Archive

According to recent reports, Google Inc., the wildly successful Internet company based here in Northern California, is planning to offer online data storage to its users. Though the exact details of the plan are not yet known, Google is expected to launch the service sometime next year.Google already offers its users some storage though its other products, including GMail, Google Docs, and its pho... Read More

On Monday, the Senate is set to begin debating FISA legislation that will grant immunity to the phone companies for turning over millions of our private records to the National Security Agency.If you care about privacy rights and holding corporations accountable for lawbreaking, call the California Senators and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday morning.Tell the Senators to use their lead... Read More

SAN JOSE – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed legal papers opposing the CIA's attempt to throw out a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. for its participation in the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program. The ACLU charged that the U.S. government is improperly invoking the "state secrets" privilege to avoid judicial scrutiny of this unlawful policy."On... Read More

The Napa Valley Unified School District Board approved a settlement on Dec. 14 between the school district and five Napa families, represented by the ACLU of Northern California, who challenged the "Appropriate Attire Policy" at Redwood Middle School. The settlement recognizes students' constitutional rights to freedom of expression.At the center of the case was Toni Kay Scott, 14, who was discipl... Read More

Over 40 new Fusion Centers have been established across the country. California is home to several of these. located in Los Angeles, Norwalk, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco. Anti-Terrorism Information Center(Component of the California Department of Justice)Attorney General's Office California Department of JusticeAttn: Public Inquiry UnitP.O. Box 944255 Sacramento, CA 94244... Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report outlining serious concerns about new institutions called "fusion centers," which have been created in over 40 states around the nation.California is home to seven fusion centers, including two in San Francisco and two in Sacramento.Fusion centers vary widely, but generally are centers intended to improve the sharing of anti-terror... Read More

The ACLU of Northern California has filed a friend-of–the-court brief in support of neither party in Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com, a case raising important anti-discrimination and internet free speech concerns.An expanded eleven-member (en banc) panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral argument in the case tomorrow in Pasadena.The ACLU of Northern California's brief argues th... Read More

This past Thursday morning ACLU Legislative Director Caroline Fredrickson participated in an online chat on Firedoglake about the ongoing FISA fight and upcoming Senate floor debate.

The discussion includes a list of phone numbers of the senators who need to hear from their constituents.

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Last week we blogged about the problems with Facebook's new "Beacon" web tracking and ad delivery system. We also discussed the insufficient changes Facebook has made to the system since its introduction.Controversy surrounding the intrusive Beacon program continues to grow. Over the past few days, several news outlets have reported that Facebook continues to receive web activity information from ... Read More

In response to pressure from privacy advocates and an online petition signed by 55,000 of its members, Facebook has made some changes to its invasive ad system that we blogged about yesterday.Facebook's new ad system silently collects information on the things you do on dozens of major websites and distills those action down into ads they show to your friends. Previously, these ads had appeared wi... Read More