News release: "The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive's founder to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand...The NSL was served on the Archive -- a digital library recognized by the state of California -- and its attorneys in November of 2007. The letter asked for personal information about one of the Archive's users, including the individual's name, address, and any electronic communication transactional records pertaining to the user. Kahle, who is also a member of EFF's Board of Directors, decided to fight the NSL because it exceeded the FBI's limited authority to issue such demands to libraries."

• For the newly unsealed documents (still partially redacted)
  
• For more information about this case
  
• Related postings on National Security Letters

US Courts news release: "In fiscal year 2007, it cost $24,922 to keep someone incarcerated in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility for 12 months, and $22,871 to keep an inmate incarcerated in a community correction center.

For the same 12-month period ending September 30, 2007, it cost $3,621.64 for a federal offender to be supervised by probation officers.

Those figures translate in daily costs of $68.28 for a Bureau of Prisons facility, $62.66 for a community correction center, and $9.92 for supervised release.

For criminal defendants who had not yet been tried, the daily cost of pretrial detention services was $64.40 and the cost of supervision by pretrial services officers was $5.85."

News release: "The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has warmly welcomed the news that Ecuador on Thursday became the 20th country to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with the result that the Convention and its Optional Protocol will now come into force one month later, on 3 May...The 50-article Convention fights discrimination in relation to a wide range of rights that are often not accorded to persons with disabilities, either deliberately or through neglect. These include the rights to education, health, work, adequate living conditions, freedom of movement, freedom from exploitation and equal recognition before the law. The Convention also addresses the need for persons with disabilities to have access to public transport, buildings and other facilities and recognizes their capacity to make decisions for themselves. Its Optional Protocol allows them to petition an international expert body."

• United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights resource page on Disability
  
• UN Human Rights Bodies - Mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights

US Courts: "The number of intercepted wire, oral or electronic communications — also known as wiretaps — authorized by federal and state courts in 2007 was 20 percent higher than in 2006. Courts issued 2,208 such orders in 2007, compared to 1,839 in 2006, according to The 2007 Wiretap Report.

The complete report contains information on interceptions concluded between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007. A summary of the authorized intercepts reported for calendar years 1997-2007 is available in Table 7."

EPIC: "According to the 2007 FISA report, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved 2,370 application to conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches in the United States in 2007, up from 2,176 applications approved in 2006. For the first time, the report includes information regarding the total number of requests made by the Department of Justice with National Security Letter authority for information concerning U.S. persons. in 2006, the government made approximately 12,583 NSL requests for information concerning 4,790 U.S. persons. The 2007 NSL statistics are expected later this year."

News release: "Chinese lawyers who take cases seen by the government as politically sensitive or potentially embarrassing face severe abuses ranging from harassment to disbarment and physical assaults, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today...The 142-page report, Walking on Thin Ice: Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China, details consistent patterns of abuses against legal practitioners. These include intimidation, harassment, suspension of professional licenses, disbarment, physical assaults, and even arrest and prosecution when lawyers take politically sensitive cases, seek redress for abuses of power and wrongdoings by party or government agents, or challenge local power-holders."

UK Guardian: "Airline passengers are to be screened with facial recognition technology rather than checks by passport officers, in an attempt to improve security and ease congestion..From summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers' faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports. Border security officials believe the machines can do a better job than humans of screening passports and preventing identity fraud. The pilot project will be open to UK and EU citizens holding new biometric passports."

• UK Home Office: Consultation on the Delivery of the National Identity Scheme - "The purpose of this consultation is to help the Government to proceed with the implementation of National Identity Scheme, including the introduction of identity cards linked to a National Identity Register."
  
• Download the Consultation document
  
• Download the National identity Scheme Delivery Plan 2008

News release: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today a notice of proposed rulemaking that will establish biometric exit procedures at all U.S air and sea ports of departure. The majority of non-U.S. citizens are already required to submit digital fingerprints and a digital photograph for admission into the country. The US-VISIT Exit proposal would require non-U.S. citizens who provide biometric identifiers for admission to also provide digital fingerprints when departing the country from any air or sea ports of departure."

