Category «Civil Liberties»

Skelton/Conyers Introduce Habeas Reform Legislation

Press release, June 22, 2007: “House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced legislation today which would uphold the principle of habeas corpus by amending existing law to allow individuals detained, often for many years without formal charges, to have their day in court…H.R. 2826 accomplishes …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Legislation

Declassified CIA Documents Posted on Web by National Security Archive

Press release: “The Central Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations of illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassination plots, and human experimentation led to official investigations and reforms in the 1970s, according to declassified documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. CIA director Gen. Michael …

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

UNHCR Report Says Refugee Population Rises to Almost 10 Million

Press release: “The UN refugee agency announced on Tuesday that the number of refugees in the world has increased for the first time since 2002, largely as a result of the crisis in Iraq. UNHCR’s “2006 Global Trends” report, released today, shows the number of refugees under the agency’s mandate rising last year by 14 …

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

Secret Surveillance Evidence Unsealed in Telecom Domestic Surveillance Case

Follow up to previous postings on the domestic surveillance program and AT&T’s alleged participation, this press release today: “More documents detailing secret government surveillance of AT&T’s Internet traffic have been released to the public as part of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) class-action lawsuit against the telecom giant. Some of the unsealed information was previously …

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

Subcommittee Asks GAO to Investigate New FBI Center Designed to Amass Records on Citizens

Press release: “The leaders of the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight have asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) [copy of the letter] to investigate the proposed creation of a new federal facility aimed at identifying terrorists. The Subcommittee is concerned that, without the proper safeguards in place, billions of …

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

2007 Trafficking in Persons Report Released

“The purpose of this Report is to call the world’s attention to the existence of modern-day slavery, and the desperate need to eliminate it the same way the world ended the African slave trade more than a century ago. Human trafficking plagues every country including the United States. The Report covers 164 countries and territories, …

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

Global Corruption Report 2007

“The Global Corruption Report offers an annual, systematic analysis of corruption, reporting on the state of corruption around the globe. The Global Corruption Report 2007 focuses on corruption in judicial systems and includes recommendations for practitioners, actors in the judiciary and civil society, on how to fight corruption in the sector.” By Transparency International, English, …

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

Appeals Court Rejects FCC's Expansive Regulation of "Indecency"

CDT: “…a federal appeals court today limited the Federal Communications Commission’s ongoing effort to expand its authority to regulate speech over broadcast media. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the FCC did not adequately explain its decision to reverse thirty years of policy of allowing “fleeting expletives ” on broadcast …

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

Justice Department to Monitor Elections in New Jersey and South Carolina

Press release: “The Justice Department today announced that on June 5, 2007, it will monitor local elections in Bergen County, Edison, and Penns Grove, N.J., and in Hollywood, S.C., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Justice Department personnel will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling places in these locations, and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents