Another Wiretap Expansion Proposal, Facebook Privacy Breach and More from the ACLU 23OKT10

UPDATES on DADT, FBI surveillance, voting rights, illegal deportation, the Pledge of Allegiance, former A.G. john ashcroft and illegal detentionand the Supreme Court case, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. 

What's Next for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" Planning to Vote on November 2? Know Your Rights! Supreme Court Will Hear ACLU Case Against Former Attorney General Ashcroft Expanded Wiretapping Capabilities = Potential For Abuse The Best Person for the Job...Fired for Being Gay. Jailtime for Refusing the Pledge: A "Civil Liberties Minute" Podcast Mentally Disabled American Citizen Deported to Mexico Facebook Application Privacy Breach Exposed Jailtime for Refusing the Pledge: A "Civil Liberties Minute" Podcast A lawyer in Mississippi has been thrown in jail for refusing to recite the pledge of allegiance. >> Listen to the podcast. Mentally Disabled American Citizen Deported to Mexico The ACLU filed lawsuits in federal courts in Georgia and North Carolina last week on behalf of Mark Lyttle, a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent with mental disabilities. He was wrongfully deported to Mexico and forced to endure over four months of living in the streets, shelters and prisons of Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Lyttle's brush with immigration officials began when he was about to be released from a North Carolina jail where he was serving a short sentence for touching a worker's backside in a halfway house that serves individuals with mental disabilities. Even though they had plenty of evidence that he was a U.S. citizen—including his Social Security number and the names of his parents—corrections officials turned him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as an undocumented immigrant. Although ICE knew of Lyttle's long and documented history of mental illness and noted he did not comprehend the investigation of his status, he was not offered legal assistance and was deported to Mexico. "What happened to Mark Lyttle is unconscionable," said Judy Rabinovitz, Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "Our Constitution and our laws demand fair treatment for people with mental disabilities in any court, including immigration courts. Pushing Mr. Lyttle through proceedings that he clearly couldn't understand and then deporting him was not only inhumane but a gross violation of his due process rights." So, how could this have happened? The answer, as reported by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch in a report issued this July, is that both ICE and the Department of Justice have failed to implement meaningful safeguards for people with mental disabilities facing possible deportation from the United States. >> Learn more about this case. back to top Facebook Application Privacy Breach Exposed This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the most popular Facebook apps consistently share information about you and your friends with advertisers and other third parties, no matter what your privacy settings are. This isn't the first time a significant and ongoing privacy invasion and violation of Facebook's own rules has been uncovered. Facebook needs to stop addressing this problem with secret "policy enforcement" and start putting choices and control back where it belongs: in your hands. To its credit, Facebook has taken some steps to address this but has yet to offer a complete solution. That is why we have continued to push Facebook to improve its privacy controls and address the "app gap." Unfortunately, Facebook's response to the ACLU's Open Letter was to claim that it "heard these concerns" but had already done what needed to be done. As the recent breach clearly shows, there is definitely still more to be done. In order to make sure that personal information about you is only accessed by people and developers you trust, Facebook must give you complete and meaningful control over which apps can access your information and what information these apps access. >> Take action: Sign the petition to Facebook demanding better control over your personal information. back to top Do you know somebody who would be interested in getting news about the ACLU and what we're doing to protect civil liberties? Help us spread the word about ACLU Online — forward this newsletter to a friend.

