Category «Civil Liberties»

100 Days Post-Roe: At Least 66 Clinics Across 15 US States Have Stopped Offering Abortion Care

Guttmacher Institute: “October 2, 2022 marked 100 days since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that has resulted in states across the nation severely restricting access to abortion. New Guttmacher research found that 100 days after the June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, 66 clinics across 15 states …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights

White House: “To advance President Biden’s vision, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has identified five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence. The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights is a guide for a …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Data Governance, Digital Rights, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Algorithmic Accountability Act: Potential Coverage Gaps in the Healthcare Sector

ABA: “The proposed Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022, H.R. 6580, 117th Cong. (2022), requires companies to implement assessments of their algorithmic decision tools to detect issues with privacy and discrimination among others. The Act would be enforced by the FTC, which may not have jurisdiction over some companies, such as non-profits and companies in the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Legislation

Supreme Court Trust, Job Approval at Historical Lows

Gallup: “Forty-seven percent of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the judicial branch of the federal government that is headed by the Supreme Court. This represents a 20-percentage-point drop from two years ago, including seven points since last year, and is now the lowest in Gallup’s …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

Lawless Surveillance

Friedman, Barry, Lawless Surveillance (February 1, 2022). 97 N.Y.U. L. Rev. (2022), NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 22-28, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4111547 “Here in the United States, policing agencies are engaging in mass collection of personal data, building a vast architecture of surveillance. License plate readers collect our location information. Mobile …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy

January 6th on the Record: The Investigation into the Attack on the U.S. Capitol

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) “is pleased to announce the release of January 6th on the Record: The Investigation into the Attack on the U.S. Capitol, a free ebook compendium of materials related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the subsequent hearings held by the House Select Committee investigating the attack. At …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, Education, Legal Research

The Supreme Court’s new term could be even more consequential than its last one

Vox – The Republican justices who overruled Roe v. Wade are only getting started. “The headline of this piece is likely to turn a few heads. The Supreme Court’s last term, after all, was an orgy of conservative excess unlike any since the Court’s Great Depression-era attacks on the New Deal. And it culminated in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Courts, Free Speech, Government Documents, Health Care, Legislation

You can ban a book, but can you stop teens from finding it online?

Washington Post – Online resources are at the center of the national battle between limiting and expanding book access for teenagers: “Books are being banned in U.S. school libraries in record numbers, led largely by conservative lawmakers and activists. This week, libraries and anti-censorship groups are among those hosting Banned Books Week to call attention …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Internet, Libraries

The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools

Pen America – Banned in the USA: “Key Findings: More books banned; More districts; More states; More students losing access to literature. “More” is the operative word for this report on school book bans, which offers the first comprehensive look at bans throughout the 2021–22 school year.  This report offers an update on the count …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

U.S. Agencies Are Buying Access to Bulk Internet Records

Gizmodo – “Sen. Ron Wyden urged inspectors general at three departments to investigate the military’s purchases of large swaths of data: “Multiple military intelligence offices have paid a data broker for access to internet traffic logs, which could reveal the online browsing histories of U.S. citizens, Sen. Ron Wyden said in a letter Wednesday, citing …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, E-Mail, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Tracked: How colleges use AI to monitor student protests

The Dallas Morning News, Arijit (Ari) D. Sen [subscription or online database access. Note – they are also making public nearly 3,000 documents, covering more than 56,000 pages from these schools]: “The pitch was attractive and simple. For a few thousand dollars a year, Social Sentinel offered schools across the country sophisticated technology to scan …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, E-Mail, E-Records, Education, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Voter Registration: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress

CRS Report – Voter Registration: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress, September 19, 2022: “Voter registration policies are typically determined by state and local governments, subject to certain federal requirements. Historically, much of thefederalpolicy discussion surrounding voter registration has focused on providing access to registration opportunities. Some federal statutes that primarily address preserving voting access …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation