By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 4:39pm
Today the ACLU filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to force the government to disclose information about the circumstances in which it accesses the contents of Americans’ private electronic communications without obtaining a warrant based upon probable cause. Such communications can include email, text messaging, and private conversations on social networks. While there is reason to believe this practice is widespread, there is much we don’t know about this government eavesdropping: when it happens, how often it’s done, who they’re watching, how long they monitor these communications, and what policies they have established regarding this monitoring. Through the lawsuit filed today, we hope to find out much more.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 4:05pm
Tuesday is National DNA Day, which commemorates the discovery of DNA's double helix structure by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, as well as the successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. In honor of National DNA Day, the National Human Genome Research Institute will be hosting an online chat from 8 am to 5 pm Eastern today, in which experts will answer questions about DNA in real time.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 12:55pm
After the Supreme Court ruled the police cannot attach a GPS device to a suspect's car to track them, law enforcement is trying to use cell phone location data to get the same information.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 8:34pm
Even after January's landmark Supreme Court decision cast significant doubt on the government’s ability to electronically track a person’s location without a warrant, the Justice Department continues to defend this practice. On Friday, the ACLU, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, arguing that the government should be required to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before seizing 60 days’ worth of location information generated by an individual’s cell phone.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:49pm
Today, the ACLU petitioned the Supreme Court to hear our case challenging patents on two human genes related to breast and ovarian cancer.
The case, Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. vs. Myriad Genetics, et al., was filed in 2009 on behalf of medical associations, geneticists, genetic counselors, patients, and breast cancer and women's health groups, which all have been negatively impacted by Myriad Genetics’ patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 11:30am
On Wednesday, the ACLU and NAACP filed a lawsuit against Philadelphia for violating the First Amendment when it refused to accept an NAACP ad in the city's airport.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:28pm
This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in Golan v. Holder, a case about whether the government can grant copyright protection to books, music, and movies that were previously in the public domain. Works in the public domain can be used by anyone without restriction, and provide inspiration and material for new works and performances.
The case is a challenge to a law passed in 1994 called the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which granted copyright protection to millions of foreign works that had previously passed into the public domain in the U.S. Many classics are included: symphonies by Shostakovich and Stravinsky; books by Tolkien, Orwell, Woolf, and C.S. Lewis; films by Fellini and Hitchcock; and artwork by Picasso, including Guernica.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 1:02pm
On Monday, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held a hearing in the landmark lawsuit challenging gene patents before a crowded courtroom in Washington, D.C. The case, brought by the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation on behalf of geneticists, pathologists, health advocates, and patients, seeks to invalidate Myriad Genetics' patents on two genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
By Sarah Roberts, Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 6:09pm
Yesterday, the ACLU filed a brief on behalf of our clients who are challenging the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s requests for records regarding Amazon.com customer purchases as part of a tax audit of Amazon. Those requests would reveal which individuals purchased which books, movies, music, and other private items through Amazon, from August 2003-February 2010. Last month, the federal court in the Western District of Washington granted our motion to intervene on behalf of our anonymous clients, whose purchase records reveal highly personal and intimate details about their lives. For example, our clients bought books on topics such as cancer, mental health issues, divorce, and atheism. The government has no right to know this kind of personal information, and we’re confident that the First Amendment prohibits the government from obtaining that information here.
