News & Commentary

A California father and son, who are both American citizens, were finally allowed to re-enter the U.S. on Sunday after being barred from returning when they refused to cooperate with the FBI.

In a victory for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, the ACLU obtained a preliminary injunction requiring the Hawaii Youth Correction Facility to establish policies and procedures to prevent abuse of LGBT youth in their custody

Welcome to Bytes and Pieces, the new blog for the Technology and Civil Liberties Program.

I hope that you will be a frequent visitor to this spot to keep up to date on all the latest news and activities on privacy, free speech, and new technology and share your thoughts on current projects and emerging issues.

Hot Off the Presses:

Landmark RFID Bill Passes Legislature, On Governor's Desk Right Now

The RFID privacy bill that we have been working on for the past two years passed the California legislature with broad bipartisan support and is now sitting on the Governor's desk. The Governor is expected to make a decision about the bill this week!

The Identity Information Protection Act (SB 768) has definitely been "the little engine that could"…chugging tirelessly uphill to try to be the first legislation in the nation to provide for privacy and security protections on the use of RFID tags in identification documents, like drivers' licenses.

RFID tags are tiny computer chips that can be embedded in public documents. Whether you were walking down the street, participating in a political rally, or visiting a doctor's office or a gun show, anyone with an RFID scanner could read the personal data stored on the chip in your ID. The chips would not alert you that your personal information, such as a name, address or social security number, is being transmitted. The unknown disclosure of that information could put you at risk of tracking, stalking and identity theft.

In late December 2004, the District Attorney of Yolo County filed papers seeking a permanent injunction against the Broderick Boys “gang.” thereby placing hundreds of residents of a predominantly Latino neighborhood in West Sacramento on permanent probation without trial or due process.

The ACLU has sued telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon to stop them from continuing to provide the National Security Agency (NSA) with the personal phone records of millions of California customers.

I did not expect to sing "America the Beautiful" along with nearly 1,000 people at a recent memorial for Fred Korematsu, a true American hero who died March 30.

In the Fall of 2002, three Southern California fundamentalist schools needed money to construct new facilities.  The schools discriminate in hiring and admission along religious lines and infuse every class and extracurricular activity with religion. 

What you choose to read says a lot about who you are, what you value, and what you believe. That’s why you should be able to learn about anything from politics to health without worrying that someone is looking over your shoulder. The ACLU has fought alongside libraries and bookstores time and again to defend the privacy rights of readers. Now we need your help to protect reader privacy rights in the digital era.

"The Court has sent a loud and clear message that the California authorities cannot pull the curtain on executions. The public has a right to have representatives independently observe executions, and does not have to rely on government officials to tell us how they were performed," said attorney David Fried.Jeffrey Ross of Friedman, Ross & Hersh explained, "Recognizing that capital punishment represents the 'ultimate exercise of state power,' the Court held that to discharge their function as the public's representatives, witnesses are entitled to perceive the nature