News & Commentary

This weekend I spoke at a rally in Portland sponsored by CODEPINK to bring awareness to the case of Bradley Manning, the young American soldier who is accused of leaking government documents to WikiLeaks. The rally was set to coincide with Manning’s court-martial, which begins today, more than three years after he was arrested and charged with “aiding the enemy” for allegedly releasing large amounts of classified data to WikiLeaks.   Regardless of your stance on Manning, the conditions of his confinement have been nothing short of cruel and unusual. After his arrest, Manning was held for nine months in a windowless cell in Virginia, for 23 hours a day, while awaiting trial. In addition to being held in pre-trial solitary confinement, he had his glasses taken away so that he could not read, he was subjected to sleep deprivation through repeated physical inspections at night, and he was repeatedly forced to strip naked. (Earlier this year, a military court ruled that Manning’s treatment was indeed “excessive” and “more rigorous than necessary.” As a result, Manning will have 112 days taken off his sentence, if he is convicted.)   Bradley Manning’s case raises many other civil liberties questions. In addition to the charges that he leaked sensitive documents to people unauthorized to receive them, the government is alleging that Manning “aided the enemy,” a much more serious charge that is actually punishable by death (although in Manning’s case that has been taken off the table). Ben Wizner, who directs the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, wrote an excellent piece last year on the dangers of this charge given the circumstances and the unexpected consequences that it could lead to.   Manning’s case is a complex one, but no matter what you feel about the charges against him, there is no doubt that the conditions he was held in are unacceptable. Manning’s trial is expected to last for several weeks, so this likely won’t be the last you’ll hear about his case. We’ll be following it as well, and we’ll keep you informed if more civil liberties issues arise.

The Supreme Court struck a terrifying blow to the 4th Amendment today when it ruled that the police can take DNA samples from arrested people - people who have not yet been convicted of any crime - without a warrant.  We don't often get a chance to quote Justice Scalia on this blog, but there's a first time for everything, and today he was extremely on point. In siding with dissenting Justices Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor, Scalia said: "Make no mistake about it: because of today's decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason. This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA when you fly on an airplane – surely the TSA must know the `identity' of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children's DNA when they start public school." Indeed. These days, we are asked more and more to surrender our personal liberty in the name of some idea of safety and security. But we have to ask ourselves - do we really want to live in a world where a police officer can swab the inside of your cheek, take your cells and run them through a database where you will be kept on file forever - when you haven't even been convicted of a crime? Where does it end? Once we surrender our liberties, it's very hard to get them back. The proverbial inch becomes a mile. That's why here at the ACLU of Maine, we're working to put much-needed privacy protections in place before it's too late.

I'm sitting in the gallery of the Maine House of Representatives, listening to a lively debate about privacy. LD 415, An Act To Require a Warrant To Obtain the Location Information of a Cell Phone or Other Electronic Device, would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant in order to track your location information via your cell phone.  We all want law enforcement to be able to do their jobs - to be able to track someone who is missing in order to find them and to be able to track someone who may be the reason that person is missing. But we want them to have a warrant - with exceptions for emergencies and delayed notifications.  You can listen in live right now and join me on the edge of my seat as I hope that the Maine House upholds important privacy protections in this day of technological advancements: http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/h_audio.htm UPDATE: VICTORY! The Maine House voted 113-28 in favor of LD 415. It now goes back to the Senate for enactment.

I'm sitting in the gallery of the Maine House of Representatives, listening to a lively debate about privacy. LD 415, An Act To Require a Warrant To Obtain the Location Information of a Cell Phone or Other Electronic Device, would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant in order to track your location information via your cell phone.  We all want law enforcement to be able to do their jobs - to be able to track someone who is missing in order to find them and to be able to track someone who may be the reason that person is missing. But we want them to have a warrant - with exceptions for emergencies and delayed notifications.  You can listen in live right now and join me on the edge of my seat as I hope that the Maine House upholds important privacy protections in this day of technological advancements: http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/h_audio.htm UPDATE: VICTORY! The Maine House voted 113-28 in favor of LD 415. It now goes back to the Senate for enactment.

Some hugely important votes could take place in the Maine legislature any day that will have a direct impact on Mainers' privacy.  We really need your help to ensure that privacy prevails.  Click here to find your legislator and call or email them right now.  In a hurry?  Use our action alert system here.  The issue at hand is whether law enforcement should have to get a warrant based upon probable cause before spying on you.  Whether it's cell phones, drones, or cameras, we think the Fourth Amendment should apply.  After all, there's no technology exception written into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The first vote -- on LD 415 to require warrants for geolocational tracking -- was scheduled for today but postponed until tomorrow.  The opposition is fierce.  Law enforcement argue that it's too much of a burden to have to go before a judge to obtain a warrant before tracking people via their cell phone or other portable electronic device.  They also claim that this is covered by federal law, but the last time the federal law was updated was back in 1986, before most people had cell phones and long before GPS or the World Wide Web even existed.  Votes will follow soon on three other bills requiring law enforcement to get a warrant before conducting non-emergency surveillance via drones (LD 236), text message (LD 1377), or game cameras (LD 1040).  Call or email your legislator now, and let them know that the Constitution is important.  You can find your legislator and his or her phone number here.  The Fourth Amendment should be applied to new technology, and the legislature should act to protect Mainers' privacy before it's too late. LD 236 would require law enforcement to get a warrant before conducting drone surveillance, and it would prohibit the deployment of weaponized drones by law enforcement in Maine.  Our opponents have put forward an amendment to the bill so that police would police themselves by developing internal policies.  We think that going to a judge is really important, and a warrant should be required. LD 1377 would require law enforcement to get a probable cause warrant before accessing your text messages.  Our opponents argue that text messages belong to the phone company, not you, to which we say no one would say that the US Postal Service owns your letters, so why should the privacy protections for text messages under the law be any different? LD 1040 would require law enforcement including game wardens to get a probable cause warrant before placing a surveillance camera on your property.  Law enforcement says that you should only have privacy in your immediate yard, not in the woods behind your house.  We think that's too low of a standard, especially for folks living in rural Maine with larger property lots. While these bills seem simple, especially to civil libertarians, it's an uphill battle, so every personal contact with legislators matters. Fired up?  So are we.  I was at the legislature last night until 7:30 pm.  I'll be there tomorrow night as well.  But I could use your help.  Please click here to look up your legislator and then call or email them.  Or if you're in a hurry, you can click here to email them directly.  Let them know that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are important.  We can preserve both our safety and our constitutional freedoms.  Thank you!

As early as tomorrow, the Maine Senate and House will vote on whether the police should get a warrant before tracking people with their cell phones. We’ve been working together all session to convince the Legislature to vote for privacy protections, and now they need to hear from you one last time! Please call or email your senator and representative TONIGHT so they know you want them to vote YES for LD 415 and privacy protections. Click here to find their phone number. Or, click here to send an email. Your cell phone is constantly creating a digital map of your whereabouts, and this location information can reveal a lot about you: where you worship, who you spend time with, what your political affiliations are, and more. The police should not be able to collect this treasure trove of personal info about you without proving they have a good reason. They should get a warrant first. Even if you've take action on this before, it's important that your legislators hear from you again tonight. Take action now - tell your legislators to vote yes on LD 415! Taking action is as easy as picking up the phone. Find your legislators here and give them a call. Or send them an email by clicking here. Together we've been working all session to protect the Constitution. Now we're in the home stretch - and your calls and emails will really make a difference.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.   Maine Legislative Successes   The ACLU of Maine has been actively working towards the passage of five bills related to privacy and technology this session (more here) . Yesterday, the Maine Legislature’s Committee on Judiciary voted in support of one of our bills, An Act to Protect Cellular Telephone Privacy. This bill requires law enforcement agencies and officers to obtain a probably cause warrant before obtaining text message content and cell phone records. The police aren’t allowed to read our personal mail without a warrant, they should not be allowed to read our text messages either. The bill now goes to the full house and senate for approval.   Another privacy bill before the legislature got tabled until next year. This bill prohibits employers and schools from accessing passwords to the private social media accounts of their employees or students. The ACLU of Maine will continue to educate folks on the importance of this measure. What people do online during their own time, outside of work and school, is their own business.   In other legislative news, the legislature defeated two unconstitutional bills yesterday that sought to put in place unconstitutional drug testing and residency requirements for welfare recipients.   Same-sex marriage victories in three states   Last Thursday, Rhode Island became the tenth state to legalize same sex marriage.   On Tuesday, Delaware became the eleventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.   Minnesota looks poised to become the twelfth state to legalize same-sex marriage. The Minnesota House of Representatives voted to approve same-sex marriage yesterday. The house was thought to be the biggest hurdle in the legalization process. Commentators expect passage in the senate and Minnesota’s governor publicly declared an intention to sign the bill into law.  

The title of this post is a quote from former FBI counterterrorism agent Tim Clemente, who made some eye-opening statements on CNN last week. According to columnist Glenn Greenwald, Clemente's statements indicate that all of our digital communications - including telephone calls, emails, online chats, etc. - are automatically recorded and stored and accessible to the government after the fact. According to Clemente, “All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."

Updated May 7. The following are public hearings and work sessions on bills of note for the week of May 6: May 7