Category «Civil Liberties»

Human Responsibility, Not Legal Personhood, for Nonhuman Animals

Cupp, Richard L., Focusing on Human Responsibility Rather than Legal Personhood for Nonhuman Animals (2016). 33 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 517 (2016); Pepperdine University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 17. Available for download at SSRN. “This essay supports an emphasis on evolving standards of human responsibility for animals’ welfare and critiques the concept of legal …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Chronicle of Higher Education Title IX tracker

Sara Lipka June 02, 2016 – “Several years into a heated national discussion of campus sexual assault, there’s still not much consensus on what will signal progress. One of the most active fronts is federal enforcement: Under the gender-equity law known as Title IX, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is now investigating 192 …

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

A Few Easy Steps Everyone Should Take to Protect Their Digital Privacy

Via ACLU – “Much of the privacy protection we need in today’s world can’t happen without technological and legislative solutions, and the ACLU will continue leading the fight for digital security and privacy through our litigation and advocacy efforts. But there are simple steps that everyone can take to improve their digital privacy. While there …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, PC Security, Privacy, Search Engines

TSA Is Taking Steps to Improve Expedited Screening Effectiveness, but Improvements in Screener Oversight Are Needed

Aviation Security: TSA Is Taking Steps to Improve Expedited Screening Effectiveness, but Improvements in Screener Oversight Are Needed, GAO-16-707T: Published: Jun 7, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 7, 2016. “In 2015, TSA screened or oversaw the screening of more than 708 million passengers at more than 450 U.S airports. In carrying out the screening process, TSA …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Defense, Government Documents, Privacy, Transportation

Joint Center Report: Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence

“April 29, 2016 the Joint Center, the Urban Institute, and the Joyce Foundation released our report Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence: A Road Map for Safer Communities. The conversation around gun violence in the United States is often focused on mass shootings, but too often ignores its devastating effects on communities of color. African-Americans account for …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

State Department releases Country Reports on Terrorism 2015

“[June 1, 2016] the State Department is issuing the Country Reports on Terrorism, which describes the counterterrorism landscape during the last calendar year and fulfills an important congressional mandate. The report allows us to regularly assess our effectiveness and make informed assessments about policies and priorities and where to place resources. In 2015, the United …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Defense, Government Documents

Announcing the Net Data Directory

“The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is delighted to announce the launch of the Net Data Directory, a free, publicly available, searchable database of different sources of data about the Internet. The directory is intended to make finding useful quantitative data about a broad range of Internet-related topics—broadband, cybersecurity, freedom of expression, and more—easier …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybersecurity, Education, Free Speech, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Social Explorer in NY Times article on Murder in Chicago

“While murder rates in Los Angeles and New York continue to decline each year, Chicago’s has increased by 62 percent. In The New York Times feature “Chicago’s Murder Problem,” Ford Fessenden and Haeyoun Park investigate the issues from homicide rates to gun violence to gang activity to segregation. They visualize their findings in maps and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Set your data free and reap the rewards

“…Make data available. So what do you do? Many disciplines, universities, and federal agencies have started to build repositories, slowly filling caverns of data to mine. The best ones allow for easy uploading and a pathway to making these observations machine-readable, with provenance information and metadata inseparable from the pudding that is your data. Well-known …

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

Federal Appellate Court Strikes Potential Death Blow to Privacy in New Cell Site Location Information Case

Via EFF – “This week, the full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals—in a decision that impacts residents in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia—held that you have no expectation of privacy in historical location data generated by your cell phone. This decision, which follows decisions from four other federal appellate courts, means …

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

European Commission and IT Companies announce Code of Conduct on illegal online hate speech

Brussels, 31 May 2016 – “The Commission together with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft (“the IT companies”) today unveil a code of conduct that includes a series of commitments to combat the spread of illegal hate speech online in Europe. The IT Companies support the European Commission and EU Member States in the effort to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, EU Data Protection, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy