Top Stories From the ACLU of Southern California

TAKE ACTION: Ask your representative to oppose SOPA

If you value freedom of speech on the internet, you should oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act. That poorly drafted bill would allow copyright owners to take down entire sites for very little infringing content -- without enough notice to allow site owners (or owners of lawful content) to act to avoid outages.

In other words, one upload of a pirate TV show or a lip-sync home video to YouTube could allow NBC or Katy Perry to contact YouTube's ISP and get the entire site taken down, despite the fact that most of the content is perfectly lawful. That’s not good for the free flow of speech online.

One critic of SOPA recently said the bill “isn't even throwing the baby out with the bathwater. This is bludgeoning the baby repeatedly with a sledgehammer and then throwing out the whole bathroom.”

Take action today!

Nov 22, 2011 |  permalink

Federal Court Sanctions U.S. Gov't For Failing to Disclose Information on Surveillance Conducted on SoCal Muslim Community

A federal judge ordered sanctions against the United States government for failing to provide documents to the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, the Council on American Islamic Relations, and several other organizations and individuals in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The request was made after several prominent Muslim community leaders became concerned that the FBI had monitored them merely for practicing their religion.

Nov 18, 2011 |  permalink

PRIVACY REPORT: Keep Out of Students' Cell Phones

Confiscation and searches of students’ phones by school authorities has become widespread. Because such searches provide a window into every aspect of a students’ private life, they violate the laws that protect students’ privacy rights.

The ACLU's new report summarizes the search and seizure policies in nearly 200 California school districts, reviews the current legal limits for searching students’ belongings, and lays out the components of an ideal model policy.

Nov 10, 2011 |  permalink

Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration

 

The ACLU has released Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration, an in-depth examination of the private prison industry. The report finds that mass incarceration provides a gigantic windfall for one special interest group – the private prison industry – even as current incarceration levels harm the country as a whole.

Nov 8, 2011 |  permalink

ACLU/SC Supports Protesters' Rights

The ACLU of Southern California is serious about protecting protesters’ First Amendment rights. Contact our legal intake system here or at (213)977- 5253.

Visit ACLU-SC.org/OCCUPY for resources tailored to the current “Occupy” protests happening in communities around Southern California.

Nov 3, 2011 |  permalink

Start a GSA Today

GSAs (Gay Straight Alliances) help create a positive school environment, which is the objective of the ACLU/SC’s student rights project. GSAs are places to have important discussions, to make friends, and to get support from peers. They can help educate the school community — even people who aren’t in the club — about issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. And they can help fight the discrimination, harassment, and violence that plague so many students.

Nov 3, 2011 |  permalink

ACLU/SC Challenges Sheriff's Dept.'s Detention of Photographers

The ACLU of Southern California sued the County of Los Angeles and individual Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies for detaining and searching photographers. The incidents of harassment occurred when photographers were taking pictures in public places where photography is not prohibited.

“Photography is not a crime. It’s protected First Amendment expression,” said Peter Bibring, senior staff attorney at the ACLU/SC. “Sheriff’s deputies violate the Constitution’s core protections when they detain and search people who are doing nothing wrong. To single them out for such treatment while they’re pursuing a constitutionally protected activity is doubly wrong.”

Oct 27, 2011 |  permalink

ACLU/SC Celebrates Los Angeles' First Unionized Car Wash

On October 25, carwash workers with the CLEAN Carwash Campaign announced a union contract with Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, making Los Angeles home to the only unionized carwash in the country.

Click for directions to the nations' first unionized car wash at 2800 Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica.

Oct 26, 2011 |  permalink

ACLU/SC Applauds Approval of Seth's Law

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, Wendy Walsh and sponsoring organizations held a press conference to celebrate Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of AB 9, Seth’s Law, into law. The bill is designed to address the pervasive problem of school bullying by providing California schools with tools to create a safe school environment for all students. The bill is named in memory of Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old gay student from Tehachapi, CA, who took his life in September 2010, after facing years of relentless anti-gay harassment at school.

Oct 17, 2011 |  permalink

ACLU/SC Files Lawsuit Over Police Roundup of Latino Students at Glendale's Hoover High School

The ACLU of Southern California and the law firm Traber & Voorhees sued the City of Glendale and the County of Los Angeles and individual officers from the Glendale Police Department (GPD), the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the Los Angeles County Probation Department, and administrators at Hoover High School for racial profiling and unlawful search and seizure.

On September 24, 2010, Hoover High School administrators, working with police and school-based probation officers, rounded up fifty-six Latino students during their lunch period, herded them into classrooms, interrogated them, and forced them to pose for mock mug shots. The students were targeted even though the police had no evidence that they were violating any laws or breaking school rules.

“I was shocked and scared when I saw the police, especially because I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong,” said sixteen-year-old Ashley Flores, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “It was the first encounter I’ve had with police. I’ve never been in trouble and have nothing to do with gangs.”

Oct 13, 2011 |  permalink