Issues

Justice Dept promises not to plunder Census data

March 4, 2010 - 9:54pm

The Assistant Attorney General has sent a letter to concerned members of Congress   insisting that personal data collected on Americans by the U.S. Census Bureau will not be disclosed to "law enforcement or national security officials."  This is a commendable position.  It would be nice if the NSA Director released a similar letter.

This concern would not be so pronounced if the Census stuck to their Constitutional mandate in the first place and only inquired as to the number of persons in the household. 

Another PATRIOT Act extension.

February 25, 2010 - 4:31pm

Last night, the U.S. Senate passed -- on unanimous consent and no recorded vote -- a measure to renew some expiring police-state provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for another year. The U.S. House is scheduled to vote on the extension tonight. The White House has promised to sign the bill.

Call your Congressman's office (the Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121) today and urge a NO vote.

Background here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR201002...

Privacy Report Card for the Obama Administration

September 8, 2009 - 12:24pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Media Advisory 
Thursday, September 3, 2009 
 Contact: 
Gerald Tan, EPIC Administrative Coordinator 
(202) 483?1140 x119 admin@epic.org 
  Privacy Report Card for  
the Obama Administration 
 
National Press Club 
Washington, DC 
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 

Carolina high-schooler jailed under secret charges

May 4, 2009 - 1:00am

UPDATE: The mother has backed off her claim the secret charges are directly related to the USA PATRIOT Act. The case is still sealed. MORE

The FBI is holding a 16-year-old North Carolina boy incommunicado in an undisclosed detention facility in Indiana. Details are sketchy, but the USA PATRIOT Act is being cited as a basis to hold Ashton Lundeby without any kind of public hearing. Presumably, this homeschooled student has been deemed an "enemy combatant." The available evidence indicates that the family's IP address had been hijacked to send threatening messages and the family is completely innocent. That young Lundeby is still being jailed without trial is completely outrageous.

Letter to the White House on whistleblower protection

April 6, 2009 - 3:32am

Dear Mr. President,

We write on behalf of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans to respectfully call upon you to make your campaign promise for stronger whistleblower protections the unequivocal policy of your administration and the law of the land.