Archive

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, today, called on lawmakers to push for a major overhaul of the Real ID Act, calling it a "real nightmare" for Californians. The Department of Homeland Security's recently proposed delay for implementing the act would do nothing to prevent a national identity card system that violates personal privacy and increases identity theft, all while... Read More

HID Global Corporation has threatened to sue IO Active, a computer security company based in Seattle, with patent infringement if it gives its planned presentation at the BlackHat Convention this Wednesday, February 28, 2007, in Washington D.C. The presentation discusses vulnerabilities of HID RFID cards and demonstrates a handheld RFID cloner developed by the company to highlight these vulnerabil... Read More

Download the Winter 2007 ACLU-NC Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, the Asian Law Caucus and the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a class action lawsuit challenging the United States Custom and Immigration Services' (USCIS) failure to process citizenship applications within a reasonable time period. The lawsuit is based on federal laws that require timely processing of imm... Read More

On Wednesday, January 31, the Montana House passed an anti-REAL ID bill on a vote of 99-1. The bill is expected to head to the Senate next week. The text of the bill can be found here. A number of other states, including Georgia, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming are also considering opting out of REAL ID, placing conditions on their participation in... Read More

Real ID Act and RFID The ACLU of Northern California has been calling on California legislators to take a stand to protect the privacy, personal safety, and financial security of Californians by asking hard questions about both the Real ID Act and the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in government-issued identification documents. Real ID Act ... Read More

The San Francisco Police Commission may not approve surveillance cameras unless it finds that the potential for deterrence outweighs community concerns. The San Francisco Police Commission approved 25 new surveillance cameras around the city despite the fact that there was no evidence for the potential for deterrence and dozens of people came to the Police Commission meeting to voice their opposit... Read More

Privacy is definitely back on the National agenda. In case you missed some of these stories, here is a little run-down on recent activities in Washington.House Passes 9/11 Bill With Privacy Provisions. 27B Stroke 6.Privacy To Be Tone for New Senate Judiciary Committee. 27B Stroke 6.Dem's Privacy Changes in 9/11 Bill Challenge Administration. 27B Stroke 6.Senators pledge scrutiny of federal data mi... Read More

The Police Commission is about to decide whether to install 25 new surveillance cameras in locations around San Francisco, including multiple cameras at 24th and Mission and 16th and Mission. The Commission has supported the installation of cameras because it says "the community wants them." Please join concerned citizens to let the Police Commission know that you want RE... Read More

San Francisco just announced it has finalized its contract with Earthlink/Google. There are a couple of good notice provisions in the contract, but ultimately, SF failed to protect the privacy and free speech rights of its residents. This is not free WiFi. If you use the Basic Service provided by Google, you will be paying for it with your privacy and free speech rights. ... Read More