#civilliberties — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #civilliberties, aggregated by home.social.
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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Twenty-Five Years of “Temporary”: How the Patriot Act Became Permanent
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 11, 2026
Twenty-five years ago today, the United States experienced the deadliest foreign attack on its soil in modern history. The September 11, 2001 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and shocked the nation into a state of collective fear and urgency. In Washington, that fear translated into speed. Within weeks, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, a sweeping expansion of federal surveillance and law-enforcement authority described at the time as temporary, emergency legislation.
A quarter-century later, most of those powers remain in force.
This article examines where the Patriot Act came from, how it moved so quickly, and how every administration since 2001—across both parties—has contributed to its endurance.
A Law That Predated the Crisis
Despite its association with September 11, the Patriot Act was not created from scratch after the attacks. Its core provisions had been debated in Washington for at least five to ten years prior.
Throughout the 1990s, federal agencies repeatedly sought expanded authority to conduct wiretaps across multiple devices, share intelligence between law enforcement and intelligence agencies, monitor financial transactions more closely, and standardize identity and address records for people living outside traditional housing structures. These proposals regularly stalled in Congress due to civil-liberty concerns and the absence of political urgency.
September 11 provided that urgency. Proposals that had previously failed were rapidly consolidated into a single bill, introduced on October 23, 2001, and passed three days later. Many lawmakers later acknowledged that they had not read the full text before voting.
The Bush Administration: Emergency Powers Become Law
Under President George W. Bush, the Patriot Act was framed as a wartime necessity. The administration argued that extraordinary threats required extraordinary tools and assured the public that the measures were temporary.
The law expanded federal authority to conduct surveillance under Section 215, allowed delayed-notification searches, broadened access to business and banking records, and lowered barriers between intelligence and law enforcement databases. Sunset clauses were included, reinforcing the claim that these powers would expire once the emergency passed.
For many Americans, the impact was indirect but real. Financial institutions tightened compliance rules. Address databases were standardized. People living in mobile-home parks, rural communities, and other nontraditional housing arrangements saw their records altered without notice. Missed bank statements, disrupted accounts, and bureaucratic errors became common side effects of a system designed to prioritize traceability over continuity.
No comprehensive mechanism was created to address or remedy these disruptions.
The Obama Administration: Normalization and Limited Reform
When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the surveillance framework was already embedded in federal practice. Rather than dismantle it, his administration treated it as a baseline reality.
Key Patriot Act provisions were reauthorized, and surveillance programs were defended in court as lawful and necessary. The Justice Department argued that the authorities had become integral to national security operations.
Meaningful change came only after the 2013 disclosures by Edward Snowden. In response, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act in 2015, which ended some forms of bulk data collection and added modest transparency requirements. Certain data storage responsibilities were shifted from the government to private companies.
These changes narrowed the scope of specific programs but left the broader surveillance architecture intact. Emergency authority had become routine governance.
The First Trump Administration: Rhetoric Without Rollback
Donald Trump entered office in 2017 denouncing the “deep state” while inheriting its tools. During his first term, surveillance authorities were renewed with minimal reform. Foreign intelligence programs that incidentally collected Americans’ data continued to expand.
Public criticism of intelligence agencies increased, but structural oversight did not. The result was continuity rather than change. The surveillance state remained intact, accompanied by louder political rhetoric.
The Biden Administration: Quiet Continuity
From 2021 to 2024, the Biden administration maintained existing authorities with little public debate. Surveillance programs were renewed, and civil-liberties language returned to official statements, but no major structural reforms were pursued.
By this point, the Patriot Act and its successor authorities were no longer discussed as emergency measures. They were treated as permanent components of federal infrastructure.
Trump’s Return and the Risk of Repurposing
With Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in 2025, the long-term implications of the Patriot Act have become clearer. The law was written with the assumption that institutional norms and good-faith restraint would guide its use.
Those assumptions are increasingly fragile. Authorities created for counterterrorism can be repurposed for immigration enforcement, protest monitoring, political surveillance, or media pressure. The risk lies not in new powers, but in the continued availability of old ones.
The Permanence of “Temporary”
From the outset, Americans were told the Patriot Act was temporary. That it would expire once the emergency ended. Instead, sunset clauses were repeatedly extended, reauthorizations became routine, and each administration passed expanded authority to the next.
Twenty-five years later, the emergency persists not because the original threat remains unchanged, but because emergency power is easier to retain than to relinquish.
A Quarter-Century Reckoning
September 11, 2026 marks twenty-five years since the attacks that reshaped the United States. It also marks twenty-five years of a legal framework that quietly altered daily life, often without notice, consent, or effective recourse.
The Patriot Act did not endure by accident. It survived because fear moved faster than democratic deliberation—and because no administration, Republican or Democratic, chose to fully unwind what crisis had built.
The question now is no longer how it began, but whether Americans are willing to confront the reality that “temporary” has lasted a generation.
For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com
This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.
References
American Civil Liberties Union. (2021). Surveillance under the USA PATRIOT Act.
https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/surveillance-under-patriot-actGreenwald, G. (2014). No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state. Metropolitan Books.
USA FREEDOM Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114–23, 129 Stat. 268.
USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107–56, 115 Stat. 272.
#911Anniversary #CivilLiberties #ConstitutionalRights #Democracy #emergencyPowers #opinion #PatriotAct #Politics #security #Surveillance #USNationalSecurity -
"The Home Office and police were criticised in the aftermath of the weekend for failing to take a hard line on the #FarRight. #Environment campaigners and #CiviLliberties groups have complained that there appears to be a “two-tier” approach, with peaceful climate protesters prosecuted more aggressively than far-right agitators."
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this.weekinsecurity:
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Vigilantism comes for Flock
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"More Americans than ever are destroying Flock license plate cameras amid rising backlash against the company. Is the tide turning on intrusive U.S. mass surveillance, and where does the privacy fight go next?"https://this.weekinsecurity.com/vigilantism-comes-for-flock/
4.9.2026
#BigBrother #CivilLiberties #Flock #Freiheitsrechte #Kennzeichenscanner #LicensePlateCamera #LicensePlateTracking #Massenüberwachung #MassSurveillance #Privacy #Surveillance #Überwachung
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Texas: Faith, Freedom, and Mind Your Damn Business
By Cliff Potts, CSO
Editor-in-Chief, WPS NewsBaybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 4, 2026, 9:15 p.m. PHT
Texas talks about faith constantly and practices freedom inconsistently. Religion is waved like a banner while personal liberty is quietly narrowed, regulated, or punished when it doesn’t line up with political fashion. This contradiction has become so normal that many Texans barely notice it anymore.
Faith is not the problem. Power is.
Faith Is Personal, Not Administrative
Texas is home to churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, meeting houses, and people who believe quietly or not at all. That pluralism is not a flaw. It is a fact. Faith has always been part of Texas life, but it has never belonged to the state.
When government begins enforcing one version of belief, it stops protecting faith and starts weaponizing it. That does not strengthen religion. It cheapens it. Faith that requires government backing is not faith—it is insecurity dressed up as authority.
People believe deeply without being coerced. The state does not need to supervise that.
Freedom Means Leaving People Alone
Texas politicians love to invoke freedom while inserting themselves into private decisions about bodies, families, education, and belief. That is not freedom. It is control wrapped in familiar language.
True freedom is not loud. It is boring. It is the quiet confidence that your neighbor’s life choices are none of your business unless they cause real harm. A free society tolerates disagreement without demanding conformity.
If a belief system is strong, it does not need the force of law to survive.
Religion in Schools Without Indoctrination
Teaching about religion is not the same thing as preaching it. Students benefit from understanding the beliefs that shape history, culture, and global affairs. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Indigenous traditions, and secular ethics all belong in a serious education.
Teaching one belief as truth while excluding others is not education. It is indoctrination. Texas should be confident enough to teach broadly without fear.
Knowledge does not weaken faith. It strengthens discernment.
The Myth of Moral Decline
Texas politics often leans on claims of moral collapse to justify intrusion into private life. These claims rarely hold up under scrutiny. Crime trends, family structures, and social behavior are influenced far more by economics, education, and stability than by religious enforcement.
Blaming social problems on belief differences avoids addressing harder causes like poverty, healthcare access, housing, and education. Moral panic is easier than policy work.
A serious state solves problems instead of sermonizing about them.
Faith Communities Do Real Work
Faith-based organizations are often the first to respond when communities struggle. They feed people, shelter families, provide counseling, and show up quietly without demanding credit. That work matters. It deserves respect and support.
What it does not require is political dominance. Faith communities are strongest when they act voluntarily, not when they are fused to state power.
Service speaks louder than slogans.
Freedom of Conscience Cuts Both Ways
Freedom of religion includes the freedom not to believe. It includes the freedom to change beliefs. It includes the freedom to practice quietly without public approval. Protecting conscience means accepting outcomes you may personally dislike.
That is the price of liberty. It is also its strength.
Texas cannot claim to honor freedom while punishing people for living differently.
When Government Picks Winners
History offers no shortage of warnings about governments that decide which beliefs are acceptable. Even when intentions begin as sincere, outcomes tend toward exclusion, resentment, and abuse. Texas is not immune to that pattern.
Keeping church and state separate does not weaken either. It protects both from corruption.
Personal Faith, Public Restraint
Leaders are allowed their faith. They are allowed to be guided by conscience. What they are not allowed to do is impose that conscience as law when it infringes on the rights of others.
Restraint is not betrayal. It is maturity.
What a Confident Texas Would Do
A confident Texas would protect freedom of worship for everyone and freedom from coercion for everyone else. It would teach religion academically, not devotionally. It would trust families and individuals to handle belief without supervision.
Most of all, it would stop confusing moral authority with legal power.
Why This Matters Going Forward
Faith will continue to shape Texas culture. That is not in question. The question is whether it will be used to inspire service and compassion—or to justify intrusion and control.
Freedom survives only when people mind their own damn business.
Texas is strong enough to do that.
This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.
References (APA)
#churchAndState #CivilLiberties #educationPolicy #personalFreedom #religiousFreedom #TexasPolitics #TexasReligion #WPSNews
Pew Research Center. (2025). Religious diversity and belief in the United States.
First Amendment Center. (2025). Religion, government, and constitutional boundaries.
National Council of State Legislatures. (2025). Religious freedom and public policy analysis.
Gallup. (2025). Public attitudes toward religion and government.
American Academy of Religion. (2025). Teaching religion in public education. -
"While standing in a private parking lot in Sussex, Wisconsin, on May 4, 2025, Napoleon Jones witnessed a traffic stop made by an out-of-county police officer. "It just didn't sit right with me," Jones told TMJ4 News, a local NBC News affiliate. "So I did what I legally could do, and I walked over and recorded it."
Jones, a United States Navy veteran, was well within his rights to record the police stop. But even though he recorded from a safe distance without interfering, that didn't stop the Waukesha County Sheriff's deputy, Brandon Shayhorn, from later unlawfully stopping and arresting Jones.
After Shayhorn completed the traffic stop, Jones returned to his vehicle. But before Jones could exit the parking lot, Shayhorn turned on his lights and initiated a second stop, claiming Jones' temporary license plate, displayed in the rearview window, was unreadable, reports TMJ4 News. Shayhorn demanded to see Jones' driver's license, but Jones refused, arguing that he'd been unlawfully pulled over on private property. Video clips of the encounter show the deputy opening Jones' door and pulling him from his vehicle."
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"While standing in a private parking lot in Sussex, Wisconsin, on May 4, 2025, Napoleon Jones witnessed a traffic stop made by an out-of-county police officer. "It just didn't sit right with me," Jones told TMJ4 News, a local NBC News affiliate. "So I did what I legally could do, and I walked over and recorded it."
Jones, a United States Navy veteran, was well within his rights to record the police stop. But even though he recorded from a safe distance without interfering, that didn't stop the Waukesha County Sheriff's deputy, Brandon Shayhorn, from later unlawfully stopping and arresting Jones.
After Shayhorn completed the traffic stop, Jones returned to his vehicle. But before Jones could exit the parking lot, Shayhorn turned on his lights and initiated a second stop, claiming Jones' temporary license plate, displayed in the rearview window, was unreadable, reports TMJ4 News. Shayhorn demanded to see Jones' driver's license, but Jones refused, arguing that he'd been unlawfully pulled over on private property. Video clips of the encounter show the deputy opening Jones' door and pulling him from his vehicle."
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What #Flock’s defenders are missing
As cities reconsider the tech, it’s worth asking how design choices have shaped trade-off between solving crimes and protecting civil liberties
New policies don’t address broader concerns from #civilliberties and #privacy groups that Flock is turning crime-stopping tool into #masssurveillance. Criticisms led to a growing backlash that already has some cities canceling contracts and some states trying to ban #ALPR
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/17/1142200/what-flocks-defenders-are-missing/
https://archive.ph/q3iXJ -
Friday’s Quick Hits
More on solar eclipses, vampires, Who The Real Heroes Are, … News bits that deserve attention but not a post unto themselves.
https://twitter.com/amazing_physics/status/2087899089643901246
https://twitter.com/TheFigen_/status/2091642980562001986
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2087438380539785217
You may have heard about the controversy over Flock cameras in the USA, named after the company making and installing them. Supposedly they’re just capturing car licence plate numbers but to a lot of Americans they’re the surveillance state of China and Britain, spying on people who are not committing any crimes and subject to official mis-use. We’ll see how this develops and it may be worthy of a post but for the moment this humorous advice will do.
https://twitter.com/LaNativePatriot/status/2091569030104822114
Dick Cheney is dead but a lot of like-minded people are not.
https://twitter.com/ChristianHeiens/status/2091948875498049675
Given the tariffs and other protections that the Canadians have used to protect their dairy farmers from us, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for their current fight with the USA. Watching the following shows how such application of double standards screws up thinking across all areas.
https://twitter.com/TristinHopper/status/2092295163297280285
Speaking of tariffs, protectionism and open borders….
https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/2092956877063594002
Related from Germany: it seems the AfD continues to gain ground. How much longer can their opponents form coalitions to keep them out of power when the immigration situation in Germany continues to worsen?
https://twitter.com/xnoesbueno/status/2092755148338520567
#AltRightFarRight #Canada #CivilLiberties #DoubleStandards #IllegalImmigrants #Immigration #PoliceState #Tariffs -
CW: Occasional Foul Language. Always Political.
ICE wants to spend millions of our taxpayer dollars to equip their agents with these gloves while they carry out violent kidnappings across the country.If this happens ICE, as we’ve continually seen, will ignore the safety precautions. How long until we hear about cardiac deaths related to ICE?
Link: https://bsky.app/profile/50501movement.bsky.social/post/3msw2emaqoc22
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Reposted from 50501: The People's Movement
Join the Movement at https://fiftyfifty.one
This robot is unaffiliated w/ 50501
Replies here are only seen in the Fediverse, not on Bluesky. 50501 volunteers do not monitor this account.
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#Coup #Activism #FederalGovernment #USpol #Trump #NoKings #elections #50501Movement #WeAreTheResistance #WeHaveFriendsEverywhere #FDT #PeoplesMovement #FiftyFiftyOne #StopICE #protest #organize#ICEgloves #ImmigrationPolicy #HumanRights #PublicSafety #TaxpayerDollars #CivilLiberties #ICEOversight #CardiacSafety #PolicyDebate #KidnappingClaims
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Investigations| Jul 30 2026
Canadian universities set up a secret network to crack down on student Palestine demonstrators
Universities in Canada coordinated to spy on and violently clear student encampments. Then, they deleted the evidence
by Euan Thomson & David Slater
#Canada #cdnpoli #FreePalestine #encampments #civilliberties
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Hollow Mockery: Douglass, Jefferson, and 250 Years of a Promise Unkept
Mike Cone
“Your 4th of July is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license . . . your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery.”
— Frederick Douglass (1852)These words still resonate today.
In the wake of our celebration of the 250th birthday of our independence, let us not forget the ugly truths in the birth and history of this nation. To wash over these truths, as our current administration is wont to do, is tantamount to erasing that part of our past which we should strive to learn from, and to better ourselves as a people, to truly become that nation where the words penned by Thomas Jefferson are not just hollow mockery, but true:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are the unalienable rights bestowed upon us. These rights are not to be infringed upon for any reason, whether it be race, color, ethnicity, religious beliefs or social status. For this to be true, we as a people need to understand and accept that indeed “ALL” men are created equal. In this regard, we have failed as a nation time and time again. There are numerous examples of our nation suppressing the civil liberties of the many throughout our history: chattel slavery, the Tulsa Race Massacre, forced dispossession of ancestral Native American lands, Selma, Alabama, Jim Crow laws, the Alien and Sedition Acts, Japanese internment, Kent State, the Patriot Act, just to name a few. Hell, even Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War.
My point in all this is we need to do better. It is morally important that we learn from our past and not ignore or erase it just because at times it can be ugly and messy. We need to continue to move forward, toward morality and virtue, because virtue will always prevail.
Our current president is unwilling in this regard.
President Trump is the converse of morality and virtue and continually seems to move us backward with his version of revisionist history, distorting, altering and even falsifying historical evidence to fit his agenda. He is forever suppressing or attempting to suppress the civil liberties of those who oppose him. He has actively supported and empowered local governments to ban and remove books from public institutions. He has removed or altered exhibits, plaques and monuments from our National Parks, exhibits he terms “inappropriately disparaging to Americans past or living.” These exhibits include the nation’s first executive mansion, which detailed the nine people enslaved by George Washington; the Bunker Hill Monument, to eliminate language he deemed contrary to founding principles; and locations highlighting Japanese American internment and Native American conflicts. He has sent federal troops into our cities in direct defiance of the Posse Comitatus Act. He has allowed his defense secretary, who some call a Christian White Nationalist, to deny high-ranking promotions to senior Army and Navy officers, the majority being women and minorities, and to intervene in a Navy one-star admiral promotion list, removing nine highly vetted officers. The final list of 22 nominees contained zero women and only two non-white officers. Finally, his immigration policies appear to be an obvious attempt to rid the country of Black and Brown people. This is just a small sample of Trump’s penchant for authoritarianism and what this author feels is a deep hatred and disdain for anyone other than his own race. Donald Trump is the ideological antithesis to the phrase “all men are created equal.”
With that said, I was having a conversation with my good friend Nick Allison, an Army combat veteran and fellow Chaos Section contributor, the other day and mentioned my feelings of anger and visceral disgust for our current administration, so much so that I could not find a reason to celebrate our 250 years of independence, particularly as a veteran. I’ll end with Nick’s response:
“You know what? I think we can always find a reason to celebrate, regardless of the current occupant in the Oval Office, because there are always things and ideas and people worth celebrating. This is still a great country with great people and a wonderfully unique experiment in constitutional representative freedom. It gets messy and sometimes runs off the rails, but that’s kind of the whole point of the experiment: we’re a nation of people governing ourselves, which means it’s on us to correct course when things go sideways. Most of human history has been kings, monarchs and strongmen who never had to answer to anybody. Making it 250 years as a self-correcting experiment, messy and beautiful and stupid and wonderful all at once, is reason enough to celebrate. Don’t let one egotistical, narcissistic old man who will be out of office in a couple years, dead within ten, take that away from you.”
Mike Cone is a Marine Corps infantry veteran who served as a mortarman and forward observer in Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. “Hollow Mockery” is his first piece for The Chaos Section. He lives on Long Island with his wife Cynthia.
#250thAnniversary #AmericanHistory #authoritarianism #civilLiberties #FourthOfJuly #FrederickDouglass #IndependenceDay #JapaneseInternment #NativeAmericanHistory #PosseComitatusAct #racialEquality #revisionistHistory #trump #Veterans -
I just migrated to @defcon.social from @infosec.exchange!
My principles are very straightforward:
1. Transparency is of utmost importance. This doesn't mean you have to make your entire life an open book. It just means being honest and authentic.
2. Mass surveillance is a violation of our civil liberties. In relation to the first point, "nothing to hide" doesn't mean "everything to see."
3. In relation to point two, I am completely against government and corporate overreach. That doesn't mean I am anti-civilization or anti-government. I am very much pro-security but I am also a supporter of limited government and civil rights.
4. Nuance matters. Reference my first three points made.
My opinions are subject to change granted I am presented with evidence to logically form a new conclusion.
