Blogs

England Gave Us Habeas Corpus Once Before…

Can they do it again?

The British human rights organization today won a habeas corpus petition for their client, Yunus Rahmatullah, who has been detained at Bagram for 7 years, in the English Court of Appeal.

The Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, Lord Justice Maurice Kay, and Lord Justice Sullivan, said the case raised important principles of law. Their court ruling is the latest in a series relating to the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been highly critical of the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence.

ACLU video on Frank v. Walker...

by Ernest A. Canning - BradBlog.com

Election laws in Wisconsin are not covered by Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which would otherwise require the Dept. of Justice or a federal panel of judges to "preclear" such laws to assure they are not discriminatory. Thus, it falls to non-governmental organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), to take legal action in hopes of protecting Constitutional voting rights for citizens of the Badger State.

That's exactly what the organization did this week, in filing a 54-page federal complaint on behalf of some 17 named plaintiffs --- including elderly, student, minority and even veteran voters --- who may well be unable to cast their once-legal vote under the state's new voter suppression bill passed earlier this year by its GOP legislature and signed into law by its Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Related: If you'll remember, Sacramento Cnty attempted something similar three years ago

UK Houses of Parliament police: no political material allowed in Parliament

Police officers told a member of the public they were prohibited from bringing “political materials” into the Houses of Parliament, the Commons heard yesterday. In a great spot from Matthew Barrett at Conservative Home, a woman attending a lobby on Palestine was told by two police officers that this bizarre ban was on the order of parliamentary staff.

In a point of order to deputy speaker Lindsay Hoyle, MP David Burrowes told the chamber:

“As she arrived at security, a police officer confiscated her lobby briefing material and told her that she was not allowed to have anything of a political nature. In fact, she was told that this was a direction from the House authorities. The officer then spoke to a senior officer, who gave the same response.”

Related: New Fed warrantless GPS trackers discovered in the wild (with pictures)

SCOTUS and GPS Tracking: US v. Jones and Secret PATRIOT

Posted on November 9, 2011 by emptywheel

As I read the transcript of the SCOTUS hearing in the US v. Jones yesterday, I was most interested in what the comments suggest about the government’s secret use of the PATRIOT Act to–presumably–use phone geolocation to track people. (Here’s Dahlia Lithwick, Orrin Kerr, Julian Sanchez, Lyle Denniston, and Kashmir Hill on the hearing itself.)

Mind you, the facts in Jones are totally different from what we think may be happening with Secret PATRIOT (I’ll borrow Julian Sanchez’ speculation on what Secret PATRIOT does for this post). In Jones, a suspected drug dealer had a GPS device placed on his car after the 10-day warrant authorizing the cops to do so had already expired. As such, Jones tests generally whether the government needs an active warrant to track a suspect using GPS.

Cell Phone Guide for Occupy Wall Street Protesters (and Everyone Else)

Occupy Wall Street has called for a global day of action on October 15, and protesters are mobilizing all over the world. In the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement has already spawned sizeable protests in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, Austin, and other cities. Several of these movements have faced opposition from their local police departments, including mass arrests.

Protesters of all political persuasions are increasingly documenting their protests -- and encounters with the police -- using electronic devices like cameras and cell phones. The following tips apply to protesters in the United States who are concerned about protecting their electronic devices when questioned, detained, or arrested by police. These are general guidelines; individuals with specific concerns should talk to an attorney.

1. Protect your phone before you protest

The ACLU of Sacramento is providing these links of Occupy Sacramento in the interest of monitoring activity for potential civil rights abuses. This is not an endorsement of Occupy Sacramento. If you cannot make it down to Occupy Sacramento in person, you can try following them on the following livestream videos. They are up intermittently, so you may have to check a few of them to find a live one.

• http://www.livestream.com/occupysacto
• http://www.ustream.tv/channel/apeescape
• http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dummey
• http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wordsmiths-occupysac
• http://www.ustream.tv/channel/anonymousoccupier

As of September 20, 2011, the United States Military's policy banning gay, lesbian and bisexual people from serving in the armed forces is history. Literally.

As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, I know firsthand the toll that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has had on our military and on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. While serving in the Marine Corps, I was “outed” as being gay and subsequently investigated for being gay. Since then, I have heard many heartbreaking stories of respected, dedicated service members from all branches of the military being investigated and discharged for nothing more than being who they are, gay Americans. Sexual orientation should have never been allowed to keep us from serving our country.

The repeal of DADT is a pivotal moment in U.S. history and it's exactly the kind of history lesson that should be taught under the FAIR Education Act (SB 48), a bill authored by Senator Mark Leno, sponsored by Equality California, and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on July 13, 2011. I am honored to have helped draft the 2011 version of this bill and guide this important piece of legislation through the legislative process. It's also the kind of history that opponents of equality are trying to censor from history books and social studies classrooms.

Police Device Used To Steal Your Cell Phone Data During Traffic Stop

September 30th, 2011 Via: AOL Autos:

You may have heard about the Cellebrite cell phone extraction device (UFED) in the news lately. It gives law enforcement officials the ability to access all the information on your cell phone within a few short minutes. When it became known that Michigan State Police had been using the tool to access cell phones during traffic stops, it raised concern with the ACLU. Now, everyone is wondering if cops will be using devices like this elsewhere. Will this new law enforcement tool be abused, or will it be used responsibly in the pursuit of justice?

Call us paranoid, but we obtained a law-enforcement-grade software extraction tool for the iPhone to see exactly what data is up for grabs. You’d be surprised to see just how much data today’s smartphones can store — and police can access.

Facebook Keeps A History Of Everyone Who Has Ever Poked You, Along With A Lot Of Other Data

Across the pond, European law grants citizens a “right to access,” meaning that companies have to provide a person with all of the personal data they have on them if they request it. An Austrian-based group called Europe v. Facebook has posted a couple of the reports compiled by the social networking giant everyone loves (and loves to hate).

Most of you probably know that Facebook knows a lot about you. But did you know that if you were to print it out, it might take up about 880 pages? I went through one of the lengthy dossiers from Europe v. Facebook. Here are the juicy bits for a female Facebook user with the initials ‘L.B.’ who has been a member of the site since 2007:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In tonight's Rewrite, Lawrence told you we would give you access to the full clips of this weekend's clash between police officers and Wall Street protesters. The full versions of the clips we showed you tonight are below — but a warning... there is some graphic language used in these videos that you did not hear on our broadcast.