MetaFilter posts tagged with ACLU

Justice Denied: Voices from Guantánamo

gman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:24:13 -0800

Released detainees talk about life during and after their unlawful detention in the video Justice Denied: Voices from Guantánamo which is part of an ACLU initiative against the practice of detention without due process that violates fundamental principles of American justice. (Previously)

Internet Anonymity: A Right of the Past?

shetterly — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:20:25 -0800

Internet Anonymity: A Right of the Past? | North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology

A newly designed Internet Protocol, restricting communication source autonomy, is being quietly drafted with detailed technical standards that “define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications and potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous” by a United Nations agency. The “IP Traceback” drafting group, which has declined to release key documents or allow their meetings to be open to the public, includes, among others, the United States National Security Agency.

Bloggasm » The ACLU defends anonymous newspaper commenters

Maggie McLetchie, a lawyer for the ACLU in Nevada, is defending four people whose names she does not know. ...four people who left anonymous comments on a story about a tax evasion trial in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A subpoena has been issued demanding the IP addresses, email addresses and any other information about them in an attempt to identify who they are. Prosecutors claim that these commenters were leaving threats against the jury and the prosecutor in the case.

Nightjack case kills the right of anonymity | Media | guardian.co.uk

It is just two months since Nightjack, the anonymous blog written by a police detective, was singled out for an Orwell prize. ...Today, Nightjack is silent and the blog, in its entirety, deleted after Mr Justice Eady ruled that bloggers have no right to privacy in what is essentially the public act of publishing.

Do they preserve scientific transparency, protect profits or both?

zarq — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:16:38 -0800

On behalf of medical organizations, universities, & individual patients, pathologists and genetics researchers, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against Utah-based Myriad Genetics and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Myriad holds the US patents to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, associated with hereditary causes of breast and ovarian cancers. Their patents guarantee the company the right to prevent anyone else from testing or studying those genes, which the ACLU says is unconstitutional and inhibits researchers from finding treatments and cures. The ACLU has posted a FAQ explaining the suit. It might be news to some that genes, gene fragments and the tools used to assess them can be patented. Here's some general info on patent eligibility and qualifications. Some question whether such patents spur or stifle research Myriad's BRCA test to measure the likelihood that someone would develop ovarian or breast cancer was in the news a couple of years ago, when a study revealed that it produces false negatives. Concerns were also raised in the EU over the patents when they were initially filed. Previously on MeFi

Just Following Orders

empath — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:49:46 -0800

Torture Memos Released

As we explained in the Section 2340A Memorandum, "pain and suffering" as used in Section 2340 is best understood as a single concept, not distinct concepts of "pain" as distinguished from "suffering"... The waterboard, which inflicts no pain or actual harm whatsoever, does not, in our view inflict "severe pain or suffering". Even if one were to parse the statute more finely to treat "suffering" as a distinct concept, the waterboard could not be said to inflict severe sufering. The waterboard is simply a controlled acute episode, lacking the connotation of a protracted period of time generally given to suffering.

Ambinder breaks it down, Greenwald rants.

Growing Up In Guantánamo.

ageispolis — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:14:14 -0800

"Six days after the inauguration of President Obama, the U.S. is scheduled to begin the first trial of a child soldier accused of war crimes since World War II." via ACLU Edited video of Omar Khadr's interrogation. (from CBC)

Curfew is declared in a 10 block area of a small Arkansas town

Daddy-O — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:04:56 -0800

Curfew is declared in a 10 block area of a small Arkansas town. From the local newspaper: Community declares war on crime-Mayor issues curfew order and Ark. city neighborhood under 24-hour curfew. The mayor has been the subject of controversy in the past.

Baddest eggs revealed

Kirth Gerson — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:00:59 -0800

The "a few bad eggs" theory crushed - ACLU summarizes the Justice Department Inspector General's report. "This new report should become exhibit A at the next congressional hearing on the Bush administration's use of torture," said Christopher Anders, Senior Legislative Counsel to the ACLU. ... "The questions are who did what and what crimes were committed. This Justice Department report helps answer both questions." The complete OIG report is here, as a 438-page PDF. A log of torture-related documents obtained by the ACLU's FOI requests here.

