Category «Civil Liberties»

Group Seeks Ruling Again National Security Letter Authority of Patriot Act

Follow-up on Patriot Act reauthorization and libraries, from the ACLU: “In the first federal appeals court argument addressing a surveillance provision of the Patriot Act, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged a three-judge panel to uphold two separate rulings: one which found the National Security Letter (NSL) authority of the Patriot Act unconstitutional and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

EPIC FOIA Lawsuit Produces Documents on Illegal Surveillance Operations

From the Washington Post: FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations Secret Surveillance Lacked Oversight From EPIC: “Documents obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Informaton Act describe thirteen cases of possible FBI misconduct in intelligence investigations. The documents were released by the Bureau in response to an EPIC open government request for information about the FBI’s …

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

GAO Report: Continued Federal Efforts Needed to Improve Electronic Voting

Cmte. on Government Reform Minority Office: “Rep. Waxman led twelve members of Congress today in releasing a new GAO report that found security and reliablity flaws in the electronic voting process. In a joint press release, Rep. Waxman said, “The GAO report indicates that we need to get serious and act quickly to improve the …

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

European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN)

The European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN) will be launched on Wednesday, October 19, 2005. [d.c.] “Participating organisations share the common objective of seeking to create a European society based on freedom and diversity, a society of fundamental civil liberties and personal and political freedoms, of free movement and freedom of information, and equal rights for …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Legal Research

Bill Requires Gov’t Issued ID to Vote in Federal Elections

H.R. 3910 – To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require individuals to present a government-issued photo identification as a condition of voting in elections for Federal office, to prohibit any individual from tabulating votes in an election for Federal office unless the individual has been subject to a criminal background check, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Legislation

Kurt Vonnegut Salutes Librarians’ Role in Protecting Civil Liberties

An interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the October 6 USA Today, includes the following quote: “Music…cheers him, as do people who behave decently. Librarians too – “not famous for their physical strength” – who resist having books removed from shelves and refuse to give names to people who have checked out certain books in the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

ACLU Files Appeal With Supreme Court on Librarian Gag Order

Follow-up to my September 29, 2005 posting, Broad Coalition Pushes to Lift Gag Order Against Librarian, AP reports that yesterday the ACLU filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, the text of which is censored, to release an anonymous Connecticut librarian from a gag order concerning an FBI investigation into his/her organization’s patron records. ALA …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Government Documents, Libraries, Patriot Act, Privacy

Broad Coalition Pushes to Lift Gag Order Against Librarian

ACLU press release: “The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association, the Free Congress Foundation and members of Congress gathered today to urge the Justice Department to lift a gag order silencing Americans who have received demands for personal records under the Patriot Act. “John Doe,” an organization that is an ALA member and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Freedom of Information, Libraries

Hearings For Judge Roberts Begin September 12

Judge Roberts, the Committee Is Interested in Your View on . . . Democratic Members Of Senate Judiciary Committee Announce Witness List For Hearings On Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts Jr.: …those on the list consist “national leaders, legal scholars and courageous Americans who represent many of the vital issues facing the nation today, including …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Courts, Legal Research