Statement of Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice before the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties concerning “The FBI’s Use of National Security Letters and Section 215 Orders for Business Records”, April 15, 2008.

"The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group of the Human Rights Council has begun its first session, which runs from 7 to 18 April. At the end of the session, the UPR Working Group will issue reports on each of the 16 countries reviewed, containing, inter alia, an objective and transparent assessment of the human rights situation of the country, including positive developments and challenges; recommendations on best practices; provision of technical assistance, in consultation with, and with the consent of the State under review; and voluntary commitments and pledges made by the country concerned."

March 14, 2003 Memorandum for William J. Haynes IT, General Counsel of the Department of Defense Re: Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside the United States, Declassified under authority of Executive Order 1958 By Acting General Counsel, Department of Defense By Daniel Dell J.'Orto UNCLASSIFIED 31 March 2008. (81 pages, PDF)

Federal Compensation Programs: Perspectives on Four Programs for Individuals Injured by Exposure to Harmful Substances, by Anne-Marie F. Lasowski, acting director, education, workforce, and income security issues, before a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, and the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, House Committee on the Judiciary. GAO-08-628T, April 1, 2008.

BBC News: How the open net closed its doors - "Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering challenges the long-standing assumption that the internet is an unfettered space where citizens from around the world can freely communicate and mobilise. In fact, the book makes it clear that the scope, scale and sophistication of net censorship are growing."

RL34404 - Border Searches of Laptops and Other Electronic Storage Devices, March 05, 2008

PR Newswire: "Just two days after a new Washington Post national poll found that 59 percent of the American public supports restrictions identical to Washington, DC's gun laws -- which ban handgun possession and require that legally possessed rifles and shotguns be either disassembled or secured with a trigger lock -- the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled tomorrow to hear oral arguments in a case challenging DC's handgun ban, District of Columbia v. Heller. Reiterating the findings contained in its amicus brief filed in the case, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) warned that increasingly lethal handguns being marketed by the gun industry -- ranging from high-capacity semiautomatic handguns to next-generation assault pistols based on AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles -- make the handgun ban today even more of a necessity to protect first responders and citizens in the nation's capital than when it was first enacted in 1976."

Department of Justice Office of Inspector General: A Review of the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL Usage in 2006, March 2008, Unclassified, (187 pages, PDF)

Department of Justice Office of Inspector General: A Review of the FBI’s Use of Section 215 Orders for Business Records in 2006, March 2008, Unclassified (99 pages, PDF)

News release: "The political transition in strife-torn Afghanistan continues to face a number of serious challenges, including terrorism and a booming drug industry, according to a new United Nations report, which urges an integrated approach among all international partners to stabilize the fledgling democracy...The report notes that 36 out of the country’s 376 districts, including most districts in the east, southeast and south, remain largely inaccessible to Afghan officials and aid workers."

Follow up to previous postings on TSA's Total Information Awareness surveillance program, this news release today from the ACLU: "...According to the new Wall Street Journal report [subscription req'd], the NSA was engaging in broad domestic spying operations that involve collecting and analyzing the personal information of Americans in ways that are "essentially the same" as TIA. The elements that reportedly make up the new spying encompass a variety of mass surveillance and data mining programs about which the ACLU has previously warned..."

"Reporters Without Borders calls on Internet users to come and protest in virtual versions of countries that are Internet enemies...There are 15 countries in this year’s Reporters Without Borders list of “Internet Enemies” - Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. There were only 13 in 2007. The two new additions to the traditional censors are both to be found in sub-Saharan Africa: Zimbabwe and Ethiopia...There is also a supplementary list of 11 “countries under watch.” They are Bahrain, Eritrea, Gambia, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen."

News release, Secretary Rice, March 11, 2008: "I am pleased today [to announce] the publication of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007. In every region of the world, men and women are working peacefully, and often at great risk to themselves and their families, to secure human rights and fundamental freedoms, to follow their consciences and speak their minds without fear, to choose those who would govern them and to hold their leaders accountable and to achieve equal justice under the law."

House Democratic Majority Leader/AP: "Locked in a standoff with the White House, House Democrats on Tuesday maintained their refusal to shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without a secret court's permission. But they offered the companies an olive branch: the chance to use classified government documents to defend themselves in court. House Democratic leaders unveiled a bill that they hoped would bridge the gap between the electronic surveillance bill passed by the Senate last month and a rival version the House approved last fall. Both bills are attempts to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that dictates when the government needs court permission to conduct electronic eavesdropping inside the United States. The law has taken on particular importance in the global effort to thwart terrorists since the 2001 attacks on the United States.

• Director of National Intelligence, March 11, 2008: "We understand that the leadership of the House of Representatives intends to introduce a new bill related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). Based on initial summaries of what the proposal contains, we are concerned that the proposal would not provide the Intelligence Community the critical tools needed to protect the country. The Senate already has passed a bipartisan bill that would give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep America safe. The bipartisan bill was carefully crafted to ensure important intelligence operations were not harmed by new legislation."


• ACLU - New FISA Compromise Is an Improvement, Still Raises Concerns: "While we still have concerns about aspects of the new House FISA bill, the American Civil Liberties Union is encouraged by the new draft – particularly the language on state secrets, which would allow the cases to go forward while allowing the telecommunications companies to assert any defenses. We commend House leadership for keeping the courthouse door open. And in particular, we applaud the House for refusing to adopt the overreaching FISA Amendments Act, which would give the executive branch carte blanche to wiretap on US soil and grant complete retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that facilitated years of illegal surveillance. We are also heartened by the role retained by the FISA court in overseeing the program as well as the two-year sunset on the legislation."

"Women have made great strides in the fight for equality, but gender bias continues to create huge barriers for many—especially immigrants, women of color, women with low incomes, and victims of domestic violence. Women's History Month draws attention to the women who have fought for the rights we have today, and at the same time highlights the ongoing struggles for women's equality, such as ensuring economic and educational opportunities for all women, ending violence against women, and addressing the harms to women and girls caught up in the criminal justice system. Since 1972 the ACLU Women's Rights Project has been working to systematically end discrimination against women and girls and to challenge the obstacles that prevent women and girls from participating fully in all aspects of society."

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: Good Practices for the Protection of Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings Involving Organized Crime, January 2008.

Follow up to December 11, 2007 posting Retroactivity Approved for Crack Cocaine Guideline, from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts : "As of March 3, 2008, more than 21,000 inmates serving time for federal crimes involving crack cocaine will be eligible to have their sentences reduced. Federal courts already are preparing to rule on requests from inmates, some imprisoned since 1992...The USSC, an independent agency within the federal Judiciary, amended the Guidelines to lower the base offense level for crack cocaine by two levels. For example, the penalty for a first-time offender found with 10 grams of crack would be reduced by two levels, from a range of 63—78 months in prison to a range of 51—63 months."

Secrecy News: "The Office of the Director of National Intelligence provided an overview of U.S. intelligence data mining development programs in...Data Mining Report,” ODNI Report to Congress, February 15, 2008. Data mining is used by intelligence agencies to search through databases in order to discern patterns of activity that could indicate a threat to national security."

"This Registry of USG Recommended Biometric Standards (Registry) supplements the NSTC Policy for Enabling the Development, Adoption and Use of Biometric Standards. This Registry is based upon interagency consensus on biometric standards required to enable the interoperability of various Federal biometric applications, and to guide Federal agencies as they develop and implement related biometric programs. Version 1.0 of this Registry document is being presented to the public for review, with comments due by March 10, 2008. The Subcommittee will review all comments received, make necessary adjustments, and finalize the Registry through normal NSTC approval processes. The Subcommittee will continuously review the content of this document, and release updated versions as required to assist agencies in the implementation and reinforcement process of biometric standards to meet agency-specific mission needs."

DHS press releases, February 1, 2008: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it has begun collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (O'Hare), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Hartsfield), and George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport (Bush Intercontinental). The change is part of the department's upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection to enhance security and facilitate legitimate travel by more accurately and efficiently establishing and verifying visitors' identities."

FindLaw: U.S. v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al. (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Feb. 11, 2008) - "The U.S. Department of Defense announced that six high-value detainees held in Guantanamo Bay were charged, under the Military Commissions Act, with planning and executing the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Specific charges include violations of the laws of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destroying of property in violation of the laws of war, terrorism, and material support to terrorism."

• Update on Detainee Military Commissions - Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, Legal Adviser to the Convening Authority, Department of Defense, Office of Military Commissions, Foreign Press Center Briefing, Washington, DC, February 11, 2008


• DOD Transcript, Sept. 11 Co-Conspirators Charged, February 11, 2008


• CIA Director's Statement on 9/11 War Crimes Charges

Press release: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who also sits on the panel, sent a letter Thursday urging Attorney General Michael Mukasey to clarify testimony given to the Committee during last week’s Department of Justice oversight hearing. In the letter, they ask the Attorney General to explain the scope of the Department’s investigation into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes showing the use of harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, of al Qaeda terrorist suspects."

"A joint project of the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Progress & Freedom Foundation tracks more than 30 pieces of federal legislation that seek to protect children online, some of which pose serious threats to free speech. The reports released today summarize and categorize child online safety bills introduced in the 110th Congress, analyze free speech implications of key bills, and provide recommendations to Congress on how it can promote child online safety without impinging on First Amendment rights. February 06, 2008."

News.com: "Real ID's scope is surprisingly broad. Jurors could potentially be denied entrance to federal courthouses. So could prospective students visiting the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis or the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Tours of federal buildings such as the Pentagon and the Treasury Department could be affected, as could public hearings, conferences, and even concerts. And some Americans could be denied entrance to the U.S. Capitol building, the iconic heart of the nation's democracy...Starting May 11, unless your home state agrees to comply with the federal Real ID Act or unless it asks for an extension, you might have trouble getting into federal buildings. Click a state [interactive map include in this article] to see what that state has told us about whether or not its ID cards will meet Real ID requirements."

In a statement to the House of Commons, the PM said that the Government would look at ways of using intercept evidence as advised by the Chilcot Report. Guidelines would be drawn up to ensure that the interests of national security were never compromised, he said. The PM said:

"The use of intercept in evidence characterises a centraldilemma we face as a free society - that of preserving our liberties and the rule of law, while at the same time keeping our nation safe and secure. [The Chilcot Report - see text below] concludes that it should be possible to find a way to use some intercept material as evidence, provided - and only provided - that certain key conditions can be met. These conditions relate to the most vital imperative of all - that of safeguarding our national security. The Government accepts this recommendation - and takes the accompanying conditions very seriously."

What are Human Rights? Human Rights as Membership Rights in the Global Order, By Mathias Risse, Working Paper Number: RWP08-006. Submitted: 02/01/2008. Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.

REAL ID: What Should Congress Do Now? - CDT Analysis of the REAL ID Act and the Department of Homeland Security’s Final Regulations, February 1, 2008.

Second Annual Report to Congress, January 30, 2008 (36 pages, PDF): "As the efforts of the current Board come to a close, the Members wish to acknowledge and thank the many thousands of dedicated men and women in the Federal government whose responsibility it is to protect the homeland against terrorism consistent with the Constitution. We have been privileged to observe their training on the importance of privacy and civil liberties and witness their work first hand. The development of a privacy and civil liberties oversight infrastructure within the Federal government, as envisioned by IRTPA, is important. But nothing can substitute for the uncompromising daily commitment these individuals make to their jobs and Constitutional principles."

EPIC: "In a report that will appear in IEEE Security & Privacy, leading experts in computer security warn that legislation now under consideration in the Senate could make the United States vulnerable to attack. The paper Risking Communications security: Potential hazards of the Protect America Act warns that warrantless wiretapping creates creates serious security risks, including "danger of exploitation of the system by unauthorized users, danger of criminal misuse by trusted insiders, and danger of misuse by government agents."

"The Office for Victims of Crime has released the 2008 Resource Guide for National Crime Victims' Rights Week, April 13–19, 2008. Developed to help communities promote awareness of victim issues, this online guide includes camera-ready art files, public awareness posters, the 2008 theme DVD and screensaver, and more. The 2008 theme is "Justice for Victims. Justice for All." (NCJ 220102)

CDT Comments to DHS on Developing CCTV Best Practices, January 18, 2008: "As the December 17-18, 2007 workshop on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) made clear, there are many good CCTV “best practices” that have been developed by organizations such as The Constitution Project, ACLU, the American Bar Association, the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, and even the U.S. Park Police. CDT supports these efforts but believes an equally important question is, how can the public be assured that video surveillance “best practices” are being implemented in localities where federal homeland security funds are spent?"

"In comments filed [January 15, 2008]with the Department of Homeland Security, EPIC detailed its "Framework for Protecting Privacy & Civil Liberties If CCTV Systems Are Contemplated." EPIC explained that it "does not support the creation nor the expansion of video surveillance systems, because their limited benefits do not outweigh their enormous monetary and social costs." EPIC's guidelines explain that (1) alternatives to CCTV are preferred; (2) there must be a demonstrated need for the system; (3) the public and privacy and security experts must be consulted before the system is created; (4) Fair Information Practices Privacy Act of 1974, the 1980 OECD Privacy Guidelines and the Video Voyeurism Act. See EPIC's page on Video Surveillance."

U.S. Office of Special Counsel - No FEAR Act Report: Equal Employment Opportunity Data Fiscal Year 2007

Press release, January 11, 2009: "One of the biggest concerns we’ve had for the last several years, one we continue to have at the Department of Homeland Security, is how do we promote a secure form of identification across America? And Congress has spoken to this by passing the REAL ID Act several years ago, which provides that we have the obligation to set uniform security standards for the issuance of state driver’s licenses. When we went back and investigated the 9/11 attacks, one of the things which we found, and which the 9/11 Commission found, was that all but one of the hijackers carried a government-issued identification form – mostly driver’s licenses. And this government-issued ID helped the hijackers board airplanes, or remain in the country illegally. That’s why the 9/11 Commission recommended that we enhance the security of our driver’s licenses as a counterterrorism measure. And that’s why Congress set higher standards for driver’s licenses in the REAL ID Act. That’s also why the American people overwhelmingly support more security for driver’s licenses."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Management of Confidential Case Funds and Telecommunication Costs, Audit Report 08-03, January 2008, For Public Release.

"Individuals from an ever widening range of groups in Iran are subject to arrest on security grounds for political activism and peaceful dissent against the government. Those arrested are frequently detained in facilities operating outside the regular prison administration, most notoriously in Section 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, where they may be subjected to torture and abusive interrogation. After weeks or months the authorities frequently release those held on conditional bail or a suspended prison sentence, using the ever-present threat of a return to jail to intimidate them against further activism or open dissent."

Fact Sheet: U.S.-Libya Science and Technology Cooperation: Bilateral Framework Science and Technology Cooperation Agreements

"On 10 December, Human Rights Day, the Secretary-General launched a year-long campaign in which all parts of the United Nations family take part in the lead up to the 60th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on Human Rights Day 2008. The UDHR continues to hold the world record as the most translated document. With more than 360 language versions to help them, UN organizations around the globe will use the year to focus on helping people everywhere to learn about their human rights. The UDHR was the first international recognition that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms and it continues to be a living and relevant document today."

"...the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) provides that United States citizens and nonimmigrant aliens may enter the United States only with passports or such alternative documents as the Secretary of Homeland Security may designate as satisfactorily establishing identity and citizenship... The vicinity RFID electronic chip contains only one item of information--a unique identifying number that has meaning only inside the secure CBP computer system. No other form of personally identifiable information, such as name, date of birth, SSN, place of birth etc., will be electronically stored on the passport card or transmitted through RFID. All personal information will be contained in DHS systems and will only be accessible by authorized personnel through secure networks. Upon receipt of the passport card number, the border crosser's personal information will be downloaded from the CBP system and provided to the CBP officer. The CBP officer will then interview the individual, verify their identities, and determine the appropriate action to take. The WHTI passport card approach was not designed to be an automated system, and the use of vicinity RFID technology in this final rule reflects this reality. Rather, the RFID-based approach allows the CBP officers to do their jobs better and faster." [Federal Register: December 31, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 249)][Rules and Regulations][Page 74169-74173]

