Home : Privacy & Technology

ACLU of New Jersey Wins Victory In DNA Law Challenge (12/22/2004)
NEWARK, NJ - The Superior Court of New Jersey in Mercer County ruled today that New Jersey must limit its new DNA collection law so that it does not violate the constitutional right of freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

ACLU Announces Online Complaint Form For Airline Security Groping, Warns That Women Are Still Vulnerable (12/22/2004)
NEW YORK-As Americans head into the holiday travel rush, the American Civil Liberties Union today warned that women still remain susceptible to sexual harassment at airline security gates, and announced that it has posted an online complaint form that travelers can use to describe any abuses that take place.

ACLU Challenges California Law Permitting Government Seizure of DNA Samples from Innocent People (12/07/2004)
SAN FRANCISCO -- I'm an Air Force veteran with 12 years of service and a graduate of the federal law enforcement facility in Glynco, Georgia. I worked as a border patrol agent for the Immigration and Naturalization Service where I was stationed in Brownsville, Texas. After I left the INS I then volunteered with Americorp and the Peace Corp.

ACLU Challenges California Law Permitting Government Seizure of DNA Samples from Innocent People (12/07/2004)
SAN FRANCISCO - The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a class-action lawsuit challenging portions of a new initiative, Proposition 69, that requires DNA testing of people who are arrested for but never convicted of a crime.

Documents Show U.S. Ignored Security and Privacy Warnings On Passports; Decisions Will Leave Americans Vulnerable to Violence, ID Theft, ACLU Says (11/24/2004)
NEW YORK -- The Bush Administration spurned warnings by privacy and security experts and foreign governments when pushing new remotely readable biometric passports, according to State Department documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. Because of the U.S. action, passports issued to Americans in coming years will contain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips that will broadcast all the personal information on a passport to anyone who comes within range with an RFID reader.

ACLU Says Pending Test of Secure Flight Would Violate Law, Congress Required GAO Report Before Allowing Private Data To Be Used (11/19/2004)
WASHINGTON - Days before the nation's busiest travel season starts, the American Civil Liberties Union today asked the Department of Homeland Security to clarify its plans to begin testing the "Secure Flight" airline passenger screening program. Government officials had indicated that testing of the controversial program will begin shortly even though a congressionally mandated pre-launch review of the program has yet to be completed.

Court Hears Arguments in ACLU No-Fly Class-Action Lawsuit (11/04/2004)
SEATTLE--At a hearing here today, the American Civil Liberties Union presented arguments to advance the first nationwide class-action lawsuit challenging the government's controversial No-Fly lists, which are distributed to all airlines with instructions to detain or interrogate passengers whose names match thousands of names listed.

ACLU Calls New "Secure Flight" Passenger Profiling System Invasive, Inadequate and Ineffective (10/26/2004)
WASHINGTON - In comments filed with the Department of Homeland Security late yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union has offered deep criticism of the "Secure Flight" airline passenger screening program. The ACLU said that many of the privacy and civil liberties concerns identified in the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) remain with its successor, Secure Flight. The program is slated to be tested in November and December.

ACLU Urges Virginia Legislators Not To Put Radio Computer Chip in Driver's Licenses (10/06/2004)
NEW YORK-The American Civil Liberties Union today urged Virginia not to become the first state in the nation to place radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in its driver's licenses.

ACLU Disappointed by Court of Appeals Decision Upholding Seizure of Medical Records in Rush Limbaugh Case (10/06/2004)
MIAMI - The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today said that is disappointed by a state appeals court ruling that state law enforcement officers properly confiscated Rush Limbaugh's medical records as part of a criminal investigation involving alleged "doctor-shopping."

Unanimous Florida Supreme Court Strikes Down Special Law That Overrides Medical Decisions in Terri Schiavo Case (09/23/2004)
MIAMI - In a unanimous 7-0 decision, the Florida Supreme Court today struck down as unconstitutional a Florida law that reversed a series of court rulings and interfered with the medical decisions of Theresa Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged woman who, Florida courts found, did not wish to be kept alive artificially.