Category «Civil Liberties»

Country Reports on Terrorism 2013

United States Department of State Publication, Bureau of Counterterrorism, April 2014: “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 is submitted in compliance with Title 22 of the United States  Code, Section 2656f (the “Act”), which requires the Department of State to provide to Congress a full and complete annual report on terrorism for those countries and groups meeting the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, Government Documents

Pew – Public strongly backs affirmative action programs on campus

“The use of affirmative action programs in college admissions has roiled campuses and the public for years, leading to state-passed laws banning the practice and to the April 22nd Supreme Court ruling upholding a Michigan voter initiative banning the use of racial preferences. But while the debate and the battles continue, a new Pew Research Center poll finds that …

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

Paper – The Grey Web

The Grey Web – Dataveillance Vision Fulfilled through the Evolving Web. Richard Gomer, University of Southampton; Natasa Milic-Frayling, Microsoft Research; m.c. schraefel, University of Southampton. 2014. “Over the past three decades, Web has evolved from an information medium to an intricate economic ecosystem. Initially focused on supporting the transition from traditional business practices to e-commerce, the Web has given rise to new, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Commerce, Economy, Internet, Marketing, Microsoft, Privacy

Recidivism Of Prisoners Released In 30 States In 2005: Patterns From 2005 To 2010

Alexia D. Cooper, Ph.D., Matthew R. Durose, Howard N. Snyder, Ph.D. April 22, 2014. NCJ 244205 “Examines the 5-year post-release offending patterns of persons released from state prisons in 2005 by offender characteristics, prior criminal history, and commitment offense. It provides estimates on the number and types of crimes former inmates commit both prior to their …

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

Children’s Rights: International and National Laws and Practices

Via the Law Library of Congress, the following reports: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Nicaragua, Russia, and the United Kingdom (England and Wales). For each nation, the study focuses on the domestic laws and policies that affect child health and social welfare, education and special needs, child labor and exploitation, sale and trafficking of children, and juvenile justice. Children’s Rights also lists which pertinent international …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

WaPo – Surveillance court rejected Verizon challenge to NSA calls program

Ellen Nakashima’s article [snipped] – Verizon in January filed a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s program that collects billions of Americans’ call-detail records, but a surveillance court rejected it, according to newly declassified documents and individuals with knowledge of the matter. In denying the phone company’s petition in March, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Mail, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Executive Order 13636 Privacy and Civil Liberties Assessment Report 2014

“Executive Order 13636, Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, requires that senior agency officials for privacy and civil liberties assess the privacy and civil liberties impacts of the activities their respective departments and agencies have undertaken to implement the Executive Order, and to publish their assessments annually in a report compiled by the DHS Privacy Office and Office for …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research

EFF Outlines Key Issues With Mass Surveillance to Government Oversight Board

“EFF recently filed comments with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) concerning Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (FAA), one of the key statutes under which the government claims it can conduct mass surveillance of innocent people’s communications and records from inside the US. EFF maintains that the government’s activities under Section 702 that we know …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Internet, Patriot Act, Privacy

The Bureau of Prisons: Operations and Budget

CRS – The Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Operations and Budget. Nathan James, Analyst in Crime Policy, March 4, 2014 “The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is the largest correctional agency in the country, in terms of the number of prisoners under its jurisdiction. The BOP must confine any offender convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in a federal court. Changes in federal criminal …

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

Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault (2014)

“The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) measures the rates at which Americans are victims of crimes, including rape and sexual assault, but there is concern that rape and sexual assault are undercounted on this survey. BJS asked the National Research Council to investigate this issue and recommend best practices for …

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

FBI Plans to Have 52 Million Photos in NGI Face Recognition Database by Next Year

EFF – “New documents released by the FBI show that the Bureau is well on its way toward its goal of a fully operational face recognition database by this summer. EFF received these records in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information on Next Generation Identification (NGI)—the FBI’s massive biometric database that may hold records on …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

CRS Report – Foreign Assistance to North Korea

Foreign Assistance to North Korea – Mark E. Manyin, Specialist in Asian Affairs; Mary Beth D. Nikitin, Specialist in Nonproliferation. April 2, 2014 “Food Aid. Large swathes of North Korea’s population have suffered from chronic malnutrition since the mid-1990s. Food aid—largely from China, South Korea, and the United States—has been essential in filling the gap between North Korea’s supply and demand, though …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents