Siri — the iPhone 4S's personal-assistant feature that lets you use your voice to send messages, make calls, set reminders, and ask filthy questions — has come under fire from the American Civil Liberties Union for being a shady lady. Why? Because, it seems, she's sending Apple your precious personal data "for a variety of purposes." more ›

We're not sure what's worse: Spending millions of dollars to protect a concrete and grass plaza from a few dozen earnest hippies and ultimately brutalizing several protesters and launching a nationally vilified tear-gas attack on them, all the while complaining about how much it all cost; or spending weeks trying to decide if they should apologize or stay the course, and then deciding to drop six figures on a report by an independent investigator into the use of force by police and whether it was justified. This would be Oakland we're talking about, and City Administrator Deanna Santana has just announced they will be paying $100,000 for a report from a retired Baltimore cop and a few other consultants which may or may not result in some slaps on the wrists of police officers. more ›

Did BART Police violate everyone's civil liberties by switching off cell phone service last week, or were they simply acting in the name of public safety? An editorial in the Examiner today argues the latter, and this is perhaps predictable given the paper's arguable conservative bent. The ACLU, naturally, has penned a strongly worded letter to BART Police chief Kenton Rainey stating their objections, though they aren't filing any lawsuits just yet. more ›

The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA) are "demanding a full explanation for the unauthorized and illegal disclosures of confidential identifying information of approximately 5,000 HIV-positive Medi-Cal recipients." Beginning in 2007, the leaked information was sent to a third party service provider. more ›

The ACLU has issued their official, cautious statement regarding today's ruling, which they caution "is not the end." more ›

We want to like the ACLU, really we do, but sometimes they have to take difficult positions in order to secure legal precedents like privacy rights, as in the case they're arguing now to stop the state of California from doing their mandatory collection of DNA samples from all felony arrestees, even if they're later exonerated. Such DNA collection did, of course, lead to the capture of the Grim Sleeper which our pals down at LAist have been quite excited about. A judge at the 9th Circuit yesterday asked the ACLU how this process was different than collecting fingerprints, and they argue that a swab inside the mouth constitutes an illegal search and seizure. more ›

Yesterday, if you recall, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ordered gay marriage advocacy groups to turn over campaign materials from the election fight over Prop 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage. Walker also ordered the foes of marriage rights to turn over campaign material and documents as well. The American Civil Liberties Union, though, is not pleased and plan on appealing Walker's former order. more ›

During today's Day of Statewide Action for Public Education rallies, things are sure to get heated. And while many a protester foolishly thinks getting arrested or vandalizing amounts to something other than looking bad-ass, most of us know better. (Kids will be in attendance at many of today's events, so keeping your wits sharp and your fists to yourself is a must!) more ›

When you're arrested for a felony in the state of California, so is your DNA. The Golden State takes a DNA sample from everyone arrested for a felony, any felony, whether or not they’re eventually charged with a crime, much less convicted. But this isn't limited to rapists, puppy killers, and other violent offenders. This can apply to things like, say, drug arrests, those wrongfully arrested due to police misconduct, busted for writing a bad check, and people who've been arrested during political demonstrations. Not so free speech-y when you get your DNA is taken after expressing said right to free speech, right? Right. more ›

The City of San Francisco has moved to intervene on behalf of the gay Burbank couple and the Berkeley lesbian couple who are the mascots in a huge federal lawsuit to overturn Prop 8 which is awaiting trial at the 9th Circuit. A trial date has still not been set, but the drama over who is best equipped to argue the case has been underway for several weeks, and won't be decided until mid-August. more ›

Natalie Jones, a sixth-grader in Ramona, California, created a Powerpoint presentation about Harvey Milk's life and activism, for which she received a near-perfect score. The day before the presentation, Jones' principal said that although her project was as good as a high school student's, because of the "sensitive material," she might be unable to show it. more ›

Last night's Marriage Equality Community Forum was neat! It started with a brief hello from former New Paltz mayor Jason West. We tried to get a picture, but as you can see, he is simply too dreamy and wonderful to be captured by normal photographic equipment. more ›