Archive

July 2010 to Present (in reverse chronological order)Aug. 11, 2011 – The ACLU and the SF Bay Guardian filed a Federal Lawsuit, asking the court to order the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to disclose records regarding the worldwide scramble for execution drugs by state prison officials. View court papers.April 28, 2011 – The ACLU and the SF Bay Guardian file a preliminary injunction motion, as... Read More

On January 4, 2011, The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and The San Francisco Bay Guardian (The Guardian) submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking records related to the federal government’s role in assisting – or failing to oversee – efforts by state corrections agencies to acquire controlled substances. The lethal injection drugs wer... Read More

Today privacy groups announced that Gibberbot, a secure instant messaging and chat app, is the winner of the 2011 Develop for Privacy Challenge (www.develop4privacy.org). The groups made the announcement in a celebratory event at the DEFCON security conference this week. The winning app in the inaugural Develop 4 Privacy Challenge, Gibberbot, is a secure chat and instant messaging app, created by ... Read More

In honor of Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET) and "James Bond Man from U.N.C.L.E. type spy stuff" being the themes of this year's DEFCON 19, the ACLU is serving up some special activities. Hope you will join us if you are in Vegas for DEFCON!Develop4Privacy Challenge Award Celebration- Friday Night, August 5, 6 p.m. – Main Event StageCome see whose mobile privacy app reigned supreme and won the D... Read More

By Allie BohmACLU National OfficeToday, 34 ACLU affiliates are filing 379 public records requests in 31 states around the nation, seeking information about how our local law enforcement agencies are using our cell phone location information to track us.Chances are you're walking around with a tracking device in your purse or pocket – a cell phone. Location data from your cell phone can m... Read More

Demanding to know when, why, and how police use mobile phone location data and deploy other surveillance technologies to track the people they are responsible for protecting and serving, the ACLU of CA sent requests to more than 50 law enforcement agencies across the state on Aug 3. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) applauds the ruling by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Giorgi invalidating the proposed circumcision ban and removing it from the November ballot."The Court's ruling protects the rights of parents to direct their children's religious upbringing and medical care, and ensures that San Francisco voters will not have to vote on som... Read More

Today, the House Judiciary Committee is voting whether to approve legislation that would create a sweeping new provision requiring Internet companies (email, cloud, social networking, and more) to collect and retain hundreds of millions of records about the identity of online users. The bill, HR 1981, the "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011," – if only it were that narrow!... Read More

San Francisco – The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) announced a settlement today with the Sonoma County Sheriff and County of Sonoma that will limit collaboration between Sonoma County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)."Innovative changes to the Sheriff's policies adopted under this agreement will, we believe, increase public safety and reduce ineff... Read More

The ACLU of California supports the striking prisoners' demands to end cruel and inhumane conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison. These conditions include prolonged, solitary confinement in small, windowless concrete boxes with little to no human interaction and other severe physical deprivations.Not only are such conditions inhumane and harmful, but they also je... Read More