Online Privacy

Do Not Flack

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 12:10pm

Microsoft’s welcome announcement that it plans to leave a “Do Not Track” flag turned on by default for its users has been very revealing in a number of respects. It also risks distracting from more important issues in the debate over commercial online surveillance.

ACLU Backs Up Twitter In Court Over Attempt to Defend Users’ Rights

By Aden Fine, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 2:52pm

We filed a friend-of-the-court brief today in New York state court in support of Twitter’s efforts to protect the constitutional rights of one of its users. As we posted earlier this month, Twitter took a great step to defend its users’ rights by filing a motion to quash a subpoena that the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan issued in connection with the prosecution of an Occupy Wall Street protester.

The Government, Privacy, and Companies (The Ones We Pay and the Ones We Don’t)

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:18pm

Privacy researcher Chris Soghoian gave a very nice talk at TEDx recently on “Why Google Won’t Protect You From Big Brother.” He provides a cogent overview and some useful perspective on the relationship between companies and the government, which is something we at the ACLU have been concerned about since our 2004 report on the Surveillance Industrial Complex, and before.

Librarians for Privacy

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 2:54pm

The American Library Association has created an excellent public education resource on the privacy issues facing our society – a web site called privacyrevolution.org.

The ALA has long been a staunch defender of privacy and free speech, and a frequent ally of the ACLU on those issues. In fact, libraries have been the scene of many free speech battles in recent years. If you think about it, librarians are our natural allies since libraries exemplify the democratic ideal of citizens’ access to information, while protecting those citizens’ right to keep their inquiries and interests private. As the site explains:

In Advance of CISPA Vote, Congress Needs to Hear From You

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:53pm

Call your representatives today and urge them not to sacrifice the civil liberties of Internet users in any cybersecurity legislation.

A Primer for the Online Privacy Multistakeholder Process

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:12pm

What the heck is a multistakeholder process (MSP)? The word multistakeholder is so obscure that my computer's spell check doesn't even recognize it, yet it's come to dominate the online privacy conversation in recent weeks. That discussion will begin in earnest today with a filing deadline for comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration describing how a process should work and what it should cover (the comments we submitted are here). So what's going on with this MSP and what's in it for consumers?

Google Turns on Encrypted Search by Default for Users

By Chris Conley, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California at 5:57pm

This week, our federal online privacy law turns 25. The ACLU is hosting a blog series that will address some of the many reasons why the "Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986" (ECPA) is in need of an upgrade! Spread the word using #UpdateECPA, and to learn more about your dotRights, visit www.aclu.org/ecpa.

Today, Google announced that they will be making encrypted search the default for users who are logged into a Google account. This means that third parties, including both your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the sites you ultimately visit (unless you click on an ad) will not be able to see exactly what you searched for. We're happy to see Google expanding access to secure search. We hope that it will continue to expand protections like this to all searches and hope other search engines will also do the same.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights

By Caitlin O'Neill, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Associate, ACLU of Northern California at 5:22pm

In the digital age that we live in today, we are constantly exposing our personal information online. From using cell phones and GPS devices to online shopping and sending e-mail, the things we do and say online leave behind ever-growing trails of personal information. The ACLU believes that Americans shouldn’t have to choose between using new technology and keeping control of your private information. Each week, we feature some of the most interesting news related to technology and civil liberties that we’ve spotted from the previous week.

SF subway sets public debate on cell shutdown [Cnet]
“‘BART's temporary interruption of cell phone service was not intended to and did not affect any First Amendment rights of any person to protest in a lawful manner in areas at BART stations that are open for expressive activity,’ reads [BART’s] letter…”

The Software That Stares at Goats? Pentagon Building System For Massive E-Mail Privacy Violation

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 1:14pm

Here we go again. Earlier this month the Pentagon announced a new effort to build a system aimed at allowing it to scan billions of communications in order to detect "anomalies" in people's behavior that will predict who is about to snap and turn into a homicidal maniac — or, perhaps, leak damaging documents to a reporter.

Privacy Violations Have Costs!

By Sandra Fulton, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:00am

Last June I wrote about a police officer whose driver's license record was repeatedly accessed by a state-run database without proper authorization. She is an attractive woman and her fellow officers were treating her record like a Facebook page. She was stalked, harassed and eventually forced to leave town.

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