Archive

ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Perata Calls On Governor To Address California's Concerns With REAL ID Act

Mar 22, 2007
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) also thinks Real ID is a real problem. In a press release issued today, Perata says: "Proposed federal regulations offer little to California on issues like cost, schedule, privacy, or new computer system requirements," Perata said. "This is one of the most egregious examples of an unfunded mandate, where the federal governm... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Look Before You Log On

Mar 21, 2007
The ACLU of Northern California has been very active in highlighting the need for privacy and free speech safeguards in municipal wireless programs. Cities should not be deploying wireless networks that track who we are, what we are looking at, and where we are looking at it from. Once that information is collected, who knows where it will end up or how it will be used or abused? But ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Google Changes their Security Practices

Mar 14, 2007
Google To Anonymize. Google will begin removing one fourth to half of each IP address after 18 months to 2 years to anonymize user data. The government has been asking ISPs to hold data for a year or more. Read more about it here and here. My question is how long Google was actually keeping data before and is this new policy really a privacy enhancing move or... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
News

ACLU Seeks Records on Immigration Enforcement Actions in Northern California

Mar 06, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO – The ACLU of Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request today seeking records relating to recent enforcement actions conducted by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). The ACLU-NC has requested expedited processing because of the urgency of this... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Supreme Court: Passengers, Too, Can Contest Unlawful Traffic Stops

Mar 04, 2007
Passengers in vehicles pulled over by the police have just as much right as drivers to challenge the legality of the traffic stop and its consequences, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 18.In reversing the California Supreme Court, the high court essentially ruled that an unlawful traffic stop violates the rights of everybody in a vehicle – including passengers, not just the driver. Ever... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Released DHS Regulations on Real ID Fatally Flawed: ACLU Calls for True Protections for Californians

Mar 02, 2007
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
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

BlackHat Presenters Threatened with Patent Suit for Exposing RFID Vulnerabilities

Feb 27, 2007
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
ACLU of Northern CA
Case

Zhang v. Gonzales

Feb 08, 2007
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
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Montana House Joins Maine

Feb 01, 2007
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