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Subject: SNET: Fwd: ACLU News 04-10-99: Video Surveillance, Racial Profiling,
	More!
Date: 11 Apr 1999 21:28:25 -0400
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To all,

  Please read the following releases by the American Civil Liberties
Union.  

  I know that some of you do not support the A.C.L.U.   I ask that you
read this in the spirit of keeping an open mind and fostering
intelligent debate rather than 3rd grade name-calling and unsupported
allegations.

  While you may not agree with the stance the A.C.L.U. takes on some
issues.  I think  that if you believe in such rights as free speech,
protection from illegal search and seizure, due process and state's
rights, I'm sure that you'll find many A.C.L.U. stances that you'll
support.

  Keep an open mind.  Give it a chance.

  

                         Kevin



       Adapt, Improvise, Overcome            

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America."


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Subject: ACLU News 04-10-99: Video Surveillance, Racial Profiling, More!
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04-10-99
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             IN THE ACLU NEWSROOM

       **The Latest News Can Always Be Found At:**
         http://www.aclu.org/news/pressind.html

* ACLU Calls on Law Enforcement to Support
   Privacy Laws for Public Video Surveillance

* ACLU Challenges Arkansas Policy
   Banning Gay and Lesbian Foster Parents

* ACLU Calls for Investigation
    into Global Surveillance System

* ACLU v. Reno, Round 2

* Florida ACLU to Appeal Ruling
   on Religious Symbols in Cemetery

* Maryland, In Failure for Free Speech,
   Shuts Down Adopt-a-Road Program

* ACLU of NJ Launches Hotline for
   Racial Profiling Victims

* ACLU of Washington Seeks Remedies
   for Health Problems in Women's Prison

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     ACLU Calls on Law Enforcement to Support
     Privacy Laws for Public Video Surveillance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 8, 1999

WASHINGTON -- Urging support for privacy laws to limit the use of video
surveillance of the public, ACLU Associate Director Barry Steinhardt
today served as the contrarian at a "summit meeting" of the Security
Industry Association and members of law enforcement.

One purpose of the meeting, conference organizers said, was to review
"proposed guidelines on closed circuit television security products 
monitoring and recording of public areas for safety and security 
purposes."

The meeting drew members of the Security Industry Association, which
represents manufacturers and dealers of closed circuit television {CCTV} 
security products, and members of law enforcement, represented by the
International Association of Chiefs of  Police and the National Sheriffs
Association.

"In many ways CCTV is an even more intrusive form of search than an
audio wiretap,"  Steinhardt told the meeting. "CCTV can be grossly
abused by recording intimate and  private conduct and marking innocent
people for tracking solely on the basis of racial, gender or other
characteristics. No other technique can record in such graphic detail
personal and private behavior."

Steinhardt's full statement can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n040899b.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     ACLU Challenges Arkansas Policy
     Banning Gay and Lesbian Foster Parents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 6, 1999

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- In a state where the foster care system is in crisis,
the American Civil Liberties Union today challenged a new policy 
prohibiting qualified gays and lesbians -- and any heterosexuals who live 
with them -- from serving as foster parents.

Working with the ACLU's National Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, the
ACLU of Arkansas filed a lawsuit this morning in state chancery court on
behalf of six prospective foster parents, including a gay couple with
two adopted children and a heterosexual married man who is barred from
foster parenting because his 18-year-old son, who lives at home, is gay.

The policy was adopted by the state's Child Welfare Agency Review Board,
which the ACLU is suing along with the Arkansas Department of Human
Services.

In its legal complaint, the ACLU is charging that the policy conflicts
with existing agency and state law directives to find foster homes that
are "in the best interest of the child."  The ACLU is also charging
violations of its clients' rights to equal protection, privacy, and
intimate association under the state and federal constitutions.

"Sadly, the real victims of this policy are the children who desperately
need foster parents," said Rita Sklar, Executive Director of the ACLU of
Arkansas, appearing with ACLU clients at a press conference today in
Little Rock.

"Right now, we are facing a shortage of foster parents under a system in
such disarray that it is under court supervision to improve services for
children," she added. "But the board's irrational response is to limit
even further that rare group of people willing to take traumatized and
abused children into their homes."

Joined by child care experts and members of the clergy, Sklar testified
at board hearings and provided officials with a wealth of respected
social science research, all of which concludes that being raised by gay
parents has no harmful effect on a child's development.

But in passing the policy, the board rejected these findings, relying
instead on the widely discredited "junk science" of Paul Cameron, a
psychologist whose bogus research has been rejected in federal court and
uniformly spurned by the professional community.

"The fact that the review board relied on Cameron's research to pass
this policy reveals a lot about the forces at work here," said Michael
Adams, Associate Director of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project
and an attorney in the case. "The reasons behind this policy are the
same as those behind policies that once prohibited racial minorities and
disabled people from adopting and serving as foster parents -- fear,
misunderstanding and personal bias."

Adams noted that Cameron was dropped from membership in the American
Psychological Association in 1984 for ethical violations concerning his
biased research. That same year, the Psychological Association in his
home state of Nebraska adopted a formal resolution disassociating itself
from Cameron's work. And in 1985, a federal judge concluded that Cameron
had engaged in "fraud" and "misrepresentation" when he testified in a
gay-related case in Texas.

In contrast, an analysis of more than 50 published studies conducted by
the Child Welfare League of America, the nation's oldest and largest 
children's advocacy organization, led the group to conclude that "children 
are not compromised in any way by having gay or lesbian parents."

Other groups with policies categorically opposing a ban on lesbian and
gay adoption and foster care include the American Psychological Association 
and the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

The individuals challenging the Arkansas policy are:

-- Steven Sands, 37, and Samuel Stricklin, 35, of Eureka Springs. Sands,
teacher, and Stricklin, a sales manager and wedding coordinator, have
been together for 12 years and are the parents of two children, ages 6
and 2, whom they have adopted. They hope to serve as foster parents.

-- Matthew Lee Howard, 39, and Craig Stoopes, 49, of Little Rock.
Howard, a minister, and Stoopes, a librarian, have been in a committed
relationship for 14 years. They hope to serve as foster parents.

-- Anne Shelley, 36, of Fayetteville. Shelley, a community organizer for
various non-profit organizations, is single and a lesbian. She hopes to
serve as a foster parent.

-- William Wagner, 45, of Fayetteville. Wagner, who works in an optical
laboratory, has been married for 26 years and has a 22-year-old daughter
and an 18-year-old gay son. Wagner and his wife, who have provided
emergency shelter to gay teens, hope to serve as foster parents in the
near future.

"These individuals stand ready to provide loving attention and care to
the state's many foster children, including hard-to-place teens and
those with illnesses or disabilities," said Sklar. "The only thing
standing between needy kids and the people willing to care for them is a
biased and mean-spirited policy."

According to news reports, Arkansas has about 2,600 children placed in
700 foster homes across the state.

The six plaintiffs are represented by Adams and Leslie Cooper of the
ACLU's National Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and Richard Rosen, a
volunteer attorney in private practice in Little Rock.

The case is Sands et al v. Child Welfare Agency Review Board.

Complaint can be found at:
http://aclu.org/court/sandsvcwarb_complaint.html
Plaintiffs' Bios can be found at:
http://aclu.org/court/sandsvcwarb_plaintiffs.html
Fact Sheets can be found at:
      -- http://aclu.org/issues/gay/parent.html
      -- http://aclu.org/issues/gay/factsheet2.html
      -- http://aclu.org/issues/gay/factsheet3.html
Statement of Support can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/issues/gay/sandsvcwarb_statement.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

    ACLU Calls for Investigation
    into Global Surveillance System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 6, 1999

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union called on Congress
today to investigate reports that a global electronic communications
surveillance system known as "ECHELON" is being operated by the National
Security Agency and may be engaged in the illegal interception of
Americans' private communications.

Inquiries by the European Parliament resulted in reports detailing the
existence of ECHELON, which is led by the NSA in conjunction with its 
counterpart agencies in England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 
According to the reports, ECHELON has communications receiving stations all 
over the world and attempts to capture all satellite, microwave, cellular 
and fiber-optic communications worldwide, including communications to and 
from North America. Computers then sort through conversations, faxes and 
emails for searching for keywords. Communications that include keywords 
chosen by the intelligence agencies are transcribed and forwarded for 
further investigation.

"It appears that the NSA is engaged in a surveillance system of epic
proportions," said Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director of the ACLU. "If
these reports are true, ECHELON dwarfs the extensive surveillance of 
Americans already conducted by the FBI and other domestic law enforcement 
agencies."

The ACLU's request for an investigation came in a letter to the Chairman
and Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Government Reform.
"Congress should establish rules to protect the privacy of these
communications because privacy is important to Americans today, and was
important to the framers of our Constitution," the ACLU letter said.

"If the ECHELON system operates as reported, it appears that the NSA is
violating or circumventing laws Congress passed for the express purpose
of protecting Americans from this very type of surveillance," said
Gregory T. Nojeim, legislative counsel in the ACLU's Washington National
Office.

"It is the duty of Congress to determine if the ECHELON program is as
sweeping and intrusive as has been reported, and to ensure that it does
not intercept Americans' conversations without a court order," Nojeim
added.

The report to the European Parliament detailed charges that ECHELON had
been sed in the United Kingdom to spy on charities such as Amnesty
International and Christian Aid.

Steinhardt today moderated a panel discussion on Global Surveillance at
the Computers Freedom and Privacy Conference, where ECHELON was
discussed. The panel included Steven Wright, the principal author of the
report to the European Parliament. Also on the panel were Representative
Bob Barr (R-GA), Scott Charney of the U.S. Justice Department and
several European journalists.

The ACLU letter can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/congress/lg040699a.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     ACLU v. Reno, Round 2

     Internet Censorship Battle
     Moves to Appeals Court

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 2, 1999

PHILADELPHIA -- The battle for online free speech today returned to a
federal appeals court as the Justice Department sought review of a ruling 
that had blocked enforcement of Congress's second attempt to censor the 
Internet.

The American Civil Liberties Union -- which challenged 1998's Child
Online Protection Act along with the Electronic Privacy Information
Center and the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- said that Internet
users will almost certainly continue to be protected from prosecution
while the case goes forward.

The Justice Department had until today to decide whether to appeal a
February 1 preliminary injunction 
(http://www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_pi_order.html) in which U.S.
District Judge Lowell A. Reed found that the ACLU was likely to succeed
on the claim that the law "imposes a burden on speech that is protected
for adults." If the government had not appealed, the case would have
proceeded to a full trial on the merits of the law under Judge Reed.

The 1998 law would make it a federal crime for commercial websites to
communicate material considered "harmful to minors." Penalties would
include criminal and civil fines of up to $150,000 for each day of
violation and up to six months in prison if convicted.

Under standard judicial procedures, the case will now be heard by a
randomly chosen three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals,
which is based in Philadelphia. Given the lengthy legal preparation
required by both sides, it is unlikely that the panel will schedule
arguments in the case before the fall.

Chris Hansen, an ACLU senior staff attorney and one of the lead lawyers
on the case, said he considers Judge Reed's opinion "extremely
defensible."

Judge Reed's ruling came after a six-day hearing at which the ACLU
presented testimony from website operators who provide free information 
about fine art, news, gay and lesbian issues and sexual health for women 
and the disabled, and who all fear that the law will force them to shut 
down their websites.

"We put on a good trial," Hansen said. "The evidence we presented fully
supported the judge's ruling."

Last February was not the first time a federal court blocked an Internet
censorship law passed by Congress. In a landmark 1997 decision
(http://www.aclu.org/court/renovacludec.html), the United States Supreme
Court declared the Internet to be deserving of the highest First Amendment
protection as it struck down the so-called Communications Decency Act.

Under special rules devised by Congress, that case -- ACLU v. Reno --
was brought directly before a special three-judge panel and the
government's appeal went directly to the high court.

In today's challenge -- known as ACLU v. Reno II -- the Third Circuit's
ruling could send the case back down to Judge Reed in the lower court for a 
full trial, or up to the Supreme Court for an appeal.

Hansen noted that while the Supreme Court was required by a special
legal provision to accept an appeal in ACLU v. Reno I, no such
requirement was written into the current Internet law. Any appeal to the
justice's would therefore be accepted solely at the Court's discretion.

