bill of rights

Extremely Serious Privacy Problem in America

"One effect of undermining privacy is to suppress free speech. It makes the person afraid or reluctant to speak for fear that at some undetermined future time , his actions or statements will be used against him. They can be misconstrued. They can be taken out of context. He can be forced to defend himself, and that's costly. He may be subject to a police inquiry or invasion whereby his belongings are seized and his whole life disrupted. The State's powers turned against a person in this way are enormous. Privacy is one of those socially-useful and socially-necessary things that we take for granted when it's there." Continue reading →

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Slowing down the surveillance state: a guide to warrantless government spying

"If the growing use of governmental tip-toeing to wiretap phone lines and emails doesn’t seem serious, think again. So heightened lately are concerns over surveillance that two major organizations have published a primer on federal spy programs. Both ProPublica and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have released thorough guides this week that explore what the US government can and can’t do in terms of tracking US citizens using an array of weirdly-worded wiretap laws currently on the books." Continue reading →

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They Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With

"The cops can do almost anything they want, and often the most maddening tactics are actually completely legal. There are many reasons for this, but three historical developments stand out: the war on drugs provided the template for social control based on race; 9/11 gave federal and local officials the opportunity to ensnare Muslims (and activists) in the ever-increasing surveillance and incarceration state; and a lack of concern from the public at large means these tactics can be applied, often controversy-free, to anyone who resists them." Continue reading →

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A Plan to Stop the Feds From Reading Your Emails

"The reform proposals are all pretty simple: Don't spy on Americans (which the government claims it's not doing anyway), tell Americans how much the government has spied on them in the past, and explain to the American people exactly how much authority the government believes it has to spy on its own citizens without a warrant. For a Congress bubbling over with Republican anti-big-government crusaders and Democrats who slammed Bush for shredding the Constitution, that ought to be an easy sell, right?" Continue reading →

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Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History

"In a radio interview, Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin (who’s been one of the best at covering the surveillance state in the US) made a simple observation that puts much of this into context: the US surveillance regime has more data on the average American than the Stasi ever did on East Germans. The American government is collecting and storing virtually every phone call, purchases, email, text message, internet searches, social media communications, health information, employment history, travel and student records, and virtually all other information of every American." Continue reading →

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Border Agents’ Power to Search Devices Is Facing Increasing Challenges in Court

"The government has historically had broad power to search travelers and their property at the border. But that prerogative is being challenged as more people travel with extensive personal and business information on devices that would typically require a warrant to examine. Several court cases seek to limit the ability of border agents to search, copy and even seize travelers’ laptops, cameras and phones without suspicion of illegal activity. Courts have long held that Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches do not apply at the border, based on the government’s interest in combating crime and terrorism." Continue reading →

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NDAA Opponents Just Won Their Biggest Victory Since The Blocking Of Indefinite Detention

"The Michigan House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill today that would prevent any state cooperation with federal agents attempting to detain people without due process in Michigan, The Tenth Amendment Center reports. Carl Mayer, a lawyer for the group of journalists and activists suing over the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), told BI that the vote is 'the most important development in this fight since Judge Forrest issued her permanent injunction' on section 1021 of the NDAA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNDAA Opponents Just Won Their Biggest Victory Since The Blocking Of Indefinite Detention

NDAA Indefinite Detention Opponents File Supreme Court Emergency Motion

"Opponents of the post-9/11 use of indefinite military detention have filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to block a law they say allows innocent American citizens to be locked away without trial. The motion, submitted on Wednesday, asks the Supreme Court to reinstate an injunction against a key portion of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. Unless the court does so, the motion argues, Americans are 'in actual and imminent danger of losing their core First Amendment rights and fundamental Equal Protection liberties.'" Continue reading →

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Indefinite Detention and the NDAA: The rise of America’s imperial presidency

"In the eleven years since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, America has effectively lived under a perpetual state of emergency. Last year, President Barack Obama while vacationing in Hawaii signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act which included an embedded provision allowing the presidency what some have termed as indefinite detention powers. The political firestorm and continuing controversy over both the Global War on Terror and the NDAA has led many American citizens to wonder just what all of this means for their individual freedom." Continue reading →

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Family of American subjected to indefinite detention pleads for international human rights review

"The family of Jose Padilla, an American citizen captured on U.S. soil and held without charge by the military as an enemy combatant, filed a petition with the Organization of American States (OAS) on Tuesday seeking a human rights review of Padilla’s treatment. Padilla and his mother have maintained for years that he was tortured while in U.S. custody, including being forced into stress positions, being kept awake for days at a time and being fed LSD and PCP against his will. The Bush administration ultimately claimed he was engaged in a plot to blow up a so-called 'dirty bomb,' but he was never charged with such a conspiracy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFamily of American subjected to indefinite detention pleads for international human rights review