by TChris

A federal appellate court ruled yesterday that the free speech rights of protestors were violated when they were herded into a "free expression zone" more than 200 feet from the people to whom they hoped to convey their message. Animal rights activists brought the lawsuit after their efforts to protest at San Francisco's Cow Palace were limited.

The state said it was necessary to cordon protesters to assure the flow and safety of vehicle and foot traffic. But the court said that was unnecessary, because few protesters show up at the Grand National Rodeo and Stock Show, and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

While the state argued that a "free expression zone" gives protestors the opportunity to interact with any member of the public who wants to listen, the court held that the zones were "more likely to give the impression to passers-by that these are people to be avoided."

The ACLU has refused over $1 million in grant money from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations because of restrictive language that could compromise its ability to defend civil liberties.

Anthony D. Romero, the A.C.L.U.'s executive director, said the language of the contracts governing the Ford and Rockefeller grants was broad and ambiguous, leaving them open to interpretation that could impede free speech and limit advocacy work not only at his organization but also at other nonprofits.

The ACLU statment is here.

Via Noah at Defense Tech: This summer, an influential group of Pentagon advisers, the Defense Science Board, submitted a report to Rumsfeld recommending massive spying on the level of "The Manhattan Project" to win the war on terror:

The Pentagon urgently needs a massive effort to develop tools to track individuals, items and activities in ways that exist today only in science fiction...Technologies that can identify people by unique physical characteristics — fingerprint, voice, odor, gait or even pattern of iris — must be merged with new means of “tagging” so that U.S. forces can find enemies who escape into a crowd or slip into a labyrinthine slum.

A Defense Science Board study this summer, “Transition to and From Hostilities,” calls for a new array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

“The global war on terrorism cannot be won without a ‘Manhattan Project’-like TTL [tagging, tracking, and locating] program,” said briefing charts summarizing some of the study’s findings. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret U.S. military-led effort involving many civilian scientists during World War II to develop the atomic bomb.

Noah responds,

Among the provisions in the House and Senate versions of the 9/11 Commission bill is one that would standardize the requirements for drivers' licenses among all states. Power to determine what information must be provided will vest in the Homeland Security Director.

The secretary could require the license to include fingerprints or eye prints. The provision would allow the Homeland Security Department to require use of the license, or an equivalent card issued by motor vehicle bureaus to nondrivers for identification purposes, for access to planes, trains and other modes of transportation.

The House's version of the intelligence bill, passed Friday, would require the states to keep all driver's license information in a linked database, for quick access. It also calls for "an integrated network of screening points that includes the nation's border security system, transportation system and critical infrastructure facilities that the secretary determines need to be protected against terrorist attack."

Civil liberties advocates are appalled.

by TChris

Celebrate your First Amendment freedoms during Banned Book Week by reading a work of literature that, at some point, censors deemed unfit for consumption. The list includes such great works as Native Son, Animal Farm, On the Road, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Or read Ray Bradbury's cautionary tale of censorship, Fahrenheit 451. Or join others at a read-in to express your commitment to intellectual freedom.

For a more complete list of books that censors think you shouldn't read, go to the American Library Association's list of 100 Most Frequently Banned Books from 1990 to 2000, including that dangerous work of sedition and smut, Where's Waldo?

In a welcome about-face by the Bush Adminstration, plans have been scrapped to require emergency rooms to inquire about immigration status from those seeking medical care.

The National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, representing more than 100 safety-net hospitals that treat many undocumented immigrants, said the original proposal would create "peril for those individuals, a public health threat to the entire community, and higher costs for treating patients at later disease stages."

California voters take note. Here's one Congressperson that deserves to be roundly defeated in November:

The House rejected legislation from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., in May that would have explicitly required hospitals to determine immigration status, leading to deportation proceedings against people in the country illegally.

On a related note, say hello to The Public Health Press, by Ross Silverman, formerly Bloviator.

Oh, to be in New York Monday night when some big name, talented stars perform at an ACLU fundraiser to protest over the U.S. terrorism watch list.

Robin Williams and Paul Simon will join other stars on Monday for a show in New York in aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU is protesting against a US Government demand that charities screen employees against being on a suspected terrorist "watch list". Non-compliance would result in a charity losing support in raising funds from government employees.

Who else will be there? Richard Gere and Patti Smith. Whose idea?

Composer Philip Glass, who is producing the ACLU event, said: "I need to live in an environment where there is a free exchange of ideas, not where the government is looking over my shoulder."

There will also be a film tribute to Lenny Bruce. My favorite Bruce quote:

"The only justice in the halls of justice is in the halls."

Latest big name snare by the Watch List: Cat Stevens, aka Yusuf Islam. [corrected.]

Where's Big Brother? On his way to your town, says the ACLU in a new report.

The report argues that even as surveillance capacity grows like a “monster” in our midst, the legal “chains” needed to restrain that monster are being weakened. The report cites not only new technology but also erosions in protections against government spying, the increasing amount of tracking being carried out by the private sector, and the growing intersection between the two.

From government watch lists to secret wiretaps – Americans are unknowingly becoming targets of government surveillance,” said Dorothy Ehrlich, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California. “It is dangerous for a democracy that government power goes unchecked and for this reason it is imperative that our government be made accountable.”

Don't miss out viewing Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties, a one hour documentary that:

tells the gut-wrenching stories of those affected by the USA PATRIOT Act -- from law-abiding store clerks to U.S. Olympians unable to travel. Sponsored by the ACLU, the final chapter in Robert Greenwald's "UN" trilogy is available now....We created Unconstitutional to show Americans the extent to which our civil liberties and our freedoms have been trampled upon by our government since 9/11," said Robert Greenwald, the film's executive producer. "The more Americans understand what is at stake, and what has already been lost, the more determined we become to protect our rights."

If you live in these cities, you can catch a screening. If you're elsewhere, or you want to watch at home, you can purchase the video. The ACLU has more on the film.

TalkLeft is excited the film has placed an ad with us. By visiting here, readers demonstrate that blogs can help spread progressive messages.

Update: Here's a review of the film.

Asylum-seekers. We treat them like dirt.

In jails and prisons across the United States, thousands of people are detained who have never been accused of crimes. The guards treat them like criminals, and the criminals they bunk with often abuse them. They are held for months, sometimes even years, but unlike the criminals, they do not know when their sentences will end. They receive this treatment because they are foreigners who arrived in the United States saying that they were fleeing persecution at home.

It wasn't always this way.

The United States did not always lock up the huddled masses. Until 1997, when security concerns began to rise, asylum seekers could live like normal people while awaiting their hearings. Today, thousands wait in detention. Some go to immigration centers that greatly resemble prisons, but more than half are sent to actual jails and prisons.

Contrast the U.S. (Ashcroft's) policy towards the Haitians and the Cubans:

A new program is in effect at 4 U.S. airports-- screening of passengers' documents:

A new device that scans documents for traces of explosives has made its debut at four of the nation's busiest airports, where officials will use it to screen selected passengers. Federal security screeners started testing the equipment Wednesday at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. It is also being used at Los Angeles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Washington Reagan National Airport to detect chemical residue on the surface of items such as wallets, passports and airline boarding passes.

Of course, the screening isn't being done on all passengers.

It will be used for passengers selected by security workers and those who set off alarms at checkpoints.

There may be lots of false positives:

Dozens of chemicals could trigger the scanners, including nitroglycerin taken by heart patients, fertilizer and gunpowder residue.

After a 30 day trial period, the Government will decide whether to extend the program to all airports.

Following up on our post below about the release of new documents showing the planned expansion of the privacy-intrusive "CAPPS II" passenger screening program, now dead, there is news that Congress is addressing the issue:

Federal agencies that use data-mining technologies will be required to submit a report to Congress on the privacy impact of their activities under the Senate-passed fiscal 2005 Homeland Security Department spending bill. An amendment offered by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., was unanimously accepted. The Senate passed the bill, H.R. 4567, on Tuesday on a 93-0 vote. The House version of the bill, passed in June, does not contain such an amendment.

"At the same time that the [Bush] administration has been making it harder and harder for the public to learn what government agencies are up to, the government and its private sector partners have been quietly building more and more databases to learn and store more information about the American people," Leahy said in a statement.