper takes a close look at what we all can do to increase transparency and protect privacy today.
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Creepy Government Surveillance Shouldn't Be Kept Secret
Oct 15, 2013
Shocking revelations about creepy government surveillance came in waves over the summer, from the Snowden leaks to the Hemisphere Project, through which the government has paid AT&T for access to a mind-bogglingly vast database of our telephone calls. In many cases of new surveillance technologies like Hemisphere, there are serious constitutional concerns that courts have not yet reviewed. Tha...
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Prop 35 Violates the First Amendment
Sep 11, 2013
Yesterday morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in the ACLU of Northern California’s lawsuit with the Electronic Frontier Foundation against Proposition 35. I told the court that Proposition 35 is too broad and violates the First Amendment. As the federal district court has already held, it affects too much protected speech, on too many websites, by too many p...
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Send the ACLU to SXSW 2014!
Aug 26, 2013
The annual SXSW Interactive festival draws thousands of developers and entrepreneurs – an audience that needs to hear how much you care about issues like online privacy and free speech. Please vote for our three panels and help us spread the word!
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Stop Driver's Licenses from Being "Enhanced" with Security Flaws
Aug 21, 2013
SB 397 would allow the California DMV to issue Enhanced Driver's Licenses embedded with computer chips called RFIDs that can be read from 30 feet away without your knowing. The country's largest electronics industry group warned against using this technology for security reasons. SB 397 lacks the basic safeguards necessary to protect our privacy and security. Enhanced Driver's Licenses just aren't...
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ACLU Urges Oakland City Council to Put the Brakes on Surveillance Center
Jul 24, 2013
The ACLU of Northern California today urged the Oakland City Council to put the brakes on a proposed $11 million surveillance center because it would enable the City to engage in widespread warrantless surveillance of Oakland residents. (Read our letter here.)The so-called Domain Awareness Center (DAC) would consolidate a vast network of surveillance data. It would pull in over 1,000 cameras and s...
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Use of Automated License Plate Readers Expanding in Northern California, and Data is Shared with Feds
Jul 22, 2013
The feeling of freedom that comes from driving down California's sunny open roads is at risk—and rising gas prices are not to blame. Our investigations show that at least twenty Northern California law enforcement entities as well as the California Highway Patrol track the whereabouts of millions of Californians using automated license plate readers (ALPR), and some apparently even share rec...
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AT&T Wants Us to Pay Them With Our Money And Our Privacy - How to Opt Out
Jul 11, 2013
I received an email from AT&T today. Did you? It turns out that AT&T is revising its privacy policy to make it "easier to understand" and by the way, also to let us know that they want us to pay them with our money and our privacy, too. Unless we opt out, the company is going to start selling information about where we go, what we search for, what apps we use, and what we watch, to other businesse...
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