October 23, 2010 What's Next for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" >> Tell President Obama to End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" once and for all. The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy is in the news a lot these days. And it seems as if this discriminatory and unconstitutional policy is teetering—ready to fall. As you know, the courts keep striking serious blows against DADT. Recently, the ACLU won a major victory when a judge ordered the reinstatement of an Air Force Major wrongfully discharged under DADT. And a federal court in California, in a case brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, ordered an end to enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." But, our elected leaders—starting with the President—have to stop avoiding efforts to end DADT and, instead, start seizing them. It is time for President Obama to lead by putting a decisive end to DADT >> Take action: Tell President Obama to End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." back to top Planning to Vote on November 2? Know Your Rights! >> Learn more about your right to vote. With Election Day right around the corner, we have some important tools to help people exercise their fundamental right to vote. You never know what might happen at the polls—that's why voters must be as informed as possible. We're working hard to ensure that all voters' rights are protected and that every vote is counted on November 2. Here are some things to keep in mind: Check your voter registration status. Locate your polling place and note the hours of operation. Plan ahead, particularly if you require some form of assistance. Vote early or absentee if possible. If you plan to vote at the polls, go early in the day to avoid the last-minute rush. Bring a valid form of identification, even if it's not required. Wear comfortable and adequate clothing in case of long lines or inclement weather. Do not wear candidate-specific clothing. Take your time and read all instructions carefully. Ask for help if you need it. Be wary of rumors and false information that may be designed to discourage you from voting. Report any voting problems or irregularities to state officials and/or call the ACLU's voter protection hotline at 877-523-2792. Don't forget to vote! Remind your friends and family, too. >> ACLU affiliates are also distributing voter education materials around the country that inform voters of their rights on Election Day and how to avoid problems when casting a ballot. Learn more. back to top Supreme Court Will Hear ACLU Case Against Former Attorney General Ashcroft The Supreme Court has agreed to hear al-Kidd v. Ashcroft, the ACLU's case against former Attorney General John Ashcroft on behalf of Abdullah al-Kidd. >> Learn more about al-Kidd v. Ashcroft. >> Learn more about other Supreme Court cases the ACLU is involved with this term. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear al-Kidd v. Ashcroft, the ACLU's case against former Attorney General John Ashcroft on behalf of Abdullah al-Kidd, a Kansas-born U.S. citizen who was wrongly arrested and detained as a material witness in 2003. The federal material witness statute allows law enforcement to detain a witness whose testimony prosecutors believe is material at a criminal trial if it believes that witness won't testify voluntarily. Al-Kidd was arrested and detained ostensibly so he'd testify as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar al-Hussayen, who attended the same university as al-Kidd and was charged with visa fraud. During his 16-day detention, al-Kidd was moved to three separate federal detention facilities in three different states—and was sometimes held naked and shackled hand-and-foot. After he was released, al-Kidd's travel was restricted to only four states, and he had to surrender his passport and report to probation officers. But al-Kidd was never asked to testify against al-Hussayen. And al-Kidd himself was never charged with a crime. So, why was he being treated like a criminal? Prior to 9/11, the material witness law was used sparingly to ensure witnesses would be available to testify in criminal cases. After 9/11, Attorney General Ashcroft retooled the law into an investigative detention statute, allowing the government to arrest and detain individuals for whom they lacked probable cause to charge with a crime. Our lawsuit charges that this Ashcroft policy violates fundamental constitutional principles and that al-Kidd was a victim of that policy. The district and appellate courts agreed. >> Learn more about al-Kidd v. Ashcroft. >> Learn more about other Supreme Court cases the ACLU is involved with this term. back to top Expanded Wiretapping Capabilities = Potential For Abuse >> Sign the ACLU's petition to Attorney General Holder: Rein in FBI surveillance power. According to a report in The New York Times this week, the Obama administration will be submitting proposals to Congress next year seeking to expand its wiretapping capacity by overhauling the law requiring telecommunications companies to ensure their networks can be wiretapped. The administration claims that Congress must rework the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)—which compels telecommunications and broadband companies to ensure their services are wiretap-ready—in order to keep up with technological changes in the companies' services. The administration is also asking that the government's power to enforce compliance by companies with the law be strengthened. However, the government's authority under CALEA to lawfully collect information from telecommunications and broadband companies is currently sufficient, as is its ability to enforce penalties for noncompliance. Does this sound familiar? In 2007 and 2008, in an analogous situation, the Bush administration pushed to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by claiming technological changes had made it more difficult for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor foreign communications. The former administration successfully used the opportunity, under the guise of a technical fix, to radically expand the government's power to monitor Americans' international communications through passage of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) in July 2008. The ACLU is challenging the constitutionality of the FAA in federal court. >> Take action: Sign the ACLU's petition to Attorney General Holder: Rein in FBI surveillance power. back to top The Best Person for the Job...Fired for Being Gay. The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Andre Cooley, a corrections officer for the Forrest County Sherriff’s Department who was fired when his supervisors discovered that he was gay. >> Watch the video to learn more. Andre Cooley, a corrections officer with an exemplary record for the Forrest County Sherriff's Department in Mississippi, was fired when his supervisors discovered that he was gay. The ACLU filed a lawsuit this week on his behalf. This past June, while at home and off-duty, Cooley called 911 after his boyfriend became physically violent. When police officers arrived at the house in response to the emergency call, Andre's boyfriend "outed" him to one of his superiors. The next day, the Staff Sergeant of Jail Operations informed Andre that he was being permanently terminated. Andre asked the staff sergeant if he was being fired because he was gay, and the staff sergeant responded, "Yes." "Andre's sexual orientation has no bearing on his ability to perform the job of a corrections officer," said Joshua Block, staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project. "It is well established that a public employer cannot fire an employee based on irrational fears and prejudices against gay people. But Andre's case is also a reminder that people in Mississippi who work for private companies are left almost entirely unprotected from anti-gay discrimination. There is currently no state or federal law protecting against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation." The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would make it illegal to discriminate against an employee for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. President Obama has said he will sign ENDA if it passes Congress, but even though ENDA was first introduced over 16 years ago and has broad support in both the Senate and the House, it still has not passed Congress. >> Take action: Urge Congress to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. back to top Join us on...

American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, New York 10004-2400 Lisa Sock and Joe McLaughlin, Editors

Privacy Statement This mail is never sent unsolicited. You, or someone on your behalf, has subscribed to receive this information from the American Civil Liberties Union. At the ACLU Web site, the ACLU gathers anonymous summary statistics on the responses to our email newsletters in order to better serve list subscribes and ACLU members. To review our Privacy Statement, click here. Click here to forward this message.