Civil Liberties

× Clear Filters
1,368 Articles
People cross a street with cars. There are more street lights than seems needed for such a small street. There are numbers and waves of circles overlaid the image.

How to Think About the Right to Privacy and Using Location Data to Fight COVID-19

"Government officials need to listen to stakeholders and technologists who are not trying to promote private companies’ interests in infection control programs."
A cell phone shows tweets from Trump in response to an editorial in the New York Times. September 6, 2018

Public Officials Can’t Block Critics from Official Social Media Accounts

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request for full court review of last year’s decision holding that the president…
Trump speaks during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, in the press briefing room of the White House on March 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. Pence stands behind him. Neither wear face masks.

Keeping an Eye on the Civil Liberties Impact of Trump’s Coronavirus Response

Now is the time to be vigilant for attempts to leverage the crisis to obtain or retain powers that unnecessarily infringe on rights and liberties.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is joined by commission chair Harvard Professor Mary Ann Glendon while announcing the formation of the Commission on Unalienable Rights during a news conference at the Department of State, on July 8, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Pompeo’s “Rights Commission” is Worse Than Feared: Part I

Human rights groups have sued to shut it down. A study of its hearings shows its anti-rights leanings are even worse than feared.
A passenger has his temperature checked at Changsha railway station in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province on March 10, 2020. Everyone wears face masks.

Pandemics and Human Rights

Some governments use a crisis as a pretext to infringe rights. Others retain over-broad emergency powers after the crisis subsides.
People cross a burning street in Cadjehoun on May 1, 2019. Protestors in Benin set up burning barricades on the streets on May 1, as soldiers encircled the home of ex-president Thomas Boni Yayi after he led calls for an election boycott. Hours after initial results showed a record low turnout in Sunday's controversial parliamentary polls, soldiers in tanks were posted on the main roads leading to Boni Yayi's home in the economic capital Cotonou.

West Africa’s Democratic Progress is Slipping Away, Even as Region’s Significance Grows

Democratic norms may erode further in 2020, says Freedom House. The fundamental rights of West Africa’s nearly 400 million people are in jeopardy.
A laptop screen shows the Facebook page for Facebook.

An Ambitious Reading of Facebook’s Content Regulation White Paper

How might we move toward accountability in the face of irreconcilable clashes between Rights-era and Public Health-era values, particularly given the serious practical and civil…
Children from the Anapra area stand on one side of the border wall while group of religious presbyters lead a prayer on the other side of the boarder wall between Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico and Sunland Park, New Mexico, US, on May 3, 2018.

Revised Justice Department Policy Still Silences Immigration Judges

Some of the sharpest critics of the Trump administration’s immigration policies are the former immigration judges who were once charged with enforcing them. But there’s a reason…
Woman's hand showing world communication hologram with digital interface technology.

Improve FISA on Civil Liberties by Strengthening Amici

A series of recommendations could position amici to make forceful civil liberties and privacy arguments, effecting change from within the FISA court system.
In this picture taken on February 7, 2020, a mother shows her phone to her child who has cancer as they sit inside a ward in a hospital in Srinagar. Both wear face masks.

As Trump Returns from India, Others in U.S. Must Press Modi on Rights in Kashmir and Across the Country

It is critical that a broad and diverse group of powerful actors in the United States not ignore the Indian government’s turn toward authoritarianism.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee meets to consider articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Longworth House Office Building on Thursday December 12, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Congress Is Ready for FISA Reform — Will the House Judiciary Committee Rise to the Occasion?

In the next 24 hours, the House Judiciary Committee has a unique opportunity to seriously reform FISA surveillance powers.
A man uses a smartphone while speaking with another riding a motorcycle along the side of a street in the Iranian capital Tehran on November 23, 2019.

For Free Expression in Iran, the U.S. Can Act to Keep the Internet On

The US should allow American companies to provide technology services and platforms to the Iranian people without fear of violating sanctions.
1-12 of 1,368 items

DON'T MISS A THING. Stay up to date with Just Security curated newsletters: