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Blog
We can be pretty sure that each new day will bring two things: new threats to our civil liberties, and new stories of people standing up for their rights and winning. Behind every court ruling is a person. Behind every landmark law is a movement. Read the stories and hear the voices that ground our work.
On the 46th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Fight for Abortion Access Continues
Jan 18, 2019
Since the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark decision affirming the constitutional right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen states pass over one thousand restrictions that make it harder for women to have an abortion. In just the first six months of 2018, 11 states enacted 22 new medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion. A Kentucky lawmaker recently introduced a bill that bans abo...
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The FBI ‘Can Neither Confirm nor Deny’ That It Monitors Your Social Media Posts
Jan 17, 2019
In recent years, the federal government has significantly ramped up its efforts to monitor people on social media. The FBI, for one, has repeatedly acknowledged that it engages in surveillance of social media posts. So it was surprising when the bureau responded to our Freedom of Information Act request on this kind of surveillance by saying that it “can neither confirm nor deny the existence of r...
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A Look at Trump’s Biggest Border Lies
Jan 08, 2019
On Tuesday night, President Trump will address the nation in a primetime speech in which he’ll make his case for a 1,000-mile border wall, followed by a trip to South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley on Thursday.
But Trump’s characterization of the situation on the southwest border is driven not by facts but by his own nativist agenda and political obsession with building a wall. In advance of the spee...
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Amazon’s Disturbing Plan to Add Face Surveillance to Your Front Door
Dec 12, 2018
Recently, a patent application from Amazon became public that seeks to pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company that Amazon bought earlier this year.
While the details are sketchy, the application describes a system that the police can use to match th...
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Secret Service Announces Test of Face Recognition System Around White House
Dec 04, 2018
In yet another step toward the normalization of facial recognition as a blanket security measure, last week the Department of Homeland Security published details of a U.S. Secret Service plan to test the use of facial recognition in and around the White House.
According to the document, the Secret Service will test whether its system can identify certain volunteer staff members by scanning vide...
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Prisoners Are Getting Paid $1.45 a Day to Fight the California Wildfires
Nov 15, 2018
As firefighters in California battle the deadliest wildfires in the state’s history, they are joined by unlikely allies against the blaze. About 200 prisoners in California’s Conservation Camp program are fighting the fires alongside civilian employees, earning just $1.45 a day for their work. Their pay as workers is a fraction of minimum wage. The hazard to their lives is real, as evidenced by a ...
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Federal Judge Blocks President Trump’s Illegal Asylum Ban
Nov 09, 2018
UPDATE, Nov. 20, 2018: Late Monday night, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking President Trump’s asylum ban while the suit moves forward. The order will be in effect until Dec. 19 at least, when there will be another hearing on the ban. In his order, Judge Jon S. Tigar of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco wrote, “The rule barring asylum for immigrants who enter the ...
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ICE Detention Center Says It’s Not Responsible for Staff's Sexual Abuse of Detainees
Nov 06, 2018
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government impose criminal liability on correctional facility staff who have sexual contact with people in their custody. These laws recognize that any sexual activity between detainees and detention facility staff, with or without the use of force, is unlawful because of the inherent power imbalance when people are in custody. Yet, one...
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Why It’s More Important Than Ever to Protect Privacy and Free Speech: The ACLU Business Guide
Oct 24, 2018
Tech Companies are under a microscope and the stakes couldn’t be higher – for democracy, for consumers, and for their bottom line. This guide gives businesses expert advice on how to navigate this landscape.
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Amazon Met With ICE Officials to Market Its Facial Recognition Product
Oct 24, 2018
It was recently discovered that Amazon is marketing its face surveillance product "Rekgonition" to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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San Francisco Is a Hotbed of Illegal Race-Based Policing
Oct 04, 2018
Our Constitution promises all people, regardless of race, equal protection under the law. Yet the San Francisco Police Department has consistently singled out Black people for enforcement of criminal laws.
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Mom Fears Her Autistic Son Is Being Abused at School. District Does Nothing.
Oct 03, 2018
School just got back in session, but one school district in Northern California already needs a lesson in how to create a welcoming and safe environment for Black students with disabilities.A 5-year-old Black student with autism and speech and language impairments suffered for months, including suffering injuries that needed to be treated by a hospital, all because of the inadequate oversight of H...
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