News & Commentary

Way back in 2007, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information about how and when the government obtains cell phone location data without a warrant. Since then, we have learned that the practice of using cell phones as tracking devices is widespread, growing and conducted under various, conflicting legal standards, but the specifics of cell phone use in criminal investigations have largely stayed hidden (exceptions exist). This lack of transparency has stifled public debate on the practice, prevented it from being properly evaluated in the courts, and kept individuals who have been tracked from ever knowing about the surveillance.

The Federal Communications Commission has taken the first step in rebooting the net neutrality rules. Today's announcement by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler follows a major D.C. Circuit decision this year, which struck down the existing rules requiring that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) treat all data on the internet equally, while keeping the door open for future FCC action to prevent broadband providers from discriminating against or blocking certain websites or services.

This was originally posted by the ACLU of Northern California.

This piece was originally published on In These Times.

Imagine that you were treated as three-fourths of a person in every aspect of your daily life. When you want to binge-watch House of Cards on Netflix, you're only allowed to watch the first three-fourths of the season. When you buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, you get three-fourths of a cup. When you get a paycheck, you're paid three-fourths of what your coworkers are paid. And when you go into the polling booth to cast your vote, your vote is only counted as three-fourths of a vote.

This was posted to privacysos.org.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his support for restoring voting rights to citizens who have committed a felony, once they have served their prison term, completed parole or probation, and paid any restitution fines. While the ACLU believes rights should be restored automatically upon release from prison and being too poor to pay fines shouldn't leave you without a voice in our democracy, this is an important step in the right direction.

Should a mother have to spend the night in a jail cell – with no warrant, no probable cause, and no opportunity to contest her detention – just because the feds want to investigate her immigration status? We think the answer is clearly no. Wednesday the federal district court in Rhode Island agreed, issuing an important decision in the case of Ada Morales, a U.S. citizen who has been unlawfully jailed by Rhode Island authorities on two separate occasions based on invalid immigration detainers.

At what age was James Burns when he first held in solitary confinement?