"Each year since 1997, the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International have undertaken what has now become the most comprehensive survey of global privacy ever published. The Privacy & Human Rights Report surveys developments in 70 countries, assessing the state of surveillance and privacy protection. The most recent report published in 2007 is probably the most comprehensive single volume report published in the human rights field. The report runs over 1,100 pages and includes 6,000 footnotes. More than 200 experts from around the world have provided materials and commentary. The participants range from eminent privacy scholars to high-level officials charged with safeguarding constitutional freedoms in their countries. Academics, human rights advocates, journalists and researchers provided reports, insight, documents and advice. In 2006 Privacy International took the decision to use this annual report as the basis for a ranking assessment of the state of privacy in all EU countries together with eleven non-EU benchmark countries."

"The Department of Homeland Security released grant guidance and application kits for two grant programs totaling more than $35 million to help states prepare to implement REAL ID provisions that require a standard format for state-issued driver's licenses. The REAL ID Demonstration Grant Program will provide $31.3 million in grants to the states to check motor vehicle records in other states to ensure drivers don't have multiple licenses, and to verify immigration status against federal records. It will help standardize methods by which states may seamlessly verify an applicant's information with another state and deploy verification capabilities that can be used by all states, while protecting personal identification information."

"The State of the World's Children 2007 (160 pages, PDF) examines the discrimination and disempowerment women face throughout their lives - and outlines what must be done to eliminate gender discrimination and empower women and girls. It looks at the status of women today, discusses how gender equality will move all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) forward, and shows how investment in women's rights will ultimately produce a double dividend: advancing the rights of both women and children."

White House: "S. 888, the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007, which expands criminal liability for participation in acts of genocide committed outside of the United States to persons not covered by current criminal law..."

New York Times, Hoover Planned Mass Jailings in 1950: "A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty. Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons. Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.” The F.B.I would “apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous” to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The arrests would be carried out under “a master warrant attached to a list of names” provided by the bureau."

Washington Post: "The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law."

Press release: "[December 17, 2007] House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey reiterating the Chairman's request to have a Department of Justice representative testify at Thursday's hearing on the Applicability of Federal Criminal Laws to the Interrogation of Detainees. Congressional leaders have already criticized the Department's refusal to provide any information about the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes and attempts to delay legislative inquiries into the matter. As Chairman Conyers' letter points out, the pending Justice Department investigation "should not be used as a shield against proper and necessary oversight."

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has received a second set of records from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) detailing behind-the-scenes briefings for lawmakers working to make substantial changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). EFF requested release of the records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) earlier this year...Last month, a federal judge ordered ODNI to release all documents by December 10. The first batch of records, made public on November 30, detailed contentious negotiations between Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and members of Congress that resulted in the passage of the Protect America Act...The second set of records contains more correspondence between McConnell and members of Congress, as well as heavily redacted versions of classified testimony delivered to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and an FAQ detailing how the National Security Agency performs electronic surveillance. Withheld records include ODNI presentation slides used to brief Congress on foreign intelligence issues, and other classified documents."

Trafficking in human beings: Internet recruitment. Misuse of the Internet for the recruitment of victims of trafficking in human beings, prepared by Athanassia P. Sykiotou, Lecturer in Criminology, Faculty of Law, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece). Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs Council of Europe 2007. (150 pages, PDF)

Follow up to Conyers, House Judiciary Members Question CIA, DOJ on Destroyed Interrogation Tapes, from the New York Times: Inquiry Begins Into Tapes’ Destruction: "The Justice Department and the Central Intelligence Agency’s internal watchdog on Saturday began a joint preliminary inquiry into the spy agency’s destruction of hundreds of hours of videotapes showing interrogations of top operatives of Al Qaeda. The announcement comes amid new questions about which officials inside the C.I.A. were involved in the decision to destroy the videotapes, which showed severe interrogation methods used on two Qaeda suspects, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The agency operative who ordered the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the chief of the C.I.A.’s national clandestine service, known as the Directorate of Operations until 2005. On Saturday, a government official who had spoken recently with Mr. Rodriguez on the matter said that Mr. Rodriguez told him that he had received approval from lawyers inside the clandestine service to destroy the tapes."

