Home : Privacy & Technology

U.S. Among World's Worst Surveillance Societies Total Information Awareness Lives A stunning new report indicates the NSA has effectively revived the Orwellian “Total Information Awareness” domestic-spying program that was banned by Congress in 2003.  In response, the ACLU has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more information about the spying.  And, we moved the Surveillance Clock one minute closer to midnight.  More. . .  917,000 terrorists poised to strike America? The ACLU has launched a new web feature – an “ACLU Watchlist Counter” to dramatize the absurd bloat in our nation’s terrorist watchlists, which now exceed 900,000 names, according to projections from the government’s own numbers. Many Americans have found themselves caught up by these lists at the airport, and some have had far worse happen to them. Expert Findings on Surveillance Cameras New ACLU White Paper Summarizes Real World Studies KEY RESOURCES > SWIFT > Data Mining > Fusion Centers > Combatting the Surveillance Industrial Complex > Surveillance > How Monopoly Control of the Internet Threatens Free Speech > Domestic Spy Satelites > Forensic DNA Databanks > Bigger Monsters, Weaker Chains > Real ID > 5 Reasons Not to Create a National ID Card > Science Under Siege > International Policy Laundering Project > Airline Security > Face-Recognition Technology > The Growth of an American Surveillance Society > Electronic Passports > Financial Privacy > What's Wrong With Public Video Surveillance? > The Cybercrime Treaty > Position statement on RFIDs > The FBI's Power to Rifle Through Your Records and Personal Belongings Without Telling You (PDF) > Through the Keyhole: Privacy in the Workplace, an Endangered Right > FAQ on the National Census > Other ACLU Documents on Privacy

ACLU to Mark One Millionth Addition to TSA Terrorist Watch List (7/2/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union will mark the addition of the one millionth name to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) terrorist watch list in a July 14th Press Club event. The roll-over to one million confirms the warnings the ACLU has been making for years: the TSA is pinning American security on a system of watch lists that are bloated, inefficient, ineffective and unfair.

Repeal REAL ID Petition Drive Gears Up for Fourth of July (7/1/2008)
PORTLAND - Leaders of the drive to Repeal REAL ID announced Wednesday they will be "Defending the Fourth on the Fourth," by mobilizing hundreds of volunteers for a final push for signatures to repeal the state's REAL ID law, which violates the privacy rights guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

US-EU Data Sharing Cant Happen Without US Legislation (7/1/2008)
The negotiations underway between U.S. security agencies and their European counterparts over the transatlantic transfer of personal data are just the latest attempt to overcome a looming problem that has consistently interfered with the Bush Administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of an ever-increasing share of the world’s population.

Maine Phone Privacy Case Still Alive - For Now (6/26/2008)
Maine's privacy complaint against Verizon got a reprieve Thursday as the Senate delayed legislation that would have given the phone companies immunity from litigation on the issue.

ACLU Urges Congress to Ensure Privacy of Electronic Health Records (6/25/2008)
Washington, DC – Today, lawmakers will be making decisions about the future of patients’ medical privacy as legislation aimed at pushing the health care industry toward a conversion from paper to electronic health records is due for a vote by a House panel.