Blog

I'm heading to Palo Alto tomorrow for the Stanford Technology Law Review's symposium and looking forward to the first panel of the day, Taking Forgetting Seriously.The question of whether an individual should have the right to demand that organizations delete their data is getting a lot of increased attention, particularly in the European Union. In late January, EU Justice Justice Commissioner Viv... Read More

The right to vote is a fundamental right and all eligible individuals must be allowed to exercise their right. The California Constitution disenfranchises individuals on the basis of criminal conviction only if they are "imprisoned in state prison or...on parole as a result of the conviction of a felony." League of Women Voters of California v. McPherson, 145 Cal. App. 4th 1469 at 1486 (2006).Afte... Read More

Want to keep your information private now that Google has started rolling out "Search, plus Your World," a new search results format? For those signed-in with a Google account, the new feature combines search results from the public web plus private information and photos you have shared (or have been shared with you) through Google+ or Picasa.There are privacy implications with these expanded sea... Read More

First, the good news: over the course of the day yesterday, thousands of people demonstrated in Oakland without any violent response from police. And the Oakland Police Department reportedly relied on its own officers to manage the crowd of protesters rather than bringing in other law enforcement agencies on mutual aid agreements. Read More

Photographs don't just capture your laughter and tears. They can also reveal the details of your life: the people you know, the events you attend, and more. And facial recognition makes it easy to link any photo of you--even one you didn't know you were in--to your name and identity. This could make it impossible to attend a support group meeting or political rally without sharing that information... Read More

The newest iPhone features Siri – which Apple bills as "the intelligent personal assistant that helps you get things done just by asking." Or not, depending on what you're asking for. Need movie tickets, takeout food, or even Viagra, Siri can help. But should you need say, basic reproductive health care like emergency contraception or an abortion, Siri is clueless. According to numerous news so... Read More

Earlier today the FTC announced a proposed settlement with Facebook, addressing its assertion that Facebook deceived users by failing to uphold its privacy promises. As we said elsewhere, the proposed settlement has one major step forward: it prohibits the company from "begging forgiveness instead of asking permission" by changing its privacy settings to make data more public or share it with more... Read More

Today, Facebook agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceived customers by failing to uphold privacy promises. The FTC announced today that the social networking site "deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public. The proposed settlement requires Facebook to take sev... Read More

We've heard it all over the country, that Occupy encampments must come down because of "health and safety concerns."That was the justification offered by UC Davis Chancellor Katehi in a statement issued on Friday, November 18, 2011, calling for tents at the fledging Occupy UC Davis encampment to "be peacefully removed" by 3 pm that afternoon. Later that day, brave students sat cross-legg... Read More

Catherine CrumpACLU National OfficeIn a victory for the privacy rights of everyone with a cell phone, a court has held that law enforcement agents must get a warrant to access cell phone location records. The ACLU, ACLU of Texas and Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted a brief urging the court to adopt exactly this position. The Constitution requires nothing less.In the case, the government as... Read More

By Sandra FultonACLU Washington Legislative OfficeToday in the Senate there was a major win for freedom of speech and the Internet. In a largely partisan vote Senate Democrats defeated a resolution introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) which would have overturned the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) open Internet rules that are set to go into effect this month.Though the FCC's... Read More

The Oakland Police Department oversaw the use of excessive force against Occupy Oakland demonstrators, and now the department is refusing to hand over information about what really happened. Read More