American Civil Liberties Union

In “are you serious?!” news, the Washington Post reported yesterday that a new group, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), has been formed to “help shape standards around how companies collect, store and use consumer data for business and advertising.” Who makes up this illustrious group? Ah, well. Your usual suspects — lawyers, privacy scholars and (wait for it)…corporate officials.

With things in Washington at a near standstill as everyone eagerly/anxiously awaits next week’s election, the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office (WLO) has decided to use this time to look back at the last year in legislative battles.

Some memories are bittersweet, like our work on the Lily Ledbetter Act, and some are just bitter (FISA!). From legislation honoring Emmet Till to our work on bills that would ensure a federal reporters’ shield, the WLO has been up to our elbows in lawmaking this year.

In case you missed it, the New York Times had a great editorial yesterday about the new FBI guidelines that will be implemented on December 1^st (you know, the ones we really, really don't like). Here's a snippet:

These changes are a chilling invitation for the government to spy on law-abiding Americans based on their ethnic background or political activity.

Mr. Mukasey has promised that investigations conducted under the new rules will be consistent with the Constitution. Clearly, the Bush administration cannot be trusted to find the right balance between law enforcement and civil liberties. Even before this administration the F.B.I. had its own long history of abusing its powers to spy on civil rights groups and antiwar activists.

We couldn't have said it better ourselves. There's really nothing to add to it. Think of this as merely an FYI blog. Have a nice day.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties had a markup today (markup? What's that?) on a bill very near and dear to our hearts. The State Secrets Protection Act would help to limit the executive branch's claims of state secrets. The bill passed the subcommittee today by a vote of 6-3. Next step, full committee markup. Cross your fingers that Congress gets this thing done.