Category «Civil Liberties»

Spiegel Online – NSA Can Spy on Smart Phone Data

“The United States’ National Security Agency intelligence-gathering operation is capable of accessing user data from smart phones from all leading manufacturers. Top secret NSA documents that SPIEGEL has seen explicitly note that the NSA can tap into such information on Apple iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Google’s Android mobile operating system. The documents state that it …

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

Yahoo’s first transparency report cites more than 12,000 US data requests

IDG News Service – “Yahoo received 12,444 requests from the U.S. government for user data in the first half of this year, resulting in 11,402 instances of data disclosure, it said Friday in its first transparency report. For nearly 7,000 of the U.S. requests between Jan. 1 and June 30, only non-content data was disclosed, …

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

WaPo – Obama administration had restrictions on NSA reversed in 2011

Ellen Nakashima: “The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases, according to interviews with government officials and recently declassified material. In addition, the court extended …

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

Pew – Anonymity, Privacy, and Security Online

Anonymity, Privacy, and Security Online by Lee Rainie, Sara Kiesler, Ruogu Kang, Mary Madden Sep 5, 2013 “A new survey finds that most internet users would like to be anonymous online, but many think it is not possible to be completely anonymous online. Some of the key findings: 86% of internet users have taken steps …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, Government Documents, Internet, Privacy

Guardian – US and UK spy agencies defeat privacy and security on the internet

James Ball, Julian Borger and Glenn Greenwald – NSA and GCHQ unlock encryption used to protect emails, banking and medical records: “US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward …

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

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Employment

CRS – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Employment: A Legal Analysis of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Jody Feder, Legislative Attorney; Cynthia Brougher, Legislative Attorney. July 15, 2013 “Introduced in various incarnations in every congressional session since the 103rd Congress, the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA; H.R. 1755/S. 815) would prohibit discrimination based …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Legal Research, Legislation

Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry

Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry (EEO-1) “As part of its mandate under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires periodic reports from public and private employers, and unions and labor organizations which indicate the composition of their work forces by sex …

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

Web Resource Documents Latest Firestorm over NSA

“Recent press disclosures about National Security Agency (NSA) electronic surveillance activities — relying on documents provided by Edward Snowden — have sparked one of the most significant controversies in the history of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Today, the nongovernmental National Security Archive at The George Washington University posts a compilation of over 125 documents — …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

NYT – Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.’s

Scott Shane and Colin Moynihan: “For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls — parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency’s hotly disputed collection of phone …

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

UK Surveillance Camera Code of Practice comes into force

“The code sets out guidelines for CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems to ensure their use is open and proportionate and that they are able to capture quality images that give police a better chance to catch criminals and cut crime. It follows Andrew Rennison’s appointment as the first surveillance camera commissioner last year. The commissioner …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Commerce, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Congressional Authorizations of War: A Brief History

Via The Atlantic: All the Previous Declarations of War – Congress has formally declared war only 11 times in U.S. history, and authorized the use of military force 11 times. “As we head into a period of vigorous congressional debate over whether to authorize the use of force against Syria, it’s instructive to look back …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legislation

Fact Check – It is easier to buy an assault weapon than to vote in America

Via ThinkProgress – President Clinton declared in his speech delivered during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the March on Washington, “A great democracy does not make it harder to vote than to buy an assault weapon,” Clinton proclaimed. While Clinton also called on America to implement health care reform and invest in science and education, the gun line elicited …

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