Blog

Today we filed a federal lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing Company. We are suing on behalf of three victims of the United States government’s unlawful “extraordinary rendition” program—a program where terror suspects are flown to countries where the U.S. government knows detainees are routinely tortured or otherwise abused in violation of universally accepted legal st... Read More

The blogosphere is buzzing with commentary about Facebook's announcement that the social networking site is opening its doors to third-party developers. The newly announced feature, Facebook Platform, allows third-party developers (including heavyweights like Microsoft and Amazon.com) to create their own applications to provide Facebook's users with enhanced functionality, such as the... Read More

The Identity Information Protection Act (SB 30), the first bill in the country to require privacy and security protections for the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in state government-issued ID's passed the California State Senate this morning with a strong bipartisan vote of 33-2. Today's vote was an even more emphatic message to Governor Schwarzenegger that the priv... Read More

Earlier this week, the U.S. military ordered troops to stop posting to blogs and sending personal emails without getting clearance. More information here. And the regulations here. Now, the Defense Department is claiming that barring military troops from using social networking, video sharing, and other "recreational" sites such as YouTube and MySpace on military computers is purely a... Read More

We are now living in a world where the technology exists to keep track of everything we do and say and everywhere we go. Video surveillance, RFID chips that allow stored data to be read at a distance, and massive databases of who we call and what Internet sites we browse mean more information about our lives is being preserved, and being preserved for longer periods of time. Advances ... Read More

Late breaking news that the Board of Supervisor's Budget Committee will hold a public hearing on Monday afternoon about the Earthlink/Google contract. Read More

While other states are courageously standing up to Congress' misguided national ID mandate, California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving his constituents a different, or shall we say, indifferent message. In response to constituent letters urging California to reject implementation of the REAL ID Act, the Governor's office simply replied: "The issue you have written about is ... Read More

In 2007, the California Court of Appeal declared that the permanent injunction imposed on a so-called gang in West Sacramento is void. The injunction could not stand because the County District Attorney failed to give adequate notice to those who would be affected by it. Read More

Jerry Miller, a former Army cook, spent nearly 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In 1981, at the age of 22, Miller was tried and convicted for the brutal rape of woman in downtown Chicago. His conviction was based on what is now understood to be mistaken eyewitness identification. Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court decision  issued on April 18, 2007 upholding a federal law banning certain abortions will endanger women's health and is a set back for all Americans who believe politicians should not legislate medical decision-making.  The decision disregards the opinion of leading doctors and medical organizations that oppose the ban because it is harmful to women... Read More

Over the past two years, we have written extensively about the privacy implications of National ID cards (more information here) and the increased risks if radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are used in these documents (more informaition here). If we are all carrying National ID cards, the government will have a much easier time monitoring and tracking our movements and activi... Read More

ACLU of Northern California wrote an amicus brief on Josh Wolf's behalf in both the District Court and Ninth Circuit, contesting the government's argument that a journalist cannot invoke a First Amendment privilege when presented with a grand jury subpoena. Click here for more information and to read the court documents. San Francisco Chronicle article New Yo... Read More