Archive

By Suzanne ItoACLU National OfficeLate yesterday, a court unsealed three motions filed by the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last month on behalf of Birgitta Jonsdottir, the Icelandic parliamentarian whose Twitter account records were targeted by the government in connection with its investigation related to WikiLeaks.We filed these motions in late January, but because they were ini... Read More

Today, the ACLU of Northern California posted new records handed over by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on its global "secret mission" to acquire lethal injection drugs, as well as additional records provided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These new records come to light as Federal Judge Jeremy Fogel tours San Quentin's new execution chamber, built a... Read More

By Suzanne ItoACLU National OfficeToday, a court unsealed three motions filed by the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last month on behalf of Birgitta Jonsdottir, the Icelandic parliamentarian whose Twitter account records were targeted by the government in connection with its investigation related to WikiLeaks.A public hearing on the motions is set for February 15 in Alexandria, Virg... Read More

Today four groups announced the 2011 Develop for Privacy Challenge (www.develop4privacy.org), a new competition for mobile application developers to address privacy concerns surrounding mobile phones and other portable devices. Sponsoring the challenge are the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU of Washington, and the Tor Project, with the assistance of the Ontario Information and Privacy Commis... Read More

With all their convenience, smartphones can also collect and share vast amounts of data that can paint a detailed picture about someone's life: your current location, where you have been, who you know, what you search for online, and more. Without strong privacy protections, smartphones and other mobile devices can pose a real threat to your privacy.The ACLU is working with companies and other org... Read More

In December, 2010, officials at a Sacramento-area high school suspended a student for posting to Facebook a message describing one of his teachers as a "fat ass who should stop eating fast food, and is a douche bag." But this week, officials at the school moved quickly to expunge the suspension after a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California put forth this civics less... Read More

Christopher CalabreseACLU Washington Legislative OfficeThe new model of Internet advertising scares the heck out of us. It's called behavioral targeting. What that amounts to, in a nutshell, is following you around the web from site to site recording your movements and using that record to sell you personalized ads. All those ads that pop up on the side of articles on your favorite websites like E... Read More

In December, officials at a Sacramento-area high school suspended a student for posting to Facebook a message describing one of his teachers as a “fat ass who should stop eating fast food, and is a douche bag.” But this week, officials at the school moved quickly to expunge the suspension after a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California put forth this civics lesson: th... Read More

Documents Received August 18, 2011View DocumentsDocuments Received May 27, 2011View DocumentsBeaty v. FDA On February 2, 2011 death row prisoners from California, Arizona, and Tennessee filed suit against the FDA seeking to prohibit the FDA from allowing the importation or use of unapproved sodium thiopental.  Below are some of the court papers related to this case.Beaty v. FDA, court pa... Read More

In a case with chilling privacy implications, the California Supreme Court recently held that police officers can search the entire contents of a cell phone whenever they arrest someone, no matter how small the suspected crime or how relevant the cell phone contents might be. Why? Because it's just like a backpack, according to the Court, and previous cases have stated that backpacks can be search... Read More