As an intern with the ACLU of Maine, all I'm hoping to bring is my own perspective.   

I'm also a student at the University of Maine at Farmington. One of the classes I'm taking this semester deals with holding public officials, and government in general, accountable to citizens and constituents. Voting is typically seen as the main method for letting politicians know how good of a job we think they are doing, but it is certainly not the only method. Citizens who might individually lack the power to lobby legislatures for the change they want to see can band together through public associations to pool their voices and resources. They gain collectively what they lacked individually: power to hold politicians accountable.

Much of the ACLU's work happens at the state house: by giving testimony at public hearings, holding press conferences, and talking to reporters to get their message out. But in order to most effectively guard civil liberties, we also connect on civil liberties issues with the general public, on a more personal level. The ACLU places great value on the input of Maine’s citizens; the best way to find out what the public is concerned with is to ask them. We need to hear from you.

I wanted to take on a meaningful project during my time with the ACLU. So, I'll be interviewing Maine ACLU members on what they think about issues relating to privacy, which the ACLU of Maine has made a priority of dealing with this legislative session. I also want to gauge Maine citizens' responses towards ACLU messaging on those same privacy issues. Once the interview process is finished, I’ll prepare a report detailing my findings.

I hope that the information I gather will give the ACLU of Maine something to fall back on when thinking about how best to lobby for privacy protection. I think it’s a reasonable goal to set for myself, as a newbie, to try and give the ACLU just one more way of hearing the voices of the people they seek to protect.

If you yourself would like to be interviewed, send me an e-mail at daniel.austin [at] maine.edu. I'd love to talk to you.