News & Commentary
Sign the ACLU's petition to Attorney General Holder: Rein in FBI Surveillance Power
Did you hear about this? The Obama administration is seeking to expand the U.S. government's ability to conduct invasive surveillance online.1
Administration Seeks Easy Access To Americans' Private Online Communications
Washington – The Obama administration is seeking to expand the government's ability to conduct invasive surveillance online, according to a report in The New York Times today. According to the report, the administration is expected to submit legislation to Congress early next year that would mandate that all online communications services use technologies that would make it easier for the government to collect private communications and decode encrypted messages that Americans send over texting platforms, BlackBerries, social networking sites and other "peer to peer" communications software.The administration has argued that it is simply hoping to emulate
FasTrak Privacy Bill Signed by California Governor
Good news today for the location privacy of all California FasTrak users.Legislation authored by State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) to protect the privacy of drivers using the FasTrak payment system for toll bridges and roads was signed into law today by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Privacy and Safety Questions Loom Over Federal Program
The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are calling for answers to critical privacy and safety questions that loom over a controversial federal program to track preschoolers with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips at George Miller III Head Start program in Richmond, California.
"Chipping" Students Creates More Problems than it Solves
On Tuesday, preschoolers in Richmond, California showed up for school and were handed jerseys embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. RFID tags are tiny computer chips that are frequently used to track everything from cattle to commercial products moving through warehouses. Now the school district is apparently hoping to use these chips to replace manual attendance records, track the children's movements at school and during field trips, and collect other data like whether the child has eaten or not.
Judge: No Difference Betweeen Cell Phone Tracking and GPS Vehicle Tracking
A few weeks ago, we wrote about United States v. Maynard, a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit requiring the government to obtain a warrant when it uses a GPS tracking device to monitor someone's movements.
Urge Gov. Schwarzenegger to Sign Security Breach Notification Bill
Hundreds of millions of sensitive records have been compromised by data breaches. If your personal records were compromised by a breach, wouldn't you want companies to be required to tell you important information about the breach and how to protect yourself?
ACLU of Northern California Response to Facebook: Today's Check-in
While the ACLU of Northern California and Facebook both agree that location information is very sensitive, we disagree that Places gives users adequate control of how and when to share this information. (Next time I visit my hometown, I'd like to be able to hang out with some of the Facebook crew at the Nut House without being asked again and again and again if I want that shared with everyone nearby!).
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