Archive

We often think of passwords as the "house keys" of the digital world, but there's more to that metaphor than you might realize. Home security is about designing good keys and good locks — and using them properly. It's about putting spare keys somewhere safe rather than under your doormat. It's about knowing that the lock and key guard the only way in. And it's about systems that sound the alarm wh... Read More

Tech companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft publicly proclaim their support for user transparency. And data broker Acxiom has recently announced plans to let consumers see what data the company collects about them. So why are the industry groups that represent these companies lobbying against AB 1291, the California Right to Know Act, a bill to give consumers transparency about how their da... Read More

This morning the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee voted to pass AB 154 – the Early Access to Abortion Bill – by a vote of 9 to 4. The bill is expected to move to the Assembly Health Committee later this month. Read More

When you search online, shop, or use a mobile app, do you know what personal information is being collected about you and your family? Any idea just how much sensitive information about your location, health, finances, religion, sexual orientation, buying habits, and more is ending up in the hands of data brokers, online advertisers, applications, and other third parties? And how it is being used ... Read More

A Justice Department document obtained by the ACLU of Northern California shows that federal investigators were routinely using a sophisticated cell phone tracking tool known as a "stingray," but hiding that fact from federal magistrate judges when asking for permission to do so.Stingrays and similar devices essentially impersonate cell phone towers, allowing them to pinpoint the precise location ... Read More

Read the ACLU's analysis of the Prop 8 oral argument today.Today the LGBT rights world was a flurry of activity, with Facebook feeds full of red for marriage equality and people the country over intently focused on what was happening inside the U.S. Supreme Court.Sometimes the oral arguments in a case are like tea leaves that make it relatively easy to predict an outcome. But today's Supreme Court... Read More

Today, the ACLU of Northern California filed suit against the City and County of San Francisco and San Francisco Police Chief Gregory Suhr on behalf of a civil rights activist, Bob Offer-Westort, whose cell phone was searched by the San Francisco Police Department without a warrant after he was arrested while engaging in peaceful civil disobedience. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco and San Francisco Police Chief Gregory Suhr on March 20, 2013 challenging the warrantless searches of cell phones of individuals who have been arrested. The suit was brought on behalf of a civil rights activist, Bob Offer-Westort, whose cell phone was searched by the San Francisco Police Departm... Read More

This week a federal judge ordered a bond hearing for a woman who has been detained without due process by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly a year and a half. Bertha Mejia, a grandmother with deep family ties in California and with no violent criminal history, was classified by ICE as a "mandatory detainee" because of misdemeanor convictions for stealing groceries. That cla... Read More

On Feb. 6, 2013 the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, along with Bertha Mejia Espinoza's immigration attorney Rosy Cho, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking Ms. Mejia's release from Yuba County Jail.On the basis of minor, nonviolent offenses primarily petty theft of food items, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security (ICE) has... Read More