Blog of Rights
Catherine
Crump

Prior to joining the ACLU, Crump clerked for the Hon. M. Margaret McKeown, a judge on U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Crump graduated from Stanford University and Stanford Law School. She is a non-residential fellow with the Stanford Center for Internet and Society.

04/21/2011

Does the Government Want to Read Your Texts and Emails?

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project & Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:45pm

Last week the Justice Department squandered an opportunity to reassure Americans that as technology advances our civil liberties will not be left behind. The Justice Department was called before Congress to say whether it should be permitted to read people's email, text messages and other electronic communications without a probable cause warrant — that is, without a judicial determination that it has a good reason to believe a search will turn up evidence of a crime. The clear answer to this question should have been "no." After all, a warrant has been required for postal mail since at least the 1870s and for telephone conversations since the 1960s. Why shouldn't our email receive the same protection?

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02/22/2011

A Win For Protesters’ Rights

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 6:23pm

Today a federal district court judge in New Mexico handed down a great ruling for protesters' rights. Some background is in order: All throughout George W. Bush's presidency, we at the ACLU received complaints from protesters. Time and again, we heard that those wishing to protest against President Bush's policies, particularly the war in Iraq, were forced to protest far away from him, or behind buildings, or in other places where they would not be seen or heard, while the president's supporters were allowed to stand with their signs where they would be fully visible both to the president and his accompanying media entourage.

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01/18/2011

What the Government Wants to Know About You

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 4:32pm

Earlier this month, news broke that the government got a court order to force Twitter to reveal the private account information of some people associated with WikiLeaks. What is unusual about the situation is not that the government obtained such an order, but that we found out about it at all. Our government routinely gains access to Americans’ private online information through secret court orders. Worse yet, these proceedings are one-sided, with only the government presenting arguments. In a legal system based on openness and adversarial process, this has led to troubling results that threaten our privacy.

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01/17/2011

Privacy Rights Must Keep Pace with Technology

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 12:02pm

In November, a federal court in Texas found that the Constitution requires the government to get a warrant and show probable cause before getting access to someone’s historical location data from their mobile carrier. We applauded this decision because cell phones are tracking devices we carry around in our pockets. Knowing where someone goes can reveal a great deal of personal and private information about them – exactly the sort of information the Fourth Amendment was designed to protect.

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12/28/2010

Schools Can Teach Tolerance and Honor Free Speech

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 11:53am

Yesterday, the Knoxville News Sentinel ran our editorial explaining why a federal appeals court should reconsider a recent decision that sharply limits the free speech rights of public school students.  The ACLU has asked the court to consider its friend-of-the-court brief in the case, in which we explain in greater detail why it is contrary to the First Amendment to allow schools to punish students for their speech whenever they deem the speech contrary to important school policies.

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12/15/2010

Good News for Cell Phone Users' Privacy!

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 12:08pm

Today we received good news for everyone who carries a cell phone — the court of appeals will not reconsider its opinion earlier this year holding that judges may require the government to get a warrant and establish probable cause to obtain historical cell phone location information.

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11/04/2010

Federal Judge Finds Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking Unconstitutional

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 1:33pm

In August, we blogged about a court decision from the federal court in the Eastern District of New York that held that law enforcement agents are constitutionally obligated to get a warrant based on probable cause before obtaining historical cell phone location information. And in September, we wrote about an opinion from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals holding that judges may order the government to get a warrant based on probable cause for historical cell phone location information. However, the 3rd Circuit also held that judges are not obligated to require probable cause, and cautioned that they should only require the government to meet this high standard on rare occasions. Now another court has joined the fray. In a detailed opinion (PDF) citing documents obtained through litigation by the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation, Judge Stephen Smith of the Southern District of Texas held that “warrantless disclosure of cell site data violates the Fourth Amendment.”

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06/18/2010
Location Tracking

ACLU Files Brief Against Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 2:27pm

Today the ACLU, the ACLU of Connecticut and the Electronic Frontier Foundation once again took a stand against warrantless cell phone tracking, in a friend-of-the-court brief submitted to a federal judge in Connecticut. Cell phones are not just communications devices, they're tracking devices. Your cell phone provider can generate a continuous stream of location information, and many providers store this information for months or even longer.

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04/21/2010

North Carolina Wants to Know What You Bought from Amazon

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:29pm

On Monday, Amazon.com sued the State of North Carolina after the state issued a summons that would, according to Amazon, require it to identify what books, CDs and DVDs its customers in North Carolina had purchased. The North Carolina Department of Revenue had requested this information to ensure that Amazon is in full compliance with the state's sales and use tax laws.

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02/11/2010

Cell Phone Users: Your Privacy is at Risk

By Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 2:59pm

(Originally posted on Philly.com)

If you own a cell phone, you should care about the outcome of a case scheduled to be argued in federal appeals court in Philadelphia tomorrow. It could well decide whether the government can use your cell phone to track you — even if it hasn't shown probable cause to believe it will turn up evidence of a crime.

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