More information on the ACLU challenge can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/hmcl.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     Florida ACLU to Appeal Ruling
     on Religious Symbols in Cemetery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 31, 1999

BOCA RATON, FL -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said
today that it will appeal a court decision allowing Boca Raton officials
to remove or destroy religious symbols and monuments erected at hundreds
of family grave sites in the city's municipal cemetery.

Ruling in the first lawsuit brought under Florida's new Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1998, Judge Kenneth Ryskamp said he would permit 
the removal of religious symbols from the grave sites of loved ones on the 
basis that vertical memorials and their ground coverings were not essential 
to or required by the Christian, Catholic and Jewish faiths.

"There are few rights more precious than honoring a loved one at a grave
site in accordance with the dictates of one's religion," said Howard 
Simon,
Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.

"While the city can enact reasonable regulations governing its cemetery,
restrictions like these reflect religious intolerance and
insensitivity," he added.

The ACLU's lawsuit, filed on behalf of seven families of the Protestant,
Catholic and Jewish faiths, challenged the city's threat to remove 
decade-old vertical religious symbols, including Stars of David and 
Christian crosses from municipal cemetery plots.

The families had either purchased plots or had buried family members or
loved ones there, and maintained grave sites containing vertical religious 
symbols with the permission of the cemetery.

The case was brought under Florida's new Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1998, which provides a heightened level of legal protection
against state government infringements on religious freedom. The ACLU said 
that Boca Raton's threatened removal of religious items from grave sites 
constitutes a substantial burden on religion.

"The courts are not in business to determine what is or is not orthodox
religious practice," said ACLU attorney James K. Green. "We are also 
disappointed that the Court failed to distinguish between the gravity of 
removing vertical memorials already in place at grave sites and the 
abstract prohibition of vertical memorials in the future."

Today's ruling was a preliminary decision. The ACLU said it would file
its appeal after Judge Ryskamp issues final judgment in the case.

The case is Warner, et al. v. The City of Boca Raton. The families are
represented by ACLU volunteer attorneys Lynn G. Waxman and James K. Green 
of West Palm Beach, and Charlotte H. Danciu of Boca Raton.

The ACLU's previous release on the case is at:
http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n032299c.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     Maryland, In Failure for Free Speech,
     Shuts Down Adopt-a-Road Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 30, 1999

BALTIMORE -- By abolishing a popular "Adopt-a-Road" program rather than
allow the Ku Klux Klan to participate, Anne Arundel County officials have
failed the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland 
said today.

Under the now-defunct program, groups were recognized in signposts along
sections of the road in return for picking up roadside trash. Klan members 
had asked to join, saying they would want a sign to credit "The Invisible 
Empire."

"From the start we have said that our client in this case was the First
Amendment," said Susan Goering, Executive Director of the ACLU of Maryland. 
"So we're concerned when the government shuts down a useful and popular 
program just because it would have included some speech that was 
unpopular."

"If, as is often said, the best antidote to bad speech is more speech,"
she added, "then both free speech and the Adopt-a-Road program are victims 
today."

Since petitioning the County not to restrict controversial groups'
participation in the Adopt-a-Road program, the ACLU has suggested the 
government maintain the program while ensuring counter-demonstrators the 
right to protest.

"So long as the program is open to everyone, the county police could
have facilitated demonstrations designed to oppose unpopular 
organizations," said Dwight Sullivan, the ACLU's legal counsel on the 
case.

The ACLU also expressed concern that shutting down the program may set
an unhealthy precedent for other community projects. Legally, 
controversial
groups could target other programs, forcing the government to shut them 
down to prevent participation.

"As an African American man and a life-long resident of Anne Arundel
County, I certainly recognize the public relations dilemma that unpopular 
groups present for local politicians, but this decision really gives the 
Klan a lot of power," said ACLU board member Garland Nixon.

"What happens when the next unpopular group wants to post a team and
wear shirts with its message on them? Are they going to close that program 
down too?"

Other civil rights leaders agreed, expressing concern that abolishing
the entire program would give the Klan too much power. Robert H. Eades, 
Chair of the African American Unity Coalition, urged the County Executive 
to shine the light of day on the Klan by letting them pick up the trash and 
then focusing the government's attention on more substantive racial 
issues.

