Who else is under suspicion in the 21st century surveillance state? Leaked information and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits have revealed that in one sense little has changed since the days of COINTELPRO. Now, as then, peaceful, protected First Amendment activity...
In the closing decades of the 19th century, ideas associated with the writings of Karl Marx and the 1848 European revolutions were carried to the United States by immigrant workers. Trade union organizers and sympathizers with the effort of workers to fight...
Table of Contents Part I. Introduction and History of Spying Introduction Twentieth Century Background The Road to 9/11 and Total Information Awareness Part II. Expanding Surveillance Powers and Technology Expanding Surveillance Powers Expanding Government Databases Expanding the Surveillance Footprint Expanding the Homeland...
Read our report: Other resources: “Mass Impact: The Domestic War on Terrorism in Massachusetts” A report describing how the “War on Terror” has impacted ordinary Massachusetts residents. “When We Are All Suspects: a Backgrounder on Government Surveillance in Massachusetts” A whitepaper exploring...
The closing decades of the 20th century brought something new: the potential for mass surveillance, made possible by the evolution of computer technology. When the government responded to the attacks of 9/11 by enlisting that technology in the service of national security,...
by Nancy Murray | ACLU of Massachusetts Statewide Conference, February 6, 2010 The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts was founded 90 years ago to challenge government violations of civil rights and civil liberties and to defend the Bill of Rights. We...
by Nancy Murray | December 17, 2010 I want to thank the organizers of this event for recognizing the urgency of the moment, and the need to build a powerful solidarity movement against the recent FBI raids that have to date resulted...
Over the decade, the government’s powers of surveillance have expanded dramatically. They are directed not just at people suspected of wrongdoing, but at all of us. Our phone calls, our emails and website visits, our financial records, our travel itineraries, and our...
Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU's privacy statement, click here.
After the FBI was caught spying on and disrupting non-violent political movements in the United States in the 1960s and '70s, Attorney General Edward Levi wrote the first Attorney General Guidelines for domestic operations. Those rules protected free speech from government spying....