Category «Civil Liberties»

BuzzFeed Analysis – Government Data On 20 Years Of Workplace Sexual Harassment Claims

“BuzzFeed News received a trove of data on every sexual harassment claim filed between fiscal years 1995 and 2016 with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that enforces laws meant to protect workers from discrimination. The more than 170,000 claims, which didn’t include identifying details, represent just a sliver of the countless …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents

Court Recognizes First Amendment Right to Anonymity Even After Speakers Lose Lawsuits

Aaron Mackey – EFF: “Anonymous online speakers may be able to keep their identities secret even after they lose lawsuits brought against them, a federal appellate court ruled last week. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Signature Management Team, LLC v. John Doe is a victory for online …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research, Privacy

Politico – highest posting twitter accounts by US elected official and hashtags from activist orgs

“YEAR-END NUMBERS FROM TWITTER — Top tweeted U.S. elected officials: 1. @RealDonaldTrump … 2. @VP … 3. @SpeakerRyan … 4. @BarackObama … 5. @TedLieu … 6. @SenJohnMcCain … 7. @SenWarren … 8. @SenateMajLdr 9. … @SenSanders … 10. @SenSchumer … Top tweeted news outlets and the top tweeted journalist/commentator at each: 1. @FoxNews — @SeanHannity …

Subjects: Blogs, Civil Liberties, Congress, Social Media

Facebook to Temporarily Block Advertisers From Excluding Audiences by Race

The social network’s actions come after a ProPublica investigation revealed that Facebook failed to keep its promise to reject discriminatory housing ads. “Facebook said it would temporarily stop advertisers from being able to exclude viewers by race while it studies the use of its ad targeting system. “Until we can better ensure that our tools …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Housing, Legal Research, Social Media

Trace is partnering with local TV stations to report major gun stories

NeimanLab, Ricardo Bilton: – The role of gun thefts in crimes in is a big, complex issue in the U.S., and to cover it, single-topic gun issues news site The Trace needed some help. Last week, the site published Missing Pieces, the product of a deep, yearlong investigation into how stolen firearms have been used …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Asylum Representation Rates Have Fallen Amid Rising Denial Rates

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Very recent Immigration Court records reveal that the proportion of asylum seekers who are unable to obtain representation has risen markedly. Ten years ago during FY 2007, only 13.6 percent were unrepresented. Five years ago (FY 2012), 15.8 percent were unrepresented. In FY 2017 the unrepresented figure was 20.6 percent. At …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research

New on LLRX – Bail in Justice: Innocence, Indigence and Incarceration

Via LLRX – Bail in Justice: Innocence, Indigence and Incarceration – Ken Strutin’s exemplary research once again advances our understanding of critical issues pertaining to our justice system in the United States. According to Strutin: ‘the number of innocent people in post-conviction confinement is counted in the thousands, the pre-trial population of the unconvicted is …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research

Pew – Public Defenders Fight Back Against Budget Cuts, Growing Caseloads

Pew Charitable Trusts: “Public defenders have complained for decades they’ve got too many cases and not enough money — or time — to do their clients justice. Now, more public defense advocates are suing states for more funding. Overwhelmed public defenders also are increasingly trying other tactics: refusing to take on new cases, raising money …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Legal Research

Jameel Jaffer: Government Secrecy in the Age of Information Overload

“Jameel Jaffer, Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and former Deputy Legal Director for the ACLU, delivered the tenth annual Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on October 17,  2017, entitled “Government Secrecy in the Age of Information Overload.” Following is a …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management

Asylum Decisions Depend on Judge Assigned – SF and Newark Have Worst Records

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Very recent data from the Immigration Courts, current through September 2017, reveals that the outcome for asylum seekers continues to depend on the identity of the immigration judge assigned to hear the case. In the San Francisco as well as the Newark Immigration Courts, for example, the odds of being granted …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research