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Category Archives: Civil Liberties

Florida Higher Ed Faces an Ideologically Driven Assault Unparalleled in US History

American Association of University Professors: “Earlier this year, the AAUP established a special committee to review the apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in Florida. Today, after interviewing dozens of faculty members at multiple public colleges and universities in the state, the committee has released a preliminary report concluding that academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history. If sustained, this onslaught threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country. The report includes four main findings: The Florida governor and state legislature are using their swift, aggressive, and ongoing “hostile takeover” of New College of Florida as a test case for future encroachments on public colleges and universities across the country. This “takeover” has proceeded through Governor DeSantis’s appointment of a slate of six highly partisan trustees, five of whom live outside the state and are publicly known as right-wing activists, to New College’s board of trustees. Their goals are to transform New College into a flagship right-wing institution by restructuring the administration and academic departments, developing a “new core curriculum,” and eliminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs….”

The full preliminary report from the AAUP special committee on Florida can be found here.

AI Initiatives from Biden Administration

Via Tech Policy Press: “A little more than a week ago, the White House released its national research and development strategy for artificial intelligence. The document joins the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, a phalanx of AI initiatives from the Biden administration, including: The White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights;… Continue Reading

Who Is Liable if AI Violates Your Human Rights?

Impakter: “Artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily life and will become more important over the years. It can solve complex problems, reduce human errors and increase productivity. However, if legal frameworks and paths of accountability do not adapt and evolve alongside swift technological advancements, AI may encounter human rights issues. This is… Continue Reading

Book removals may have violated student civil rights

Washington Post – free link: “In a move that could affect how schools handle book challenges, the federal government has concluded that a Georgia school district’s removal of titles with Black and LGBTQ characters may have created a “hostile environment” for students, potentially violating their civil rights. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights released… Continue Reading

U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism May 2023

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Releases First-Ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism [May 25, 2023] the Biden-Harris Administration is releasing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. This strategy includes over 100 new actions the Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the… Continue Reading

The Supreme Court Is Hiding Important Decisions From You

Politico: “As the Supreme Court begins to release its written opinions from its most recent term, much of the public’s attention is focused on high-profile cases on affirmative action, election law and environmental regulation. But according to Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas Law School, this narrow focus on the most headline-grabbing… Continue Reading

Parking Reform Network

“The Parking Reform Network, a US-based nonprofit that aims “to discourage the building of too much parking supply,” has compiled a map and dataset of ~1,400 relevant local mandates. They focus on policies that reduce or eliminate minimum parking requirements for new developments, or set maximums. For each mandate, the dataset provides a summary and… Continue Reading

The Prediction Society: Algorithms and the Problems of Forecasting the Future

MATSUMI, Hideyuki and Solove, Daniel J., The Prediction Society: Algorithms and the Problems of Forecasting the Future (May 19, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract= “Predictions about the future have been made since the earliest days of humankind, but today, we are living in a brave new world of prediction. Today’s predictions are produced by machine… Continue Reading

Wilson Center – Database to Track Police Use of Force Legislation

Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law: “This Registry contains information about legislation regarding policing introduced in states and at the federal level since 2018. The initial impetus for creating this collection was the surge of lawmaking concerning policing at the federal, state and local levels, beginning in Spring 2020, including in response… Continue Reading

Evolving Law in AI’s Hands? – Preliminary Experiments, Thoughts, Observations on the Basis of Chat GPT

Barth, Fabian, Evolving Law in AI’s Hands? – Preliminary Experiments, Thoughts and Observations on the Basis of Chat GPT (April 27, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4431234 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4431234 “Everyone operating in the field of law contributes to its evolution. That applies not only to judges, but also to advisors and academics who, collectively, form and… Continue Reading

Digital Privacy Legislation is Civil Rights Legislation

EFF: “Our personal data and the ways private companies harvest and monetize it plays an increasingly powerful role in modern life. Corporate databases are vast, interconnected, and opaque. The movement and use of our data is difficult to understand, let alone trace. Yet companies use it to reach inferences about us, leading to lost employment,… Continue Reading