Privacy Digest

Salon Radio: ACLU's Mike German on new FBI spying powers - Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald:

Last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced that the FBI -- with four months left in the Bush administration -- was adopting new regulations for itself which would vastly increase its power to investigate and spy on American citizens, on U.S. soil, even in the absence of any suspicion that the targeted citizen is involved in any wrongdoing. My guest today on Salon Radio is former long-time FBI agent and current ACLU Policy Counsel Michael German to discuss those new regulations, why they are both so dangerous and counter-productive, the ways in which FBI Director Robert Mueller is spouting clearly misleading statements to justify them, and what the prospects are for stopping their implementation. Speaking about these new regulations, German said in the interview:  read more »

Mike German Talks About the Updated Attorney General Guidelines for the FBI - Via The American Civil Liberties Union:

The FBI is overhauling five types of existing guidelines. Under the new guidelines, a persons race or ethnic background could be used as a factor in opening an investigation, a move the ACLU believes will institute racial profiling as a matter of policy. The guidelines would also give the FBI the ability to use intrusive investigative techniques before public demonstrations. The rewritten guidelines have been drafted in a way to give the FBI the ability to begin surveillance without factual evidence, stating that a generalized threat is enough to use certain techniques.Visit www.aclu.org/podcasts for all the latest audio from the ACLU.

(Read Original Article - Via The American Civil Liberties Union.)

Salon Radio: ACLU's Caroline Frederickson - Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald:

My guest today is Caroline Frederickson, the ACLU's National Legislative Director. We discuss the virtually complete invisibility of civil liberties and constitutional issues in the presidential campaign, as well as the ACLU's new campaign to change that (which you can join here). Frederickson also provides the latest updates on the ACLU's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

The discussion is roughly 25 minutes. It can be heard by clicking PLAY on the recorder below, and a transcript is here.

It is common for people to assert, without citation to any polling data, that Americans don't care about civil liberties protections or that they sanction abridgments of core constitutional liberties if those abridgments can be remotely justified by appeals to greater security.  read more »

New Court Decision Affirms that 4th Amendment Protects Location Information - Via EFF.org Updates:

San Francisco - In an unprecedented victory for cell phone privacy, a federal court has affirmed that cell phone location information stored by a mobile phone provider is protected by the Fourth Amendment and that the government must obtain a warrant based on probable cause before seizing such records.  read more »

Sheriff wants 30,000 more on DNA databank - Via Charlottesville Daily Progress:

As one veteran lawman sees it, the DNA databank has been the most significant crime-fighting innovation in his 30-odd years wearing a badge.

Virginia’s DNA databank has been a leading model nationwide; in 1989, the state became the first to create such a databank, and recently marked its 5,000th “cold hit.”

Albemarle Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding helped improve the state’s databank last year when legislation he pushed for helped ensure that thousands of felons who had slipped through the cracks would be entered into the system. That legislation helped put another 11,000 felons in the databank, and now there are about 280,000 profiles in the databank, which can be run against unsolved cases and new ones that pop up.

Harding said he thinks the databank can be even better, and he is gearing up to push an effort that could add thousands more DNA profiles to the system. His enthusiasm to expand the databank is not shared by privacy rights advocates.  read more »

Judges consider whether FBI violated free speech - Via Reuters :

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A panel of federal appeals court judges pushed a U.S. government lawyer on Wednesday to answer why FBI letters sent out to Internet service providers seeking information should remain secret.

A panel of three judges from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether a provision of the Patriot Act, which requires people who are formally contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for information to keep it a secret, is constitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in 2004 on behalf of an undisclosed Internet service provider against the U.S. government challenging the so-called National Security Letters (NSL) as well as gag orders placed on the recipients.  read more »

Secret Spying Court Stays Secret, Rejects ACLU Plea Again - Via Threat Level:

For the third time in a year, a secret spying court rejected an ACLU request to let some sunshine pierce its dark curtains of secrecy, ruling late Thursday that national security prohibits publishing even unclassified versions of court documents or allowing non-government lawyers to argue in the court.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was reacting to an ACLU petition in July to be part of the court's review of new wiretapping powers handed to the Administration by Congress in July. Under the new law -- known as the FISC Amendments Act -- the nation's spies can order companies like AT&T and Google to help the government drop dragnets into domestic internet and phone facilities to capture all communications suspected to involve at least one foreigner.  read more »

Preliminary Congressional Investigation Finds Watch Lists Plagued with Systemic Flaws - Via ACLU - Privacy:

ACLU calls for lists to be scrapped and for DHS to approach airline security in reasonable and effective manner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312, media@dcaclu.org or (212) 549-2646, media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to today’s Wall Street Journal article on the flaws found in the terrorist watch lists by a preliminary congressional investigation, the American Civil Liberties Union calls on all presidential candidates, as well as current President Bush, to pledge to put a moratorium on the use of the lists unless major overhauls are made. The investigation found the current database system beleaguered with flaws and technological hurdles. Not only that, but the program being designed to replace the current database is facing similar systemic difficulties, while the contractors hired for its creation are struggling to move toward completion.  read more »

Federal Government Expands Database on Travelers - Via ACLU - Privacy:

ACLU calls on Congress to stop collection of data on innocent travelers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org

Washington, DC – Once again the federal government is expanding its collection of data on innocent travelers, the American Civil Liberties Union said today, with the Department of Homeland Security creating dossiers of travelers who pass through U.S. border checkpoints, maintain these files for 15 years, and share this data broadly – including providing access to courts and attorneys in civil litigation like divorce proceedings.

“Our government is not supposed to collect information on the innocent activities and movements of its citizens just in case they later commit a crime,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program. “This program illustrates why America needs more robust and across-the-board privacy laws.”  read more »

It's time for some sanity when it comes to security. - Via ACLU Alerts:

Planning a vacation? Thinking about traveling outside the country?

If you travel outside the United States, you can kiss your right to privacy, and perhaps your laptop, digital camera and cell phone, goodbye.

With no suspicion and no explanation, the U.S. government can seize your laptop, cell phone, or PDA as you enter the United States and download all your private information -- including your personal and business documents, emails, phone calls, and web history.

And what happens if you refuse to let the agents download your personal photos? Or if you have encrypted your private information? Then Border Patrol -- which is now an agency of the Department of Homeland Security -- can simply copy your entire hard drive or even take your device and hang on to it indefinitely.  read more »

Constitution Protects Location Information, CDT Argues - Via Center for Democracy and Technology:

In a July 31 amicus brief filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, joined by CDT, ACLU and the ACLU of Pennsylvania, argued that cell phone location information is protected by the Fourth Amendment. The brief argues that a court should require the government to obtain a warrant based on probable cause in order to gain access to cell site location information stored by a cell phone company.

Amicus brief in In Re Application of United States [PDF] July 31, 2008

(Read Original Article - Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)

ACLU Calls FCC Penalty Against Comcast a Step Forward Toward Net Freedom - Via American Civil Liberties Union:

Urges Commissioners to Persevere in Defense of Consumers’ Rights and Net Neutrality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: 202-675-2312, media@dcaclu.org

Washington, DC – Today the Federal Communications Commission is expected to penalize Comcast for violating the FCC’s principles to ensure open access to the Internet.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

“We applaud the FCC for taking enforcement action against Comcast. The nation’s second largest Internet service provider violated the commission’s open access rules by unlawfully blocking file-sharing services such as BitTorrent. Significantly, it violated the rules by which the Internet must operate if it is to remain an open forum.  read more »

Only Government Can Argue in Secret Spy Court, Feds Say - Via Threat Level:

The Bush Administration told a secret spying court Wednesday that it should not allow the ACLU to participate in the court's review of new blanket surveillance programs that sweep in milions of emails and phone calls that cross the border, arguing the matter is too sensitive for outsiders.

Under the new spying law passed by Congress in early July, the government may order Google or AT&T or AOL, to turn over every email, phone call or IM that enter or leave the country (with just a few caveats).

For nearly 30 years, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act largely banned such blanket surveillance being done inside the United States, requiring instead that the government get individualized court warrants.

But the government does have to explain to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court how the vacuum cleaner doesn't suck up communications that are known to be from Americans to Americans or purely domestic communications.

The ACLU wants to be there when that happens.  read more »

Fusion Centers Part of Incipient Domestic Intelligence System, ACLU Warns - Via American Civil Liberties Union:

WASHINGTON -- The nation’s growing network of “fusion centers” is part of an incipient de facto domestic intelligence system, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Today the ACLU released a report detailing spying on Maryland peace demonstrators, a mysterious domestic-spying scandal at a California military base and other recent incidents, confirming that its warnings about fusion centers were coming true.

“If some in this country want to build a domestic intelligence apparatus, then let’s have a debate in Congress about that, and an up-or-down vote on the idea,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Let’s not slide sideways into a fundamental change in the direction of our nation’s law enforcement system with little public awareness or debate.”  read more »

ACLU Urges Congress to Define Medical Privacy as Patient Control of Electronic Health Records - Via ACLU - Privacy:

PRO(TECH)T Act leaves electronic patient data vulnerable to theft and misuse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: 202-675-2312, media@dcaclu.org

Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today urges the House Energy and Commerce Committee to require patient control of medical records and compensation for privacy breaches to be a part of the standards set for converting to electronic patient records. The ACLU cautions that H.R. 6357, the “Protecting Records, Optimizing Treatment, and Easing Communication through Healthcare Technology Act of 2008” or the PRO(TECH)T Act, has insufficient privacy provisions and leaves patients vulnerable to bad, lost, stolen or misused data.

In addition, the ACLU urges the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health to consider how privacy protections will be built into new, high tech health systems as it hears testimony this Thursday. The subcommittee announced that protecting patient privacy and information security would be among the issues discussed at its July 24 hearing regarding health information technology. Other issues include potential costs and benefits, clinical capabilities and incentive effectiveness.

The following can be attributed to Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel:  read more »