Blog

By Chris CalabreseACLU Washington Legislative OfficeWhat the heck is a multistakeholder process (MSP)? The word multistakeholder is so obscure that my computer's spell check doesn't even recognize it, yet it's come to dominate the online privacy conversation in recent weeks. That discussion will begin in earnest today with a filing deadline for comments to the National Telecommunications and Infor... Read More

By Allie BohmACLU National Office Ten. That's the number of law enforcement agencies that responded to our coordinated public records requests on cell phone location tracking and reported that they, in fact, do not track cell phones. The number of agencies queried: 383. The number that responded (so far): some 200.We've just released the documents those law enforcement agencies turned ov... Read More

Technology and Civil Liberties Resources - Demand Your dotRights! Downloadable One-Page Information Sheets Demand Your dotRights: An Online Privacy Fact Sheet from the ACLU [also in Spanish] Search Engines: Who's Searching For You? Location Information: Do You Know Where Your Privacy Is? Social Networking: Do You Know Who Your Friend... Read More

By Ateqah KhakiACLU National OfficeToday Facebook weighed in on the recently reported problem of employers demanding job applicants to share their username and passwords during the application process. In a note on their Facebook and privacy page, Chief Privacy Officer (Policy) Erin Egan wrote:We don't think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their private information and ... Read More

By Chris CalabreseACLU Washington Legislative OfficeThe FTC's newly released privacy report is a roadmap to success on consumer privacy — now it's up to Congress to follow the directionsThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a helpful new privacy report yesterday. While no one has a crystal ball, the FTC provides one of the best previews of where privacy regulation is going in the near future. ... Read More

Earlier this week, we told you about some employers asking job applicants for their Facebook usernames and passwords. The ACLU believes that this is a gross violation of personal privacy because people are entitled to their private lives online just as they are offline. And, as many of you commented on Facebook, employer demands to share login information is a violation of Facebook's own legal ... Read More

Sen. Mark Leno has introduced new legislation, sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of California and a number of other organizations, that reforms California's drug sentencing laws for simple possession.The bill, SB 649, allows counties to significantly reduce incarceration costs by giving prosecutors the flexibility to charge low-level drug possession for personal use as a misdemeanor... Read More

By Ateqah KhakiACLU National OfficeToday, the Associated Press reports that some employers are asking applicants for their Facebook usernames and passwords. According to the article:Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publically available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially o... Read More

For the past 20 years, protections for First Amendment activity have been robust in San Francisco. In other words, no spying on San Franciscans without hard evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Read More

You spoke, PayPal listened, and now erotic authors and booksellers appear likely to continue to enjoy the freedom to publish their works without threat of censorship.After hearing from the ACLU of California and its members and other free expression suporters, PayPal has revised its plans to cut off booksellers who sell certain types of erotic content, stating that it will only request that bookse... Read More

Last fall UC Berkeley police cracked down on student and faculty protesters involved in Occupy Cal demonstrations with baton blows and other serious force. Now, UC Berkeley demonstrators are facing criminal prosecution by the Alameda County. The circumstances are fishy and raise questions that demand answers.The Alameda County District Attorney is planning to prosecute at least 11 students and one... Read More

It came as a surprise to some folks at a recent SXSW talk that Apple's Siri "personal assistant" isn't just working for us, it's working full-time for Apple too by sending lots of our personal voice and user info to Apple to stockpile in its databases. Take a peek at Siri's privacy policy (which, by the way, is pretty difficult to find) and you'll realize what's happening behind the scenes.What in... Read More