I am empathetic but I have also seen and experienced a lot of manipulation. I am not quick to give anything I see or read on the internet validity. The data is the only thing that matters in this world; talk is cheap, show me the code. :pixel_skull:
#civilliberties
#civilrights
#NoBIGTech
#endmasssurveillance
#opensource
#foss
#showmethecode -
NOW ON VERDANT SQUARE RADIO ==
NOW PLAYING == American Democracy Minute Episode 1020: #California #VoterID Ballot Question Now Qualified for the Nov. 3 Ballot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEk7yT07RhA #news #civics #uspol #education #activism #elections #votingrights #WeThPeople #civilliberties #democracy #GetBusy #LearnSomething #vsn #radio #DiverseSpectrumOfTheLeft #SupportIndependentMedia #PacificaRadio
https://mastodon.social/@VerdantSquareRadio/116477608256674593
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NOW ON VERDANT SQUARE RADIO ==
NOW PLAYING == American Democracy Minute Episode 1007: NH’s #GOP Governor Signs Bill Eliminating Student IDs as #voterid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlz9F1fwtjA#news #civics #uspol #education #activism #elections #votingrights #WeThPeople #civilliberties #democracy #GetBusy #LearnSomething #vsn #radio #DiverseSpectrumOfTheLeft #SupportIndependentMedia #PacificaRadio
https://mastodon.social/@VerdantSquareRadio/116372622291224534
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https://winbuzzer.com/2026/02/11/google-gave-ice-student-journalists-bank-data-no-notice-xcxwbn/
Google Gave ICE a Student Journalist's Bank Data Without Prior Notice
#Google #BigTech #Privacy #DataPrivacy #UserPrivacy #UserData #DataSharing #Surveillance #DigitalRights #Government #USGovernment #CivilLiberties #Journalism #FreeSpeech #HumanRights #ICE #DHS
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Chris Minns, NSW Premier: "for the sake of Social Cohesion™, we're inviting a wanted war criminal from a rogue state to visit, granting police extraordinary emergency powers to forcefully suppress the expression of non-approved messages in non-approved locations, and installing extra Social Cohesion™ fences and barriers in the middle of the city. In order to ensure maximum Social Cohesion™ please don't come into the city, and if you do, then disobeying the instructions of one of the 3,000 Social Cohesion™ officers will result in a $5,000 fine. This is for your own good. You will cohere, or else."
#NSWpol #CivilLiberties #CriminalisationOfDissent #IsaacHerzog #Herzog #ChrisMinns #NSWLabor #Gadi #Sydney #SydneyNews #NSWPolice #protest #ProtestIsNotACrime
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Trump Plan Could Require 5 Years of Social Media Posts From Tourists Entering US
Immigration agents also plan to ask prospective tourists to provide email addresses they’ve used over the last decade. -
#CivilLiberties Defense Center on Trump’s Push to Designate Domestic Groups and Ideologies as #Terrorism
September 25, 2025
"Report from the Civil Liberties Defense Center (#CLDC) on moves by the Trump administration to attack #LeftWing groups and ideologies as domestic terrorism.
"Yesterday the Trump regime signed yet another executive order that plainly states what many of us have known for a while now—that the #cabal currently in power are unabashed #fascists. Donald Trump declared that those opposed to #fascism, those who are #AntiFascist in this county — a country that has fought wars against fascism — are now labeled as '#DomesticTerrorists' by this current government — in essence, enemies of the state. Trump and his minions do not have the constitutional or statutory authority to create a terrorist designation pertaining to an amorphous political belief. Period.
"The #FirstAmendment continues to protect #FreedomOfSpeech and association, and would thus prevent any Congressional attempt to enact a law that would allow the US government to designate US groups as terrorist organizations based simply upon their political activities. But, as we know with this regime, there is the law as it has existed for over 100 years, and then there is their attack on the law.
"This EO targets '#Antifa' which is obviously short for 'antifascist.' Antifascists are opposed to fascists. Fascism rejects democracy. Fascists sign executive orders (no democratic process involved) that seek to malign or punish their political opponents, because that is the only way they can take more control from the people in a democratic country. Fascists attempt to undermine democratic elections, erase actual history, and manipulate words to falsely justify their propaganda. This EO is another example of Trump’s war of words — an attempt to recreate reality in order to solidify a fascist #dictatorship."
#ItsGoingDown #AntiFascism #AntiCapitalism #AntiAuthoritarianism
#FreePalestine #Resistance #USPol #WorldPol #TrumpIsAFascist -
On November 14, two #Montreal #police officers assaulted Dimitri Lascaris when he attempted to enter the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, where #Canadian #PrimeMinister #MarkCarney was giving a speech.
This is by no means that first time that he's been assaulted by the #cops in Montreal. These experiences have become a regular occurrence whenever he tries to attend speeches by Ministers in the #CanadianGovernment.
This time, however, he managed to capture the assault on video.
As he explains in his report from outside the hotel, it is now obvious that Lascaris has been placed on a government #blacklist. Although he's a #lawyer in good standing and a card-carrying member of the press - facts about which Canada's government is undoubtedly aware - it’s clear that the Liberal government has instructed Montreal police and the #RCMP to prevent Lascaris from entering any building where a Minister of the Canadian government is speaking - and to use force, if necessary, to exclude him.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fgIP-GjsEt0
#CDNpoli #Quebec #QCpoli #MontrealPD #PoliceViolence #CopCrimes #RemoveQualifiedImmunity #ACAB #DefundPolice #CivilLiberties #AntiFascist #Censorship #PressFreedom #Journalists #CanadianMedia #journalism #Media #Neoliberalism
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Suicide of the West: How Western Culture is Being Eroded
https://beitmenotyou.online/suicide-of-the-west-how-western-culture-is-being-eroded/
#Politics #PrivacySafty #Censorship #CivilLiberties #EUDigitalPolicy #FreeSpeech #GovernmentOverreach #MigrationCrisis #OnlineSafetyAct #Surveillance #WesternCivilization #WesternValues #WorldEconomicForum -
#Texas just gutted #FreeSpeech on #college #campuses. Is your state next?
New laws in the Lone Star State will silence dissent and undermine #faculty authority.
By Laura Benitez and Jonathan Friedman
July 14, 2025"As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.
"Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June, the new laws amount to a stunningly aggressive legislative crackdown on campus protest (#SB2972) and academic shared governance (#SB37) at public colleges and universities. The laws will not just silence dissent and undermine faculty authority in Texas; they provide a blueprint for how to dismantle academic freedom and chill speech on campus state by state.
"Only a few years ago, conservative lawmakers railed against college 'free-speech zones,' arguing that liberal administrators were muzzling students on the rest of campus. In 2019, Texas legislators joined other states in taking action by declaring all outdoor spaces on public campuses open for protest and speech by students, employees and the general public.
"Now, some of the same legislators have done an about-face. The campus protest law actually directs public colleges and universities to implement a version of free-speech zones and adopt sweeping limitations on protests. #Encampments? Banned. #Megaphones or #speakers during 'class hours'? Forbidden — if anyone claims your 'expressive activity' is one that 'intimidates others' or 'interferes' with an employee’s duties. Even wearing a mask during a protest — something many do for safety — could land a student or employee a disciplinary hearing resulting in 'sanctions.' And any expressive activity between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. is off-limits altogether."
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/14/texas-campus-free-speech/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2LuBD#TexasProtestLaws #ProtestLaws #ProtestLawsTexas #Project2025 #AntiProtestLaws #Authoritarianism #SilencingFreeSpeech #Censorship #AcademicFreedom #AntiMaskLaws #Fascism #USPol #CivilLiberties #Texas
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How Civilian Phone Civil Liberties are Violated
https://archive.org/details/DanielRigmaiden-AaronSwartzDay2017
#AaronSwartz #cut #suicide #AaronSwartzDay
#Feds #AdministrativeSubpoena #IMEI #NIC #BaseTransciever #CellSiteSimulator #Masquerade
DRT Inc. , Key/w --> #ThirdParty #CivilLiberties
#LEAP - Local Number Portability Enhanced Analytical Platform
#ISP #Cellular #PenLink #E911 #ACABhttps://archive.org/
subject:“Cell Phone Surveillance”
#Brax #Phone #iodeOS #HighWare -
#anncavoukian #CanadianCharter #CanadianConstitutionFoundation #canadianlaw #civilliberties #constitutionalrights #digitalsurveillancecanada #distracteddriving #dominicnaimool #dronepolicing #dronesurveillance #joshdehaas #KingstonPolice #lawenforcementtechnology #legalchallenge #personalprivacy #policedrones #policetechnologyethics #privacyrights #publicsafety #Section8 #surveillancecontroversy #trafficenforcement #unreasonablesearchandseizure
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No-Bid #ICE Contract Went to Former ICE Agents Being Sued for Fabricating Criminal Evidence on the Job
The $73 million deal for assisting with deportations went to a company whose executives are accused of retaliating against a fellow ICE worker.
Sam Biddle, April 17 2025
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement just signed a contract worth $73 million with a firm whose executives are accused of taking part in a scheme to manufacture evidence against a co-worker during their time working at the Department of Homeland Security.
"According to a contract document reviewed by The Intercept, federal contractor #UniversalStrategicAdvisors will provide services pertaining to #ICE’s 'non-detained docket,' a master list of millions of #noncitizens believed to be removable from the United States but not yet in the agency’s custody.
"The contract cites President Donald #Trump’s declaration of a #NationalEmergency on the #USMexicoBorder, an overwhelming glut of potential #deportees, and a shortage of officers to process them all as justification for hiring a private vendor to assist with the collection of biometric data, coordinating removals, and monitoring #immigrant populations.
"The document says that with a fleet of new outsourced employees, ICE can reassign hundreds of officers to tasks that better align with Trump’s recent executive orders aimed at maximizing the agency’s detention and deportation operations. With the contractors onboard, the document says at least 675 ICE officers 'will be able to take all appropriate actions to comply with the EO’s by prioritizing conducting at-large arrests, removals, and detention related activities.'
"A former ICE official, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity, said they were concerned by this plan to further privatize the agency’s operations at the same time as the Trump administration has dramatically slashed its workforce and gutted important oversight bodies like the Office for #CivilRights and #CivilLiberties, as well as the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. 'I certainly take issue with them firing career feds and demolishing whole offices, just to hire contractors to do the same work, many of them who are former ICE employees now retired,' the official said."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/04/17/ice-deportation-contracts-us-advisors/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/DjRAG#WorkerRetaliation #ICEDetention #Deportations #HumanRightsAbuses #USPol #WorldPol #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Cronyism
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The Jewish Institutional Reaction to #MahmoudKhalil's Abduction
#JewishCurrents' Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, & Alex Kane discuss how American Jewish groups have reacted to the arrest of the #PalestineSolidarity activist
https://jewishcurrents.org/the-jewish-institutional-reaction-to-mahmoud-khalils-abduction
#USpol #USpolitics #JewishAmericanPolitics #FreeMahmoudKhalil #StudentProtests #RightToProtest #FreeSpeechOnCampus #StateRepression #CivilLiberties #Palestine #Gaza @palestine
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"As with other forensic innovations, like forensic genetic genealogy or facial recognition, FDP is sold as an “investigative tool” — that is, a product not intended for use as evidence in a criminal proceeding, but as a behind-the-scenes aide to police searching for perpetrators. But selling a scientifically questionable product as a mere investigative tool can have real-world consequences.
For FDP in particular, experts warn that the composite images can reinforce racial stereotypes, encourage the over-surveillance of marginalized communities, and deny criminal defendants important information about how they became a target of an investigation, which raises serious implications for Fourth Amendment privacy rights. Composites like those Parabon sells could also inadvertently taint the memories of eyewitnesses to a crime, risking potentially valuable evidence.
