Category «Civil Liberties»

Review of the FBI's Involvement In and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq

DOJ OIG, Unclassified: Review of the FBI’s Involvement In and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq “This Executive Summary summarizes the results of the review conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) involvement in and observations of detainee …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research

EPIC, Technical Experts, Legal Scholars, and Civil Liberties Organizations Urge Accuracy In Police Databases

“EPIC filed a “friend of the court” brief (pdf) in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Justices to ensure the accuracy of police databases. The brief was filed on behalf of 27 legal scholars and technical experts and 13 privacy and civil liberty groups. In Herring v. US, the Court will be asked to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Government, E-Records

Life After Lockup: Improving Reentry From Jail to the Community

Life After Lockup: Improving Reentry From Jail to the Community: “This Bureau of Justice Assistance monograph presents an overview of U.S. jails and the people who cycle through them, examines ways that jurisdictions can address jail reentry, and profiles numerous and diverse reentry efforts from around the country. (NCJ 220095)”

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents

EPIC Report: – REAL ID Implementation Review: Few Benefits, Staggering Costs

“At a REAL ID Workshop at the Berkman Center, EPIC today released a new report on the Department of Homeland Securitys national identification proposal, the REAL ID system. “May 11, 2008 is the statutory deadline for implementation of the REAL ID system. Yet on this date, not one State is in compliance with the federal …

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

CDT: Legislation Needed to Correct Widespread Errors in use of National Security Letters

CDT Policy Post 14.5: National Security Letters: “Widespread errors in the use of National Security Letters requires legislative action, says a Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) paper released today. The documents are used by the FBI when seeking records containing sensitive personal information. Successive Inspector General reports have uncovered abuses and mistakes by the …

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

FBI Withdraws National Security Letter After ACLU and EFF Challenge

News release: “The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

FY 2007 Costs Calculated For Incarceration, Supervision

US Courts news release: “In fiscal year 2007, it cost $24,922 to keep someone incarcerated in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility for 12 months, and $22,871 to keep an inmate incarcerated in a community correction center. For the same 12-month period ending September 30, 2007, it cost $3,621.64 for a federal offender to be …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol Entered into Force 3 May 2008

News release: “The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has warmly welcomed the news that Ecuador on Thursday became the 20th country to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with the result that the Convention and its Optional Protocol will now come into force one month later, on 3 …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents

2007 Wiretap Report (For the Period January 1 Through December 31, 2007)

US Courts: “The number of intercepted wire, oral or electronic communications also known as wiretaps authorized by federal and state courts in 2007 was 20 percent higher than in 2006. Courts issued 2,208 such orders in 2007, compared to 1,839 in 2006, according to The 2007 Wiretap Report. The complete report contains information …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Patriot Act, Privacy

FISA Orders Up, Government Reporting on National Security Letters Begins

EPIC: “According to the 2007 FISA report, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved 2,370 application to conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches in the United States in 2007, up from 2,176 applications approved in 2006. For the first time, the report includes information regarding the total number of requests made by the Department of Justice …

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

Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China

News release: “Chinese lawyers who take cases seen by the government as politically sensitive or potentially embarrassing face severe abuses ranging from harassment to disbarment and physical assaults, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today…The 142-page report, Walking on Thin Ice: Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China, details consistent patterns …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Legal Research

UK Phasing In Facial Recognition System for Border Entry

UK Guardian: “Airline passengers are to be screened with facial recognition technology rather than checks by passport officers, in an attempt to improve security and ease congestion..From summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers’ faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports. Border …

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

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