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ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Group Letter Urging Google to Give Privacy Its Rightful Place on the Homepage

Jun 03, 2008
A coalition of privacy and consumer organizations from California to Washington, D.C. have sent a letter today urging Google to post a prominent link on its homepage to its privacy policy in accordance with the California Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA) and the widespread practice of commercial web sites.The organizations include EPIC, the California-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the Wo... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Cable Company Trades Customers' Privacy for Profit

Jun 04, 2008
Charter Communications, one of the nation's largest cable Internet providers, plans to begin monitoring the online activities of its high- speed Internet customers and then sell the data for targeted advertising.The announcement is already drawing criticism from activists, academics, and bipartisan members of Congressdue to privacy concerns.Charter is in the position to observe and analyze nearly ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
News

Fresno Homeless Residents Win Settlement Over City’s Destruction of Personal Property

Jun 06, 2008
Today, a federal judge approved a $2 million class-action settlement in favor of hundreds of homeless Fresno residents. The court had already determined that Fresno’s practice of immediately seizing and destroying the personal possessions of homeless residents violates the constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. “The Court’s ruling and the settlement should send a str... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Is Your Picture Worth a Thousand Ads?

Jun 09, 2008
We have written numerous posts discussing how companies want to know who you are, what you do, and where you go online because this information can translate into big advertising revenue. Your photos may be the new frontier.Gmail, the popular email service, already "reads" your email to display relevant sponsored links. Why not your pictures? New technology can analyze photos at an amazing level o... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

The Spy In Your Pocket

Jun 10, 2008
What do your cell phone and the current trial of twenty-six Americans, many of them CIA agents, in an Italian court for the 2003 kidnapping of Muslim cleric Abu Omar have to do with each other?Both your phone and the phones of undercover CIA agents act as silent trackers, constantly transmitting physical location. In an Italian court room last week, one of the lead investigators described how poli... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Judge's Internet Snafu Highlights Accidental Data Sharing Risks

Jun 11, 2008
Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has been thrust into the media spotlight after his own private collection of photographs and videos was accidentally made available on the Internet.Kozinski told a reporter from the LA Times that he thought the material on his Web site, which included photographs and videos of a sexual nature, couldn't be seen by the public.While the story ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

RFID Bill Passes Assembly Judiciary Committee 10-0

Jun 11, 2008
SB 31 overwhelmingly passed the California Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 10 by a vote of 10-0.To read the bill language of SB 31, visit here.SB 31 makes it illegal for a person to intentionally read or attempt to read an RFID tag in an individual's identification document without their knowledge and prior consent.Right now, private information on California drivers' licenses is stored on a ... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

New Technology Blurs Surveillance and Privacy

Jun 17, 2008
The ACLU of Northern California has written extensively about the privacy and free speech implications of video surveillance.A video surveillance firm is now trying to make its technology a bit more privacy friendly by developing technology to blur most people's faces.With the rapid expansion of governmental video surveillance, the introduction of photographic services like Google Street View, and... Read More
ACLU of Northern CA
Blog

Coming Together to Fight Telecom Immunity

Jun 19, 2008
Apart from the ceremonial naming of post offices, it has become an increasingly rare thing in Washington for Republicans and Democrats to band together on an issue. However, the effort by telecom lobbyists to steamroll retroactive immunity for AT&T, Verizon and Comcast is being met with stiff resistance by a broad coalition of activist groups.The "compromise" legislation, which has been widely... Read More