Blog of Rights
Bennett
Stein

Bennett Stein is a Legal Assistant with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.  Prior to joining SPT, Bennett served on the executive board of the ACLU’s University of Michigan Undergraduate Chapter for four years.  He also co-founded the University of Michigan student organization Students Against Surveillance which continues to advocate for an ordinance in Ann Arbor regulating the use of government surveillance cameras.  Bennett previously worked as a summer intern with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project.  While in school, Bennett worked at Durham’s Tracklements and Smokery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Bennett is a 2012 graduate of the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

05/17/2013
Government Oversight

What the Government Says When It Says Nothing

By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 1:36pm

On May 8, the ACLU released a slew of government documents obtained from the FBI, U.S. Attorneys' offices around the country, and the Justice Department's Criminal Division concerning the government's access to the contents of private electronic communications. The media has seized upon one of those documents, an undated memo titled, "Guidance for the Minimization of Text Messages over Dual-Function Cellular Telephones." This memo may show that the Criminal Division is doing nothing at all to avoid reading our text messages; it may show great procedures in place to safeguard the privacy our text messages; or, likely, it may have nothing to do with either of those predictions. The public does not know because the Justice Department put a large black box over every word following the header of the 15-page memo.

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05/20/2013
BRCA

Barbara Brenner, 1951-2013

By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 11:00am

The ACLU mourns the loss of a great leader, tenacious activist, and close friend of the organization. Barbara Brenner, the longtime director of Breast Cancer Action ("BCA"), was a frequent and trusted ACLU collaborator – as an employee at the ACLU of Southern California's women's rights project, as a law intern at the ACLU of Northern California, as an affiliate and national board member, as a cooperating attorney, and, most recently, as a client.

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07/25/2012
Data Mining

Big Data: NSA, Facebook—and My University?

By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 12:51pm

On Sunday, the New York Times published an extensive piece surveying the ways American universities are using their access to students’ information to tailor their college experiences. Universities collect a huge amount of data on their students—course selection and grades, past educational experience and standardized test scores, and other personal information. Austin Peay University analyzes a student’s data and suggests classes in which the student is likely to “succeed.” Arizona State University uses its data to identify students who are “off track” based on course selection and course results. ASU is also experimenting with using information on student swipes of ID cards around campus—at the gym, at the dining hall, at the dorm, at the library, etc.—to understand social ties. (Last week, my colleague Catherine Crump also wrote about universities experimenting with monitoring students’ internet usage to assess mental health.)

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04/08/2013
Voices on Human Gene Patents

Voices on Human Gene Patents: 7 Days Until the Supreme Court

By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 10:37am

On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on a deceptively short question: Are human genes patentable? While the question's phrasing may be succinct and simple, the implications of the Court's answer are vast and critical. On behalf of researchers, genetic counselors, women patients, cancer survivors, breast cancer and women's health groups, and scientific associations representing 150,000 geneticists, pathologists, and laboratory professionals (more info on our clients here), we will argue that the patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 – two humans genes (your genes!) associated with breast cancer and ovarian cancer – create harmful barriers to scientific progress and medical care. The case is the first challenging whether human genes can be patented.

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