ACLU Bytes & Pieces

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

The ACLU of California has joined 85 other leading privacy groups, academic institutions, and businesses to call on Congress to take immediate action to halt the secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) on phone records and Internet activity of people in the United States and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s and the FBI’s data collection programs.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

In light of recent revelations that the Department of Justice secretly requested the telephone records of Associated Press (AP) journalists, we started thinking about newer calling services, like Google Voice. We know that some journalists also use these services. Are these records vulnerable too?

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Today, a federal district judge in Arizona issued a very disappointing decision concerning the government’s obligations to be candid with courts about new technologies they are seeking a warrant to use. The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief arguing that when the government wants to use invasive surveillance technology, it has an obligation to explain to the court basic information about the technology, such as its impact on innocent third parties. This is necessary to ensure that courts can perform their constitutional function of ensuring that the search does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Unfortunately, today’s decision trivializes the intrusive nature of electronic searches and potentially opens the door to troubling government misuse of new technology.

Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) announced today that the California Right to Know will not be voted on in 2013 but she is committed to seeing it pass in 2014. The fight for your right to know how your personal information is collected and shared goes on!

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

I grew up outside Boston and used to watch the Marathon as it ran by, near where we lived. My heart goes out to the City of Boston and everyone impacted by recent events. Following the bombing there, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr has proposed installing surveillance cameras along Market Street. While we all want to make sure that our cities our safe, the ACLU of Northern California has serious concerns about the potential for warrantless mass surveillance a plan like this holds.

We often think of passwords as the “house keys” of the digital world, but there’s more to that metaphor than you might realize. Home security is about designing good keys and good locks — and using them properly. It’s about putting spare keys somewhere safe rather than under your doormat. It’s about knowing that the lock and key guard the only way in. And it’s about systems that sound the alarm when the lock isn’t enough. In the online world, providing users with strong “keys” (which may be more than just passwords), following best practices for storing those keys, and ensuring that customers are notified about breaches or unusual activity fill the same role. Does your company take these steps to keep your users’ online homes secure, or just hand users a rusty key and wish them luck?

Tech companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft publicly proclaim their support for user transparency. And data broker Acxiom has recently announced plans to let consumers see what data the company collects about them. So why are the industry groups that represent these companies lobbying against AB 1291, the California Right to Know Act, a bill to give consumers transparency about how their data is being collected and shared? It’s mighty odd.

When you search online, shop, or use a mobile app, do you know what personal information is being collected about you and your family? We don’t know a lot about what’s happening behind the scenes to our own personal information and many companies want it to stay that way. That’s why the ACLU of California is teaming up with leading domestic violence advocates, women’s groups, sexual health organizations, and civil liberties and consumer privacy groups to support the California Right to Know Act - AB 1291 (Lowenthal D- Long Beach). 

When you search online, shop, or use a mobile app, do you know what personal information is being collected about you and your family? We don’t know a lot about what’s happening behind the scenes to our own personal information and many companies want it to stay that way. That’s why the ACLU of California is teaming up with leading domestic violence advocates, women’s groups, sexual health organizations, and civil liberties and consumer privacy groups to support the California Right to Know Act - AB 1291 (Lowenthal D- Long Beach). 

A Justice Department document obtained by the ACLU of Northern California shows that federal investigators were routinely using a sophisticated cell phone tracking tool known as a "stingray," but hiding that fact from federal magistrate judges when asking for permission to do so.