Category «Civil Liberties»

I Verified My LinkedIn Identity. Here’s What I Actually Handed Over.

The Local Stack: “I wanted the blue checkmark on LinkedIn. The one that says “this person is real.” In a sea of fake recruiters, bot accounts, and AI-generated headshots, it seemed like a smart thing to do. So I tapped “verify.” I scanned my passport. I took a selfie. Three minutes later — done. Badge …

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

Training for New ICE Agents Is ‘Deficient’ and ‘Broken,’ Whistle-Blower Says

“Today, U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released a memorandum and previously undisclosed documents revealing new details about drastic cuts the Trump Administration is making to the training and testing of new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) officers. The documents were produced to Blumenthal via …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research

Metadata Exposes Authors of ICE’s ‘Mega’ Detention Center Plans

Wired [no paywall]: “Comments and other data left on a PDF detailing Homeland Security’s proposal to build “mega” detention and processing centers reveal the personnel involved in its creation. A PDF that Department of Homeland Security officials provided to New Hampshire governor Kelly Ayotte’s office about a new effort to build “mega” detention and processing …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Defense, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research

Trump Is Still Deporting People Wherever He Wants

The New Yorker – How the Administration is overwhelming federal courts and getting away with third-country removals. [no paywall]: “In March of 2025, the Trump Administration was widely criticized for sending more than two hundred Venezuelans to CECOT, a notoriously brutal mega-prison in El Salvador. Yet, over the past eleven months, the Administration has continued …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

DOJ Scrubs Record of Interviews With Trump Accuser From Epstein Files

Follow up to Epsteinalysis.com via The New Republic: “The Department of Justice spoke four separate times to a woman who credibly accused Donald Trump of having sex with a minor he met through Jeffrey Epstein—but most accusations against the president appear to have been removed from the government’s documents on the alleged sex trafficker. A …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

New SAVE Act Bills Would Still Block Millions of Americans From Voting

Follow up to White House Webpage Pushing Save Our Elections Act – Via the Brennan Center – New SAVE Act Bills Would Still Block Millions of Americans From Voting – Update: When this article was first published, the SAVE America Act included a provision that would have also required voters to show documents such as …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

White House Webpage Pushing Save Our Elections Act

Using the federal government official White House site, the Save our Elections Now is pushing hard to force Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or the SAVE Act.  Quoting the text on this page the goals and rationale are as follows: A Valid ID Before Registering to Vote in a Federal Election …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Maryland bans partnerships with ICE citing ‘unaccountable agents’

Follow up to my post today – Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act – See Also via the Washington Post: “Gov. Wes Moore signed legislation ending 287(g) agreements between the state’s law enforcement agencies and the federal immigration enforcement agency. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed into law Tuesday emergency legislation …

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

Trump Action Tracker

Trump Action Tracker – “Documenting the actions, statements, and plans of President Trump and his administration that echo those of authoritarian regimes and may pose a threat to American democracy, since January 2025…This project is led by Professor Christina Pagel, a UK-based health services researcher and science communicator. She created and maintains the dataset underlying …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Defense, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act

ICE.gov: “ICE’s 287(g) Program The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight. Likewise, Title 25 …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

New Report Helps Journalists Dig Deeper Into Police Surveillance Technology

EFF – “A new report released today offers journalists tips on cutting through the sales hype about police surveillance technology and report accurately on costs, benefits, privacy, and accountability as these invasive and often ineffective tools come to communities across the nation.  The “Selling Safety” report is a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot review – a unique memoir by a figure of astonishing power

The Guardian: “It is a mark of the power and honesty of Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir, A Hymn to Life – a seemingly impossible writing project in which the author must reconcile herself with horrors of which she has no recollection – that in the first 40 pages, the person I felt most angry towards was …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research, Recommended Books