Follow up to December 6, 2007 posting, Report: CIA Destroyed Videos of Interrogations, this press release: "Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Reps. Robert Scott, William Delahunt and Jerrold Nadler sent letters to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Gen. Michael Hayden and Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting details about today's reports that the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogation activities. In particular, the members ask whether the Justice Department knew about the tapes and their destruction and whether Justice will now investigate the matter. The letters are linked...below."

A Report of the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery (CA ACTS) Task Force

New York Times: "The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program, according to current and former government officials...The destruction of the tapes raises questions about whether agency officials withheld information from Congress, the courts and the Sept. 11 commission about aspects of the program."

Legislative Text of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Substitution Act of 2007, S. 2402, introduced by Arlen Specter, December 3, 2007.

U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, filed November 23. 2007, ACLU v DHS: Proposed Order Granting Defendants’ Motion to Stay Proceeding Pending New Rulemaking.

Pretrial Release of Felony Defendants in State Courts, November 2007: "Presents findings on the pretrial release phase of the criminal justice process using data collected from a representative sample of felony cases filed in the 75 largest U.S. counties in May during even-numbered years from 1990 to 2004. It includes trends on pretrial release rates and the types of release used. Pretrial release rates are compared by arrest offense, demographic characteristics, and criminal history. Characteristics of released and detained defendants are also presented. Rates of pretrial misconduct including failure to appear and rearrest are presented by type of release, demographic characteristics, and criminal history."

"Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties) is one of the UK’s leading civil liberties and human rights organisations. Liberty works to promote human rights and protect civil liberties through a combination of test case litigation, lobbying, campaigning and research."

"Hundreds of defendants sitting in prisons nationwide have been convicted with the help of an FBI forensic tool that was discarded more than two years ago. But the FBI lab has yet to take steps to alert the affected defendants or courts, even as the window for appealing convictions is closing, a joint investigation by The Washington Post and "60 Minutes" has found."

AP: "Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information...Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation...said Kerr ignores the distinction between sacrificing protection from an intrusive government and voluntarily disclosing information in exchange for a service."

• Military Personnel: Federal Agencies Have Taken Actions to Address Servicemembers' Employment Rights, but a Single Entity Needs to Maintain Visibility to Improve Focus on Overall Program Results, GAO-08-254T, November 08, 2007
• Terrorist Watch List Screening: Recommendations to Promote a Comprehensive and Coordinated Approach to Terrorist-Related Screening, GAO-08-253T, November 08, 2007.
  • Related posting: Complaints Mount as Errors in Terror Watch List Grow
  Permanent Link

Press release: "In a letter sent Wednesday to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) again requested legal memoranda outlining the White House’s justifications and policies on torture and interrogation. Such documents have long been requested but not provided. The New York Times recently reported on two secret 2005 memoranda that reversed government policy to allow combinations of extreme techniques, and this week in a court filing the Government conceded there were three such memoranda."

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing, The Role of Local Law Enforcement in Countering Violent Islamist Extremism, October 30, 2007.

• Cultural Challenges in Cross Border Mediation, by Vikrant Singh Negi
• Persuading Judges in Writing: Tips for Lawyers (And how technology can help), by Troy Simpson
• Competitive Intelligence on a Shoestring, by Susan Armstrong and Sabrina I. Pacifici
• E-Discovery Update: Discovery of Employee-Owned Computer Equipment, by Conrad J. Jacoby
• The Government Domain: Journalists and Government Information: SLA-DGI/GODORT Joint Meeting, by Peggy Garvin
• FOIA Facts - FOIA Litigation: When A Loss Isn't Always A Loss, by Scott A. Hodes
• LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - Nation of Secrets and Presidential Secrecy and the Law
• CongressLine by GalleryWatch.com: Lobbying and Ethics Rules, by Paul Jenks
• After Hours: Recommended Reading, by Kathy Biehl
• Rule the Web, by Julia Wotipka
• Commentary: Congress Looks Again at FISA, by Beth Wellington

American Bar Assocation Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project releases the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Report, October 28, 2007. Related documents are as follows:

• Executive Summary of the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Report


• Full Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report


• Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Guide


• Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assesment Team Biographies


• Fact Sheet: Problems with Pennsylvania's Death Penalty System and Recommendations for Reform


• Compliance Charts: Pennsylvania's Compliance with ABA Recommendations


• Frequently Asked Questions

Senate Intelligence Committee, S. Rpt. 110-209, Report to Accompany FISA Amendments Act of 2007.

Follow up to previous postings on the nomination of Michael B. Mukasey to be Attorney General, today's press release provides additional documents: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Friday released written questions and correspondence submitted for the record to Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey. Consistent with standard committee practice, Senators were given a week to submit written follow-up questions to the nominee. The written queries focus on topics addressed in the two days of Judge Mukasey’s confirmation hearings -- including torture policy and the warrantless wiretapping program – as well as other subjects."

Press release, October 18, 2007: "Senator Jay Rockefeller and Senator Kit Bond, Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee...announced that the Senate Intelligence Committee passed legislation to modernize FISA. The bill, which passed by a strong bipartisan vote, will improve the recently enacted Protect America Act that aimed to fix collection problems related to foreign intelligence surveillance."

Press release: "Three telecommunications companies have provided responses to inquiries by the Committee on Energy and Commerce about their involvement with the National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping program. On October 2, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sent letters to AT&T, Verizon and Qwest, requesting that the telecommunications companies provide details on the reported efforts by government agencies to obtain information about customers’ telephone and Internet use."

Press release: "New documents uncovered as a result of an American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit reveal that the Department of Defense secretly issued hundreds of national security letters (NSLs) to obtain private and sensitive records of people within the United States without court approval. A comprehensive analysis of 455 NSLs issued after 9/11 shows that the Defense Department seems to have collaborated with the FBI to circumvent the law, may have overstepped its legal authority to obtain financial and credit records, provided misleading information to Congress, and silenced NSL recipients from speaking out about the records requests, according to the ACLU...All of the Defense Department documents obtained by the ACLU are available here."

Press release: "Project Vote releases a report today, Representational Bias in the 2006 Electorate, by Douglas Hess that finds a continuing problem with the U.S. electorate: those who are registered and vote are not representative of the overall U.S. population eligible to vote. The proportion of the U.S. population that registers to vote and that does vote is highly skewed towards Whites, the educated and the wealthy. Furthermore, young eligible Americans, particularly young minority males, and those who have recently moved, are disproportionately represented among those who do not participate in the U.S. electorate."

Follow up to October 9, 2007 posting, Conyers, Reyes Introduce FISA Revision Legislation, today's press release: "The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence voted 12-7 today to send the RESTORE Act (H.R. 3773) to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration."

Press release: "Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) introduced The Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act of 2007 – the RESTORE Act,in an effort to address concerns about civil liberty protections in the hastily-enacted Protect America Act that was signed into law in early August. The RESTORE ACT restores court oversight of intelligence gathering by requiring that electronic surveillance programs be approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court, mandating that FISA warrants be obtained when the government wants to undertake surveillance of persons in the US, and authorizing continued oversight of programs by the Court, Congress, and independent auditors."

US Courts: "The Judicial Conference has expressed concerns about proposed regulations issued by the Department of Justice for states seeking to qualify for expedited federal habeas corpus review procedures in capital cases. Concerns about the certification-implementation regulations proposed June 6, 2007, were aired in an August 1 letter from the Conference to DOJ. In 1996, Congress enacted Chapter 154 of the U.S. Code’s Title 28 as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). Chapter 154 provides for expedited procedures in federal capital habeas corpus cases when a state is able to establish that it has provided qualified, competent, adequately resourced, and adequately compensated