Catherine Roraback

serazin — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:43:50 -0800

Catherine Roraback was the only woman in her class at Yale Law School. She was a founder of the Connecticut ACLU, and a president of the National Lawyers Guild. During her long career she defended labor organizers, immigrants, civil rights organizers, Black Panthers, and maybe most famously, Estelle Griswold before the United States Supreme Court in the case that legalized the distribution of birth control. She died this week at age 87. One more bio and the NYT obit.

White House Policy Illegally Silences Americans Critical of Bush

prostyle — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:21:12 -0800

"When taxpayers foot the bill for a public event, the president does not have the right to use a partisan litmus test to stack the audience with his political supporters."

The Limits of Free Speech in Schools

digaman — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:46:40 -0800

From the guy who brought you the Whitewater scandal and the impeachment of President Clinton for lying about oval antics in the Oral Office, a legal push to make the Supreme Court just say no to "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Ken Starr's petition to the Court [PDF] makes clear that Starr believes this is no laughing matter, but a chance for the Court to make a landmark ruling that will give school adminstrators the power to limit student speech: "This case presents the Court with a much-needed opportunity to resolve a sharp conflict among federal courts (and to eliminate confusion on the part of school boards, administrators, teachers, and students) over whether the First Amendment permits regulation of student speech when such speech is advocating or making light of illegal substances."

Representatives from AOL, Microsoft, Google, Verizon and Comcast talk to US government

|n$eCur3 — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 14:59:54 -0800

Newsfilter. Surveillenve of everything you do online: "It was clear that they would go beyond kiddie porn and terrorism and use it for general law enforcement." Offline: "I'm John Doe, and if I had told you before today that the F.B.I. was requesting library records, I could have gone to jail." Previously, here. On your phone? We've already discussed that, too.

Using Big Laws to Catch Little Terrorists

digaman — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:44:27 -0800

The terrorists in New Jersey have been captured. They're, uhm, like 15 years old. A fine example of how anti-terror laws like the Patriot Act can be subject to mission creep. (The "terrorists" at the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice in Pittsburgh seem to be still at large.)

Fly in the Fast Lane

digaman — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:24:00 -0800

Tired of standing in line at the airport? Worried that you might share a name with a known terrorist or subversive on the TSA's mysterious no-fly lists? Relax. Get fingerprinted and/or iris scanned. And pay $79.95 a year to become a Registered Traveler, and fly Clear in the fast lane. (And note how quickly conceptual art projects become indistinguishable from reality.) Meanwhile, the Feds settle an ACLU lawsuit over the no-fly lists... while revealing no information about them. [Lists recently discussed here].

Stop. Hey, what's That Sound?

Miko — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 09:40:23 -0800

Presenting: The ACLU Freedom Files. Teaming up with producer Robert Greenwald (of Outfoxed and Unconstitutional, among others), the American Civil Liberties Union is presenting a 10-part series on current issues in civil liberties, viewable free online. Using comedy, drama, documentary, personal stories, music, interviews, and animation, each epsiode focuses on a timely topic, "stripping away the sound bites" and illustrating what civil liberties mean for the average American. Check out the first three, available now: Harry Shearer, librarians, and harrassed Muslim americans take on illegal search and seizure in Beyond the Patriot Act; high school students oppose mandatory drug testing and experience firsthand the power of The Supreme Court, and Gulf War veterans, protestors, and attendees at a Bush speech llustrate the concept of freedom of speech in Dissent. Production is ongoing: stay tuned for more. And more. And more.

[Ugarte gives exit visas to Rick for safe keeping]

Smedleyman — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 14:04:32 -0800

First they take Ugarte and then she walks in. On the 9th of December 2005, Deborah Davis will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in a case that will determine whether people must show "papers" whenever police demand them. Unlike Dudley Hiibel (discussed on mefi last year) who had (arguably) caused a disturbance meriting police attention, Deb was just riding the bus when she was "welcomed" to the Denver Federal Center.

A Short Guide to Iraq

threehundredandsixty — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:51:43 -0800

How things do change! A short Guide to Iraq published in 1942 by the US government. The handbook was written for American soldiers who were stationed in Iraq to prevent Nazis from seizing the country’s oil. .... 63 years later.

Kitzmiller v. DASD

OmieWise — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 05:46:39 -0800

Intelligent Design on trial! The ACLU of PA is blogging the current trial in Dover, PA between the parents of students and the local school board which wants to teach students Intelligent Design. Over at The Panda's Thumb, they're also keeping track of the goings on. The main ACLU website has statements from most of the plaintiff's experts in the case, including this long, well-supported pdf from philsopher Barbara Forrest, whose testimony is being used to dismantle the canard that ID is not Creationism. Over at the Legal Affairs Debate Club Beckwith and Laylock argued, last week, about whether teaching ID is legal. For background: this 2002 special report from Natural History Magazine on Intelligent Design Creationism.

Defense Department Refuses to Turn Over Abuse Photographs

kirkaracha — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:46:44 -0800

Defense Department Refuses to Turn Over Abuse Photographs

Today was the day the government was supposed to process and redact photographs and videos relating to the abuse and torture of prisoners held abroad. Raising new arguments on the eve of its deadline, the United States government refused to release the materials to the public.

June 1, 2005, court order [PDF]; statement from the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Judge orders Abu Ghraib videos, pictures released.

insomnia_lj — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 13:07:39 -0800

Judge orders Abu Ghraib videos, pictures released. ... and all hell's gonna break loose.

To quote Sy Hersh:
"The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."

ACLU seeks Sanchez perjury investigation.

insomnia_lj — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 15:33:38 -0800

ACLU seeks Sanchez perjury investigation. As a followup to yesterday's post, the ACLU has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Gonzales, requesting an investigation of Gen. Ricardo Sanchez for perjury before Congress. Sanchez is accused of lying about approving guidelines for the use of abusive interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib prison. Now, many of you might think that Gonzales might refuse this request and be done with it. However, the ACLU has the right to request a writ of mandamus, which would compel Gonzales to initiate an investigation. If Sanchez is investigated, will he be pressured to reveal the identity of those in the Pentagon / Bush administration (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cheney, Cambone?!) who knew about and possibly ordered these policies?

Heck... it works for our cattle

cedar — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 15:38:00 -0800

Brittan Elementary, a rural Californian school, has begun requiring their students to wear RFID tags manufactured by Alien Technology. This was done without parental consent and is mandatory. The ACLU is less than enthusiastic.

Yes Virginia, There are Christian ACLU Lawyers

urlnotfound — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 14:22:55 -0800

A call for Christian lawyers who have worked for the ACLU. The ACLU tries to be balanced , but considering the amount of effort they have put forth to inhibit Christian influence from/to the government, should a Christian lawyer work for them?

An Executive Order Along Torture's Path

y2karl — Mon, 20 Dec 2004 16:53:08 -0800

Request for guidance regarding the OGC's EC regarding detainee abuse, referring to “interrogation techniques made lawful” by the “President's Executive Order.” comes from Records Released in Response to Torture FOIA Request.
Smoking Gun ? asks the ACLU--or just another stepping stone from Torture's Path ? As Ex-Military Lawyers Object to Bush Cabinet Nominee, and in Torture begins at the top, Joe Conason suggests that a recently disclosed FBI memo indicates that "marching orders" to abandon traditional interrogation methods came from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld himself and all the while Guantánamo torture and humiliation still going on, says shackled Briton. (more inside)

Are you a monkey or a man?

MegoSteve — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 15:26:49 -0800

"The lawsuits are coming," school board member Angie Yingling said. "It's like being on the Titanic. Everyone seems to see the iceberg, but no one is steering away." The ACLU sued the Dover (Pennsylvania) Area School District today to prevent the district from enacting their recent controversial decision to teach "intelligent design" in the classroom.

The Mind Reels

ursus_comiter — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 08:55:29 -0800

What is the justice department trying to censor in the ACLU's case against the Patriot Act? Anything they feel like, apparantly, including quotes from The Supreme Court. [via boingboing]