Michael Brown, Chair of the Anne Arundel Black Political Forum,
concurred. "One good thing about this whole Klan controversy is that it 
reminds us that racism is alive and well -- including systemic racism 
manifested by the lack of blacks in local government. My fear is that if we 
sweep the Klan under the rug, it will take our focus off the systemic 
problem as well."

Herbert Lindsey, President of the State NAACP, also early on acknowledged 
the constitutional necessity of letting the Klan participate if the group
met the program criteria.

The ACLU's previous release can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/n030899e.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     ACLU of NJ Launches Hotline for
     Racial Profiling Victims

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 29, 1999

NEWARK, NJ - Continuing its campaign for fair, unbiased policing, the
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today launched a toll-free 
hotline for reporting incidents of discriminatory police stops on the New 
Jersey Turnpike, and distributed "Bust Cards" that tell people what to do 
if they are stopped by police.

Through the toll-free hotline, 1-877-2-END-DWB (877-236-3392), the ACLU
will collect people's stories of discrimination and use them in its 
efforts
to stop racial profiling, also known as "Driving While Black or Brown."

Individuals calling the hotline can ask to join the ACLU's class action
lawsuit filed on behalf of minority motorists stopped as a result of racial 
profiling. Their individual stories will also supplement statistical 
evidence showing a pattern of discrimination.

The ACLU said it plans to raise awareness of the hotline through public
service announcements all along the Eastern seaboard.

The ACLU is also distributing a wallet-sized "Bust Card" that explains
"what to do if you're stopped by the police." The card, which is also 
available through the ACLU's website, is an abbreviated manual of what 
every citizen should know in case they are stopped by the police for 
questioning, pulled over on the road, searched, or arrested.

The recommendations range from useful reminders ("Write down everything
you remember") to lesser-known, but important rules ("You can't legally be
arrested for refusing to identify yourself to a police officer").

"Until racial profiling is ended and other reforms are put in place to
ensure fair, unbiased policing, the ACLU believes it is important for 
people to know what their rights are when stopped by the police," said 
Kevin Keenan, Acting Executive Director of the ACLU of New Jersey.

Copies of the wallet card are available via the Internet at
http://www.aclu.org/library/bustcard.html or by calling the ACLU of New
Jersey at 973-642-2084. The cards are available in English, Spanish, and 
Korean.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

     ACLU of Washington Seeks Remedies
     for Health Problems in Women's Prison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 29, 1999

TACOMA, WA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, joined
by Columbia Legal Services and the Northwest Women's Law Center, today
sought to extend federal jurisdiction in a case alleging serious 
deficiencies in health care at the Washington Corrections Center for 
Women.

An evidentiary hearing expected to last two weeks begins today in U.S.
District Court in Tacoma before Magistrate Judge David Wilson in Tacoma.

The move to extend the court's jurisdiction over the case was prompted
by the continuing failure of the state to address serious deficiencies in 
the health care that create unacceptable risks of injury and harm to the
women there.

The trial addresses the shocking increase of suicide attempts and
self-inflicted injuries at the prison, as well as dental care far below 
acceptable minimum standards. Testimony will be presented by current and 
former prison staff, inmates, health care experts, and independent 
monitors.

In legal papers, the three organizations say that the state has not
lived up to the terms of a 1995 stipulated judgment in a lawsuit they filed 
on behalf of women incarcerated at the corrections center.

Under the 1995 judgment, prison administrators agreed to develop a
comprehensive health care plan to significantly improve the delivery of 
medical, dental, and mental health care services in order to meet minimal 
constitutional standards of decency.

Experts reviewing conditions at the prison had concluded that the health
care system was so deficient that it jeopardized the health and safety of 
the women. In fact, during the course of the lawsuit, an inmate died in the 
prison infirmary from a perforated peptic ulcer. Two state-sponsored 
investigations into the matter later concluded that the prisoner's death 
was avoidable.

Inhumane conditions at the Washington Corrections Center are part of a
nationwide problem. In March, Amnesty International USA released a 
reporting describing widespread abuses of women in America's prisons, 
including inadequate medical care.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

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