Online Privacy

Free Future!

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 10:57am

This week we launched Free Future, a new blog that will feature a range of forward-looking technology issues.

Making Do Not Track a Reality

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 7:24pm

The ACLU has stated concern again and again about the new model of internet advertising which relies heavily on tracking users as they move from website to website and creates a detailed profile about their viewing habits. Our suggested solution has been a Do Not Track (DNT) mechanism, one that would allow users to opt out and convey that they don’t want to be tracked. But what does it mean not to track someone online?

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (3/9/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 5:26pm

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.

Meet the ACLU Digital Privacy Team at SXSW!

By Ateqah Khaki at 1:47pm

The ACLU's "dotRights" digital privacy team will be out in force at the 2012 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference to make sure privacy is on the agenda!

From social networking to cloud computing, online shopping to location services, Americans are increasingly living, working and playing online. As technology is advancing at lightning speed, it can sometimes feel like privacy law is moving at a glacial pace. The ACLU believes you shouldn't have to choose between privacy and technology. That is why we started the Demand Your dotRights campaign, and why the campaign will be at SXSW, one of the country's largest and most influential gathering of technology and new media brands and innovators.

LinkedIn Links You to Brands and Products Without Your Consent

By Chris Conley, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California at 4:33pm

If you’re using LinkedIn, you’re probably doing so to connect with peers and colleagues, explore new business relationships, or even network for your next career move. Chances are you didn’t join LinkedIn so you could tell your boss or your colleagues which products or brands you like. But LinkedIn’s new “social advertising” feature does exactly that: it takes your name or photo and connects that to ads that your friends and colleagues see based on your groups, contacts, and personal content. Worse yet, this feature was turned on by default, requiring you to find the right settings to opt out.

ACLU Guide: Tips for Companies on Protecting User Privacy and Free Speech in 2013

By Nicole Ozer, Technology & Civil Liberties Policy Director, ACLU of Northern California at 3:22pm

Last year was jam-packed with stories of companies making costly mistakes on user privacy and free speech. To help companies get a fresh start in 2013, the ACLU of California has just released the new edition of Privacy and Free Speech: It's Good for Business.

This primer (and companion website) is a practical, how-to guide illustrating how businesses can build privacy and free speech protections into their products and services – and what can happen if they don't.

Business Model vs. Fourth Amendment

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 5:10pm

I wrote recently about the U.S. government and companies lobbying against the EU’s attempt to strengthen their privacy laws, and our own efforts at the ACLU to advance high transnational privacy standards. Our efforts helped attract a round of press coverage of this unfolding drama (including stories in the New York Times and Washington Post). We’ve also written a letter along with other privacy groups to senior Obama Administration officials, asking for a meeting to discuss the issue.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (9/14/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 2:48pm

 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.

Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (9/7/2012)

By Anna Salem, ACLU of Northern California at 3:01pm

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.

Crucial Amendment Added to Cyber Bill Would Improve Federal Agency Handling of Personal Information

By Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:11pm

Later Thursday night Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) filed an important amendment to the Senate cybersecurity legislation to begin to reign in the information the federal government collects on all of us. We don’t think about it much but the federal government collects an enormous amount of personal information on a regular basis: in order for citizens to receive benefits and services, to exercise fundamental rights like voting or petitioning the government, for licensing everything from guns to businesses, for employment, education and for many types of health care. In short this information collection is nearly ubiquitous in American life.

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