Category «Civil Liberties»

New Legislation for Tougher Penalties For States That Don't Comply With Background Checks For Gun Purchases

News release: “Senator Charles E. Schumer, joined by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, announced today the introduction of legislation that would provide greater reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for individuals with mental illness, domestic violence records, and drug abusers, by increasing the penalties for states …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legislation

HHS: Regulation for the Enforcement of Federal Health Care Conscience Protections

Statement from the Department of Health and Human Services on the Regulation for the Enforcement of Federal Health Care Conscience Protections: “The administration strongly supports provider conscience laws that protect and support the rights of health care providers, and also recognizes and supports the rights of patients. Strong conscience laws make it clear that health …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

FOIA Request Yields FBI Documents on Expanding Federal Surveillance Laws

“EFF just received documents in response to a 2-year old FOIA request for information on the FBIs “Going Dark” program, an initiative to increase the FBI’s authority in response to problems the FBI says it’s having implementing wiretap and pen register/trap and trace orders on new communications technologies. The documents detail a fully-formed and well-coordinated …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Legal Research, Privacy

Commentary: Egyptians Find Their Power in Access to Information

Egyptians Find Their Power in Access to Information: “Make no mistake: Access to information, in a country with limited resources, served as the first catalyst for the Egyptian revolution that began January 25 and resulted 18 days later in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak after almost 30 years in office. The internet, along with …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Internet, Libraries

EFF Releases Report Analyzing Surveillance of Americans During Intelligence Investigations Conducted Between 2001 and 2008

Patterns of Misconduct: FBI Intelligence Violations from 2001 – 2008, A Report Prepared by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 2011 “In a review of nearly 2,500 pages of documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a result of litigation under the Freedom of Information Act, EFF uncovered alarming trends in the Bureaus intelligence …

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

Freedom in the World 2011 Survey Release

Freedom in the World 2011: The Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy, Washington, D.C, January 13, 2011: “Global freedom suffered its fifth consecutive year of decline in 2010, according to Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom Houses annual assessment of political rights and civil liberties around the world. This represents the longest continuous period of decline in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2011

“January 27 marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era. Every member nation of the U.N. has an obligation to honor …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Knowledge Management

China: Student Informant System to Expand, Limiting School Autonomy, Free Expression

Via FAS: China: Student Informant System to Expand, Limiting School Autonomy, Free Expression (U//FOUO – “Unclassified // For Official Use Only”)- 23 November 2010, CIA-DI-10-05021 [This report was prepared by the Open Source Works, which was charged by the Director for Intelligence with drawing on language trained analysts to mine open-source information for new or …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Government Documents, Privacy

Who Does Justice Look Like? Images of the symbol of law

Follow up to Justice Scalia’s Comments on equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, via Slate – Who Does Justice Look Like? Her changing features and skin color over the centuries, by Dennis Curtis and Judith Resnik “Justice Antonin Scalia recently reminded us that when the 14th Amendment was …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts

New Report – Domestic Intelligence: New Powers, New Risks

Domestic Intelligence: New Powers, New Risks [released 01/18/11], by Emily Berman – Counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice “Successful domestic counterterrorism policy is vital to keep the homeland safe. In this effort, policymakers must resist the oft-exhibited tendency to overreact to the threats we face. This overreaction, …

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

EEOC Reports Job Bias Charges Hit Record High of Nearly 100,000 in Fiscal Year 2010

News release: “The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that private sector workplace discrimination charge filings with the federal agency nationwide hit an unprecedented level of 99,922 during fiscal year (FY) 2010, which ended Sept. 30, 2010. Despite the increase in overall charges filed with the EEOC last fiscal year, the Commission dramatically …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Freedom in the World 2011: The Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy

News release: “Global freedom suffered its fifth consecutive year of decline in 2010, according to Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom Houses annual assessment of political rights and civil liberties around the world. This represents the longest continuous period of decline in the nearly 40-year history of the survey. The year featured drops in the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties

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