Paula Armentrout, Parabon’s co-founder, provided written responses to questions from The Intercept about the company’s Snapshot program. In part, the company said that The Intercept “should not quote any of the presenters” at the NAS workshop, who it claims “made many false, uninformed, and misleading statements that were not based on evidence or facts, but on misinformation propagated by inaccurate media articles, hearsay, and their own personal and political agendas.”
Walsh insists her criticisms are motivated solely by her fidelity to the science and to ensuring the transparency and accuracy of forensic tools used in the criminal legal system. To that end, she was emphatic during the workshop: Law enforcement should not be allowed to purchase phenotyping composites. “The science isn’t there. We shouldn’t be doing it,” she said. At this juncture, she said, those sketches are about as scientific as “my son drawing them.”"
https://theintercept.com/2025/02/02/forensic-dna-phenotyping-parabon-nanolabs-police/
#PseudoScience #Surveillance #Forensics #CivilLiberties #DNA #Phrenology
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Just made my monthly phone call to shout at #SaanichPolice to remind them I will NEVER FORGET how their #policeUnion boss led team on night my Dad died & refused to put a mask on & refused to leave our home despite first arrival cops & paramedics determining it was a full medical cardiac emergency requiring ZERO COPS. I WILL NEVER STOP REMINDING #SAANICH PD HOW THEY COMPLETELY FUCKED UP & TRAUMATIZED US MORE ON NIGHT MY DAD DIED!!!
#VancouverIsland #YYJpoli #FuckThePolice #AbolishPoliceUnions #DemandTransparency #CivilLiberties #Saanich
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Civil government cannot let any group ride roughshod over others simply because their consciences tell them to do so.
-- Robert H. Jackson⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #RobertHJackson #CivilLiberties #Government
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunset #JohnsonKey #Everglades #Florida
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Britain leads the world in cracking down on climate activism, study finds
Research shows UK police arrest environmental and climate protesters at three times the average global rate
Damien Gayle
Wed 11 Dec 2024 01.00 EST"British police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism.
"Only Australia arrested climate and environmental protesters at a higher rate than UK police. One in five Australian eco-protests led to arrests, compared with about 17% in the UK. The global average rate is 6.7%."
Original article:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/11/britain-leads-the-world-in-cracking-down-on-climate-activism-study-findsArchived version:
https://archive.ph/ukkvZ#CriminalizingDissent
#ACAB #Autocracy #Corporatocracy
#Fascism #CriminalizingDissentIsAutocracy
#ClimateCrisis #GlobalBurning
#CorporateFascism #HumanRights #CivilLiberties #ClimateActivists
#Blackwater #NoDAPL #StandWithStandingRock
#ClimateAction #PipelineProtests #WaterProtectors #BigOilAndGas #AntiProtestLaws #SLAPPs #ErikPrinceColonialism #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#Project2025 #HR9495 #GlobalWitness #AntiTerrorLaws -
Pioneering research reveals growing dangers and repression of climate activism globally
Press release issued: 11 December 2024
"A new report has uncovered the many risks of participating in climate and environmental protests across the world – and how more countries are criminalising and repressing this activity in a bid to keep it in check.
"The report, led by the University of Bristol, is the first to examine global statistics on this form of protest and identify alarming trends. It reveals that more than 2,000 climate and environmental protesters have been killed over the past 12 years and that a raft of new anti-protest legislation has been enacted.
"It calls for governments, police forces and the legal system to help protect people’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression."
"Lead author Dr Oscar Berglund, Senior Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy at the University’s School for Policy Studies, said: “This research sheds important light on how the growing pursuit of climate and environmental protest is being handled globally. Our evidence clearly shows a global crackdown in liberal democracies as well as autocracies.
"'This is worrying because it focuses state policy on punishing dissent against inaction on climate and environmental change instead of taking adequate action on these issues. It also represents authoritarian moves that are inconsistent with the ideals of vibrant civil societies in liberal democracies.'
"The findings showed murders and disappearances of climate and environmental activists are common in many countries, with international non-governmental organisation (NGO) Global Witness reporting at least 2,106 killings between 2012 and 2023. Brazil had the highest number with 401 fatalities, followed by 298 in the Philippines, 86 in India, and 58 in Peru.
"A significant proportion of climate and environmental protests involved arrests, according to the research. The highest proportion, one in five, was found in Australia, followed by 17% in the UK – much higher than the international average of 6.3%.
"Non-violent protesters were also found to be given lengthy prison sentences to act as a deterrent. For example, this year in the UK many climate activists have been sent to prison, with the longest sentence being five years.
"The report defines environmental protests as being aimed at stopping specific environmentally destructive projects, such as fossil fuel exploration and #extraction, #deforestation, dam building or #mining. #ClimateProtests are described as more urban-based events, which tend to have broader policy demands, such as ending oil exploration, or more overarching political demands, for instance enacting a #GreenNewDeal.
"The researchers analysed data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) and Global Witness to gather global data and explore trends as well as new anti-protest legislation introduced in countries in different parts of the world.
"Four main ways were identified to criminalise and repress climate and environmental protests. Anti-protest laws are being introduced, criminalising groups, introducing new crimes, making punishment more severe for existing crimes, increasing police powers, and giving officers impunity when harming activists. Protest is also being criminalised through prosecution and courts.
