Today we sent an open letter to college and university presidents across the nation outlining five basic guardrails to ensure freedom of speech and academic freedom while protecting against discriminatory harassment and disruptive conduct. Read more: aclu.org/news/free-spee…

Students: If you're protesting this weekend, know your rights.

Earlier this week, we at Knight First Amendment Institute filed a new case that we hope will change the way people are allowed to use social media. Our client is Prof. Ethan Zuckerman (Ethan Zuckerman), and we’re suing Meta. It’s a novel case with big aspirations. 🧵 knightcolumbia.org/cases/zuckerma…

Powerful piece on Florida's unconstitutional property law, which severely limits the ability of Chinese immigrants to buy homes. Our clients' suit is still working its way through the courts. In the meantime, discrimination & fear in Florida: nytimes.com/2024/05/06/us/…

Relatedly, this new wave of anti-China land laws, the TikTok ban, and baseless prosecutions of Chinese American scientists are part of a broader pattern: nytimes.com/2024/05/06/opi…

Am reading the TikTok v. Garland complaint. 1/ 🧵

Yesterday the Brennan Center, joined by more than 20 civil society organizations, urged the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence to declassify information that is critical to ongoing efforts to rein in a dangerous surveillance power. 1/17 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…

There's a story today in WIRED about the coalition letter sent by Brennan Center and 20+ other organizations calling for the declassification of information vital to reining in a massively overbroad surveillance power. 1/2 wired.com/story/section-…

ICYMI: Center for Democracy & Technology joined ACLU, EFF, and others in filing an amicus brief defending the free expression rights of TikTok users in Montana. The state's ban on TikTok is unconstitutional censorship. Read more: cdt.org/insights/cdt-j…

BREAKING: A federal court denied the government's attempt to dismiss key claims in our clients’ lawsuit challenging CARRP, a secretive and discriminatory immigration policy. This is a victory for our clients and for government accountability.

Gov't surveillance is “bypassing our encryption," the memo warned, allowing states to discern "who is in a group together, who is messaging who, and (hardest to hide) who is calling who" on WhatsApp. The memo warned traffic analysis might be able to geolocate WhatsApp users, too

Last week the S Ct handed down a ruling that matters for jawboning cases about govt pressure on platform content moderation (including the Ct’s pending Murthy case). It got lost in the hubbub of other judicial developments, so I’m writing about it now. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf… 1/

Police in a border city deployed drones to investigate 20,000 911 calls—from noise complaints to murder. They have amassed hundreds of hours of footage above residents not involved in crimes The poorer the neighborhood, the more exposure residents faced wired.com/story/the-age-…

There's a lot of concern (rightly so) over how a rogue president might abuse executive powers. But there's not enough focus on surveillance authorities--and the gift the Biden administration just gave the next president who has autocratic ambitions. theunpopulist.net/p/the-biden-ad…

Today @ 10AM: the Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board is holding a public forum on AI and counterterrorism—and the resulting dangers to civil rights and civil liberties. Great thread on many of the AI-powered programs we & Brennan Center are urging the Board to scrutinize:

URGENT: Please call Senator Graham’s office (202-224-5972) *today* and demand that Section 1202 of the intelligence authorization bill, which will rein in a truly terrifying surveillance authority, be KEPT IN the bill. 1/17

Before the next #FISA Section 702 renewal, former House Judiciary Dems Chair Bob Goodlatte and former Assoc. Counsel to Pres. George HW Bush Gene Schaerr write, the intelligence community “must take stock” of “why it is losing trust.” justsecurity.org/97812/intellig…

CBP belated issues a privacy impact assessment for its nearly 5 year long "pilot" program where it bought access to the movement of tens if not hundreds of millions of people's cell phone records from commercial brokers. A few observations & thoughts /🧵dhs.gov/sites/default/…

We're in the 9th Circuit today, arguing on behalf of Muslim Americans challenging unconstitutional religious questioning by CBP. Border officers target Muslims returning home for irrelevant and intrusive questions like "Do you pray every day?" More here: aclu.org/cases/kariye-v…

The religious questioning of Muslim Americans by border officers is demeaning, intrusive, and unconstitutional. We're in court today fighting for our client’s rights to be treated equally and to practice their faith without undue government scrutiny.