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> Breast Cancer Gene Patent Challenge > Pandemic Preparedness: The Need for a Public Health - Not a Law Enforcement/National Security - Approach ACLU Challenges Patents on Breast Cancer Genes On May 12, 2009, the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (PUBPAT) filed a lawsuit charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer are unconstitutional and invalid. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted thousands of patents on human genetic sequences. In addition to inhibiting freedom of research, patents on human genes raise troubling questions about the right of patients to access information about themselves and whether parts of human beings should be patentable at all. More>> ACLU Calls For Internal DHS Investigations On Fusion Centers As a Homeland Security Subcommittee in the House held a hearing on fusion centers today, the American Civil Liberties Union reiterated its vast concerns that these entities provide huge risks to Americans' privacy rights. More >> > Universal Dynamic Threat Assessment Classifying Environmental Groups As "Ecoterrorists" > Improper Surveillance of Anti-War Activists in Maryland > The North Texas Fusion Center's "Prevention Awareness Bulletin" > The Threat Management Division Of Federal Protective Services' Improper Monitoring Of Civil Activists > Missouri Fusion Center's Strategic Report You Are Being Watched An increasing number of American cities and towns are investing millions of taxpayer dollars in surveillance camera systems.  But few are closely examining the costs and benefits of those investments.  Visit youarebeingwatched.us to find out about video surveillance systems in cities across the US, and read expert findings on the effectiveness of CCTV.  Are you living in a Constitution- Free Zone? The extraordinary powers of customs and border agents to invade the privacy of individuals at the border are spreading inland and creating what amounts to a "Constitution-free Zone" that covers fully two-thirds of the American population. Using the latest census data, the ACLU has created a map showing the 100-mile "border region" claimed by the government, and cities and states that fall within it. More >> KEY RESOURCES > Medical Privacy and E-Medical Records > What's Wrong With Public Video Surveillance? > Data Mining > SWIFT > ACLU Report on Pandemic Preparedness > Fusion Centers > Combatting the Surveillance Industrial Complex > Surveillance > How Monopoly Control of the Internet Threatens Free Speech > Domestic Spy Satelites > Forensic DNA Databanks > Bigger Monsters, Weaker Chains > Real ID > 5 Reasons Not to Create a National ID Card > Science Under Siege > International Policy Laundering Project > Airline Security > Face-Recognition Technology > The Growth of an American Surveillance Society > Electronic Passports > Financial Privacy > The Cybercrime Treaty > Position statement on RFIDs > The FBI's Power to Rifle Through Your Records and Personal Belongings Without Telling You (PDF) > Through the Keyhole: Privacy in the Workplace, an Endangered Right > FAQ on the National Census > Other ACLU Documents on Privacy

Rep Harman Introduces Bill To Restrain Domestic Deployment Of Spy Satellites (6/5/2009)
WASHINGTON – Representative Jane Harman (D-CA) introduced two bills last night to stop the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) use of satellite imagery from intelligence agencies for homeland security and law enforcement purposes. The legislation, H.R. 2703 and 2704, will prohibit funding for and close the DHS’ National Application Office (NAO). This troubled office is responsible for a domestic surveillance program that the American Civil Liberties Union had long opposed in testimony and letters to Congress over the past two years.

ACLU Experts Featured At Annual Computers, Freedom And Privacy Conference (6/2/2009)
WASHINGTON – ACLU privacy experts are featured speakers this week at the 2009 Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP) conference, the nation’s premier conference focused on the consequences of technology for freedom. The three-day event which takes place from Tuesday, June 2 to Thursday, June 4 at the George Washington University Marvin Center in Washington, D.C. also features the founder and CEO of Craigslist.com, Obama administration and former Bush administration officials, academics, activists and journalists.

Minnesota Rejects Real ID Act Of 2005 (5/18/2009)
WASHINGTON – Minnesota Governor Timothy Pawlenty signed legislation on Saturday that prohibits his administration from turning the state driver’s license into a national identity card and from imposing new burdens on taxpayers, citizens, immigrants and state government. The state legislature overwhelmingly endorsed the bill with a unanimous House vote and a 64-1 vote in the Senate. Minnesota becomes the 23rd state to reject the Real ID Act of 2005, raising the question of why Congress has not repealed the law.

ACLU Challenges Patents On Breast Cancer Genes (5/12/2009)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (PUBPAT), filed a lawsuit today charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer stifle research that could lead to cures and limit women's options regarding their medical care. Mutations along the genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are responsible for most cases of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. The lawsuit argues that the patents on these genes are unconstitutional and invalid.

FBI Inspector General Reports 35 Percent Error Rate On Terror Watchlist (5/6/2009)
WASHINGTON – A report released today by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found that the FBI’s terrorist watchlist may contain a 35 percent error rate. The audit revealed that large portions of the list are governed by no formal processes for updating or removing records. The audit confirms that the nation’s watchlist system is massively broken.