"Dr Berglund explained: 'This involves using existing legislation, including anti-terror or anti-organised crime laws, to curb protest. Climate protest is being de-politicised in the courts, prohibiting mentions of climate change or environmental damage in proceedings, or otherwise changing court processes in order to increase the likelihood of activists being found guilty.'
"The third category is through policing, which is carried out not only by state actors like police or military, but also private security and military or organised crime groups. This sees a range of attempts to prevent protests through using stop and search, arrests, physical violence, and threats and intimidation of protesters.
"Dr Berglund said: “Perhaps most shockingly, we found killings and disappearances to be common in some countries. In many ways, these are an extension of policing as they are either carried out or permitted by the same authorities, often following death threats and other forms of intimidation.”
"The report makes numerous recommendations, including for public authorities to conduct regular evaluations and publish data demonstrating how their actions help safeguard the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. It also calls for anti-terror and anti-organised crime legislation against climate and environmental activists to stop.
"Dr Berglund said: 'Human rights frameworks should be at the forefront of policing considerations and operations to ensure that the public can exercise their right to protest without impediment or fear.'
"'Climate and environmental protests are increasingly prevalent, for good reason as the climate crisis worsens, and responses to this activity are evolving at pace. Further research is needed to better understand the situation so suitable measures can be identified and implemented to protect human rights and keep protesters safe.'"
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2024/december/climate-activism.html
#CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Autocracy #Corporatocracy #Fascism #CriminalizingDissentIsAutocracy #ClimateCrisis #GlobalBurning #CorporateFascism #HumanRights #CivilLiberties #ClimateActivists #Blackwater #NoDAPL #StandWithStandingRock #ClimateAction #PipelineProtests #WaterProtectors #BigOilAndGas #AntiProtestLaws #SLAPPs #ErikPrinceColonialism #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#Project2025 #HR9495 #GlobalWitness #AntiTerrorLaws -
Today's print New York Times Opinion. Unlike #LATimes & #WashingtonPost who now lost long vaunted #trust #respect 4 #facts #politics #society #journalism NYT plays #truth in full #light #trump will destroy all #americans and #allies #greed of #billionaires be damned - either this is our country or we are their #serfs #choose #democracy #constitution #freedom #civilliberties #justice #elections #economy #facts #truth now or there will be no #future for any of us and future generations. #peaceout
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwQQNWbSc0Y
#StatusCoupNews 23 hours ago
Hey, #civilliberties lawyers in #NYC
Pigs 🐷 🐷 🐷 BODY SLAM Pro-Palestinian Protesters Opposing #ApartheidIsraeli Assault on #Lebanon🇱🇧
#ACAB #ACABNYC #VIOLENCESPOLICIERES
Pulling people's hair, shoving people to the ground, etc
StatusCoup.com
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-VvdMmdrMQ
⚠️ ⚠️ BANG OUT OF ORDER! NO EXCUSES FOR PIGS VIOLENCE!!!
#StatusCoupNews 32 minutes ago...
CAUTION: Could be triggering for victims/survivors of #policeviolence. please take care☮️
STOP HARASSING US! #NYPD Rough up #ProPalestinianProtesters Outside #ColumbiaUniversity
#ACAB #ACABNYC #SupportStudentsAndFacultyforPalestine 🇵🇸
#FreePalestine🇵🇸 #DisbandSRGharassed and arrested for STANDING ON THE PAVEMENT! Unarmed, doing NOTHING illegal!
#CivilLiberties lawyers in #NYC #NewYorkCity Oinker savages🐷 🐷 🐷
Please REBOOST
PIGS #kettling people, blocking the subway, blocking people from walking...
This is New York? I can see why my father-in-law left!
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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RR2iS_bjhAU
2 vids of pig behaviour
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yMytWj8EjFY
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Hey all, in case you weren't aware, the awesome Civil Liberties Defense Center is now here on Mastodon at: @CLDC - give 'em a follow! #CivilLiberties #CLDC
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"The Law In England And Wales Allows Corporations And Government Bodies To Create Their Own System Of Punishment"
#England #Wales #Law #CivilInjunction #protest #civilliberties
Full Article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/29/punishment-without-trial-britain-civil-injunctions-climate-activists
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#KamalaHarris - what #mifepristone is used to induce does not simply impact #abortion: it opens the door to #politicizing #chemotherapy #drugs, #asthma #medicine, #bloodpressure pills, #insulin. We are all in #jeopardy as #corruptjudges #weaponize #medicine to #cancel #critical #healthcare for tens of millions of #Americans. #SCOTUS will not #protect #humanrights and #civilliberties - #medicine is for healing not #discrimination #hatred #misogny #women and #children #target by #Trump #Mcconnell
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The fractures and fissures in #Congress #MoneyinPolitics #FederalistSociety #collusion with #rightwing #agendas & #media #against #society #RepublicanParty v #CivilLiberties #Privacy #Democracy #Choice #SocialJustice have finally stripped away the seemingly #magical #cloak from #SCOTUS & #DecisionsForSale - The Supreme Court Justices Do Not Seem to Be Getting Along
Collegiality is scarce, and tensions are apparent. #Surprised? #Not https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/supreme-court-justices-public-conflict/672494/ -
Limits on FBI access to search histories fails by one Senate vote - Enlarge / Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Patrick L... more: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1675825 #civilliberties #usafreedomact #patriotact #ronwyden #privacy #policy