Category «Civil Liberties»

March Is Women's History Month

“One hundred years ago, suffragists marched on Washington to promote women’s rights. In recognition of the anniversary, the National Archives created a Pinterest board where you can view photos, letters, a cartoon, and other documents from that period. Visit WomensHistoryMonth.gov to learn about generations of women who’ve contributed to American society.”

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government

Innocence Project – New Report on Indigent Defense Examines Philadelphia Homicide Verdicts

Via The Innocence Project Blog: “A new report funded by the National Institute of Justice titled, Measuring the Effect of Defense Counsel on Homicide Case Outcomes, examines the difference that a lawyer makes to the outcome of serious criminal cases in Philadelphia. Since April 1993, every fifth murder case in Philadelphia is sequentially assigned at …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research

EPIC Prevails in Two FOIA Cases, Obtains Further Details on Body Scanners

Follow up to related postings on TSA body scanners, via EPIC: “A federal judge has granted EPIC victories in two Freedom of Information Act cases involving the controversial airport body scanners. Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, DC held that the Department of Homeland Security must turn over two safety reports detailing radiation output by the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Legal Research

Human Rights Considerations in International Investment Arbitration

Via SSRN: Human Rights Considerations in International Investment Arbitration, Eric De Brabandere, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, March 8, 2013 “Despite the apparent opposition between the two concepts, human rights protection and international investment law in fact share many common features, the most important being the weak or vulnerable position of both individuals and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research

OECD – Invisible Women: Making Women Count

“As part of the Wikiprogress on Gender Equality series, this progblog article is bought to you by Angela Hariche and Karen Barnes Robinson. “First, women are not being recognised. They are undervalued. In 2009, the European Commission launched a campaign to address the fact that on average, women earn 17.4% less than men. In the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties

New Documents Reveal U.S. Marshals’ Drones Experiment

“The use of surveillance drones is growing rapidly in the United States, but we know little about how the federal government employs this new technology. Now, new information obtained by the ACLU shows for the first time that the U.S. Marshals Service has experimented with using drones for domestic surveillance. We learned this through documents …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Privacy

EPIC Testifies Before Maryland Legislature on Location Privacy

“EPIC Appellate Advocacy Counsel Alan Butler testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee on H.B. 887, a location privacy bill that will establish a search warrant requirement for the collection of private location information. Mr. Butler discussed the current state of location tracking and privacy under the state and federal constitutions. The Maryland bill will …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

EPIC – DHS Working Group to Consider Privacy Impact of Drones

“The Department of Homeland Security has released a previously internal memo regarding the establishment of a working group to “Safeguard Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties in the Department’s Use and Support of Unmanned Aerial Systems” (drones). The memo states, “[t]he overarching goal of the working group is to determine what policies and procedures are …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Privacy

UN – Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

UN General Assembly – Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, 5 February 2013 “The depth of the Syrian tragedy is poignantly reflected in the accounts of its victims. Their harrowing experiences of survival detail grave human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The destructive dynamics of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

EPIC Obtains New Documents About FBI Cellphone Tracking Technology

EPIC – “In the fifth interim release of documents in EPIC v. FBI, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the agency has turned over nearly 300 pages about the surveillance technique directed toward users of mobile phones. The documents obtained by EPIC reveal that agents have been using “cell site simulator” technologies, also known as …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research, Privacy

EPIC Urges Public Support for Driver Privacy Safeguards

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed regulations for event data recorders (EDR) that will become mandatory in all cars and small trucks by 2014. Building on state privacy laws, EPIC has urged the federal agency to adopt comprehensive privacy safeguards for vehicle owners and operators, including driver ownership of data, limitations on disclosure, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Privacy