EFF: “If you haven’t checked out the Atlas of Surveillance recently, or ever before, you absolutely should. It includes a searchable database and an interactive map, and anyone can download the data for their own projects. As this collaboration with the University of Nevada Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism (RSJ) finishes its fifth year, we… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Civil Liberties
How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7
The New York Times, December 28, 2023. ‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7. A Times investigation uncovered new details showing a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women in the attacks on Israel…A two-month investigation by The Times uncovered painful new details, establishing that the attacks against women… Continue Reading
International Threats to Freedom of Expression: 2023 Year in Review
EFF: “2023 has been an unfortunate reminder that the right to free expression is most fragile for groups on the margins, and that it can quickly become a casualty during global conflicts. Threats to speech arose out of the ongoing war in Palestine. They surfaced in bills and laws around the world that explicitly restrict… Continue Reading
Businessweek Jealousy List 2023
“News flash: We are kind of awesome! In these increasingly weird, anxious, foreboding times, what we make—some of the best journalism around—matters. A lot. And we don’t thank you nearly enough for tuning in to our coverage and for letting us claim your attention. But as awesome as we are, on occasion we’re reminded that… Continue Reading
Access to abortion pills has grown since Dobbs
Vox: “Eighteen months after the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion, and with a new Supreme Court challenge pending against the abortion medication mifepristone, confusion abounds about access to reproductive health care in America. Since the June 2022 decision, abortion rates in states with restrictions have plummeted, and researchers estimated… Continue Reading
DOJ Launches National Law Enforcement Accountability Database
DOJ Press Release: “In Executive Order 14074, Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety, the President declared a policy to “make policing safer and more effective by strengthening trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.” As explained by the Executive Order, one of the… Continue Reading
Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe
The New York Times [read free]: Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe. On Feb. 10 last year, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. showed his eight colleagues how he intended to uproot the constitutional right to abortion. At 11:16 a.m., his clerk circulated a 98-page draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.… Continue Reading
Thomas privately pushed for a higher salary and to allow Supreme Court justices to take speaking fees
PrpPublica: “In early January 2000, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends. He had recently started raising his young grandnephew, and Thomas’… Continue Reading
5 Takeaways From Inside the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
The New York Times – A Times investigation [read free] reveals the behind-the-scenes story of how the Supreme Court abolished the constitutional right to abortion. “By the time the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a draft of the ruling had been leaked to the press and the outcome was anticipated. The story… Continue Reading
Care Post-Roe: Documenting cases of poor-quality care since the Dobbs decision
New Data Show Nearly One in Five US Abortion Patients Are Traveling Out of State for Care – December 2023 update – The Guttmacher Institute has released new data from the Monthly Abortion Provision Study, which tracks monthly estimates of procedural and medication abortions provided in the formal US health care system. In addition to… Continue Reading
Gender-Based Violence as a Weapon of War during the October 7 Hamas Attack
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) – preliminary report, November 26, 2023. “As time goes on, a fuller picture of what transpired during Hamas’ October 7, 2023, assault on the communities of the Gaza Envelope is beginning to emerge. It is becoming more apparent that the violence perpetrated against women, men, and children also included… Continue Reading
Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable”
Ars Technica: “US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is one of the more technologically engaged of our elected lawmakers. And like many technologically engaged Ars Technica readers, he does not like what he sees in terms of automakers’ approach to data privacy. On Friday, Sen. Markey wrote to 14 car companies with a variety of questions… Continue Reading
