Blog of Rights
Amanda
Simon
04/26/2010

Garbage In, Unnecessary Arrests Follow

By Amanda Simon at 12:22pm

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

We all know the government has a love affair with data and data mining, and while Congress tried to kill the Total Information Awareness program, it never quite went away. One of the key arguments against data mining is that bad data in the system would increase errors exponentially, creating huge privacy and civil liberties problems for innocent people and wasting resources by generating a huge number of false leads (and you don't have to trust us, the National Academy of Sciences said so). Well an article that ran in USA Today lastWednesday gave us yet another reason to worry about the quality of data in government databases.

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04/15/2010

All in the Gang: How More Oversight Could Have Prevented Illegal Spying on Americans

By Amanda Simon at 2:26pm

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

In the wake of a veto threat (PDF) from the Obama administration, the intelligence authorization bill could be in jeopardy, all over some revisions to the "Gang of Eight" system.

The "Gang of Eight" is a group of members of Congress with a pretty sweet name that includes the leaders, both Democrat and Republican, of the Senate and House, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The "gang" is briefed on covert intelligence matters by the administration when the president "determines it is essential to limit access" to classified or national security information in "extraordinary circumstances." The "gang" is also sworn to secrecy to not disclose this information to anyone, even other members of Congress.

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02/19/2010

The Case for Trying Terrorists in Federal Criminal Courts

By Amanda Simon at 3:24pm

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

Today the ACLU, along with a broad coalition of human rights and civil liberties groups, sent a letter to the Senate urging senators to defeat a bill that would force the Obama administration to try terrorism suspects in the unconstitutional military commissions. The bill was introduced earlier this month by Sen Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and is almost identical to an amendment the senator offered last year (which was defeated soundly). The bill, S. 2977, would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds to prosecute the alleged 9/11 plotters in federal criminal court. The intent of the bill, in the end, is to force the administration's hand. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has introduced a similar companion bill in the House.

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01/29/2010

Little Privacy-Invading Snowflakes

By Amanda Simon at 5:46pm

For years now, the ACLU has been sounding the alarm on fusion centers, a post-9/11 phenomena set forth by the government to expand information collection and sharing practices among law enforcement agencies. There are over 70 fusion centers in the U.S., and they've already been making headlines for privacy violations.

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01/14/2010
TSA

Mikey Does *Not* Like It

By Amanda Simon at 5:25pm

The ACLU has, for years, been screaming at the top of our lungs about government watch lists. For. Years. It turns out, though, one of the most powerful voices not heard before today is that of Mikey Hicks, an 8-year-old boy who has been on the "selectee" list — a larger list than the "no-fly" list — since, well, birth.

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12/11/2009

Set the DVR – ACLU Testifies Tuesday Before the House

By Amanda Simon at 3:44pm

The Washington Legislative Office’s Acting Director, Michael Macleod-Ball, is set to testify before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment on Tuesday morning. The hearing, “Violent Extremism: How Are People Moved from Constitutionally-Protected Thought to Acts of Terrorism?” should be pretty fascinating. 

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12/02/2009

Patriot Update: So, About That Deadline…

By Amanda Simon at 1:40pm

Quick update for you loyal readers: Currently, there are several bills pending in both the House and Senate as both chambers stare down the December 31 deadline for expiring Patriot Act provisions.

The two bills to watch are the House's USA Patriot Amendments Act and the Senate's USA Patriot Extension Act. The Senate bill has been endorsed by the administration but we have several reservations about that legislation and are still hopeful the House bill — which provides much better civil liberties protections — will be the bill that passes both chambers.

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11/13/2009

Christmas Comes Early! EFF Gets FAA Document Dump

By Amanda Simon at 5:09pm

Hey, remember the fight around updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act? Also known as the FISA Amendments Act? Also known as one of the biggest legislative and legal battles we’ve ever had over surveillance?

Well, the Electronic Frontier Foundation just got a whole bunch of never-before-seen documents pertaining to drafting and debate around the legislation and Wired magazine’s Threat Level blog is asking for your help in perusing them.

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11/06/2009
Rendition

Rays Of Sunlight in the House Judiciary Committee

By Amanda Simon at 6:14pm

Good news on national security legislation. I know! I can hardly believe it myself!

The USA Patriot Amendments Act was marked up this week in an epic House Judiciary Committee meeting that spanned two days. The bill, though a bit watered down, still managed to maintain some of its civil liberties protections including:

  • A rewrite of the gag order that comes with national security letters (NSLs). That provision is consistent with a recent decision in a case challenging the gag order by yours truly, the ACLU.
  • A higher and stricter standard on issuing NSLs
  • Letting the never-used “lone wolf” provision expire
  • Much needed fixes to the John Doe roving wiretap provision

There are now a total of seven bills in Congress addressing the Patriot Act since three of the Act’s provisions are set to expire on December 31st. The USA Patriot Amendments Act is the best of the bunch that Congress is actively considering.

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10/02/2009

Patriot Reauthorization Begins. Badly.

By Amanda Simon at 5:00pm

Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee started its markup of a bill that will both extend the three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and add a few minor fixes to other overly broad surveillance provisions of the act. The bill the committee is working on is not, sadly, the bill the ACLU was hoping for.

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