Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.
Judge Orders Removal of Cross on Mt. Soledad
San Diego’s gleaming white symbol of Christianity is due to be taken down within the next few months. The cross stands high on Mt. Soledad as part of the Veterans Memorial, which was erected in 1954. According to the President of the ACLU of San Diego, it was a long, uphill battle. “It has taken the County nine years to acknowledge what most Americans learn in high school civics class that there should be a true wall of separation between church and state.” Read more about the lawsuit’s journey through the judicial system here.
My Big Gay (Il)legal Wedding
If you or someone you know is in a same-sex partnership but lives in a state where gay marriage is prohibited, listen up! The A.C.L.U. is sponsoring a contest that, as Anthony D. Romero puts it, “pushes the envelope on marriage equality in a fun, creative way.” Same-sex couples from any of the 35 sates where gay marriage is illegal are being asked to submit ideas for a wedding that involves crossing the border (by creative means of transportation, like hot air ballooning) from their home states to a state where their wedding would be legal. Five couples will win prizes like cash, wedding planner, etc. Visit the contest website here.
Protecting Your Privacy with Encryption
Heard of SSL? It stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. Essentially, it stops governments and corporations from learning which pages you are reading on the site. Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist at the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, believes that media organizations should turn on SSL for their viewers. And, he is going so far as to offer whiskey as a bribe!
"This is as basic as it gets in privacy," Soghoian argues. "I think many of us would think the government has no business knowing which books you are checking out from the library, and this is the same thing -- they have no business knowing which articles you are reading online."
Read more about the push for media companies to use SSL here.
