Category «Civil Liberties»

EPIC – Foreign Intelligence Court Releases Controversial Opinion on Domestic Telephone Records Program

“The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) has released an Opinion, justifying the NSA’s telephone record collection program. In the Opinion, Judge Claire Eagan states that “there is no Fourth Amendment impediment to the collection” of all domestic call detail records. Judge Eagan also concluded that all domestic call detail records are “relevant” under Section 215 because “individuals associated …

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

EFF – Thirteen Principles Against Unchecked Surveillance Launched at United Nations

Privacy Advocates Call Upon UN Member States to End Mass Internet Spying Worldwide: “Geneva – At the 24th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, six major privacy NGOs, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), warned nations of the urgent need comply with international human rights law to protect their citizens from …

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

Democratizing International Business and Human Rights by Catalyzing Strategic Litigation

Backer, Larry Catá and Haddad, Nabih and Teraoka, Tomonori and Wang, Keren, Democratizing International Business and Human Rights by Catalyzing Strategic Litigation: The Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the U.N. Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights from the Bottom Up (September 14, 2013). Available at SSRN “With the June 2011 endorsement of the U.N. …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Declassified FISA Court Opinion Released – Addresses Legality of Phone Metadata Collection

Ellen Nakashima – Washington Post: “A federal surveillance court on Tuesday released a declassified opinion upholding the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s sweeping collection of billions of Americans’ phone records for counterterrorism purposes. The gathering of “all call detail records” from phone companies is justified as long as the government can show that it …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

TRAC: Few ICE Detainers Target Serious Criminals

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Very timely case-by-case data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show that no more than 14 percent of the “detainers” issued by the government in FY 2012 and the first four months of FY 2013 met the agency’s stated goal of targeting individuals who pose a serious threat to public safety …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Legal Research

United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic

United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic Report on the Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in the Ghouta Area of Damascus on 21 August 2013 Note by the Secretary-General “1.In transmitting simultaneously to the Security Council and the General Assembly the report on the incident …

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

HomeTruths: Domestic Workers in California

“Domestic workers play a significant role in the California economy, yet these workers are vulnerable to substandard employment because their work is both invisible and largely excluded from employment protections. Nannies, caregivers, and housecleaners, hired directly by their employers, are not subject to a range of protections that apply to other workers. They are excluded from …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Report – U.N. Rights Panel Presents Syria War Crimes Evidence

New York Times: “As the United States and Russia searched for a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Syria’s chemical weapons, a four-person United Nations rights panel presented detailed evidence on Wednesday of what it said were war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by pro-government forces and, to a lesser extent, rebels in the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Office of National Intelligence Releases New Documents on NSA Surveillance

EPIC: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has just released new documents concerning the NSA’s surveillance programs. The documents, which include numerous filings with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, date back to 2006. The documents specifically relate to the governments collection of information under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. In a …

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

Analysis of Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria

Human Rights Watch: “This 22-page report documents two alleged chemical weapons attacks on the opposition-controlled suburbs of Eastern and Western Ghouta, located 16 kilometers apart, in the early hours of August 21, 2013. Human Rights Watch analyzed witness accounts of the rocket attacks, information on the likely source of the attacks, the physical remnants of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Health Care

UN World Happiness Report 2013

“As with last year’s report, we have again assembled the available international happiness data on how people rate both their emotions and their lives as a whole. We divide the available measures into three main types: measures of positive emotions (positive affect) including happiness, usually asked about the day preceding the survey; measures of negative …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management

Infographic – Current US Health Care Costs of War

The Healthcare Costs of War – “The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost billions of dollars over the last decade, but the spending won’t stop when the fighting does. Just how much money are we spending on health care because of war? As of March 2013, the U.S. has paid $135 billion for medical …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

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