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ACLU takes its fight global
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | April 14, 2005 | CANDACE HECKMAN

Posted on 04/14/2005 3:37:36 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

Recognizing that it can no longer achieve its mission merely by watching policy-makers in Washington, D.C., and state capitals nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union announced yesterday that it is going global.

Joining with two London-based civil rights groups, the ACLU has formed a coalition focusing on policies being crafted for and by countries around the world under the influence of the U.S. government.

Basically, ACLU associate director Barry Steinhardt said, civil liberties advocates have recognized that to protect American citizens, they will also have to try to preserve the liberties of citizens everywhere.

"The moral of the story is that jurisdiction no longer matters," said Gus Hosein, of Privacy International, a civil rights group with offices in London and Washington, D.C.

The groups working with the ACLU -- Statewatch and Privacy International -- are relatively young and not as well-funded as their American counterpart. But they would give the ACLU a footing in international political arenas, particularly in Europe.

The groups made the announcement yesterday at the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in Seattle, a convention of international experts in the fields of technology security and electronic information.

A process that international civil rights leaders call "policy laundering" has enabled U.S. officials to work with their international counterparts to develop new security initiatives, they say.

One of the most striking and timely initiatives is the plan by the State Department to embed passports with a radio-frequency device that would identify Americans quickly to customs and law enforcement officers through an electronic reader.

The State Department is expected to begin issuing the "smart card" passports this summer. The chips they will carry would be readable with an electronic device about the size of a personal digital assistant from a few inches away, said Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary for passport services.

But the ACLU's Steinhardt and other privacy advocates are worried that the radio frequency identification technology, RFID, will would allow thieves and terrorists to at least identify Americans, if not gain their personal information, by reading their passports from a distance.

Moss, who addressed conference participants yesterday, said the particular technology being used for the passports would not allow such activity.

Critics such as Steinhardt say they are convinced that tech-savvy thieves would be able to obtain and modify typical RFID readers, which can be bought for about $1,000, to pick up passport data.

Civil rights advocates in Great Britain have been fighting a battle against their own government over proposals to issue national ID cards with RFID technology, said Ben Hayes, of London-based Statewatch, which will provide support for the ACLU working with the European Union.

"Law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies from different nations are increasingly working together out of the public eye to amass new powers," Steinhardt said.

"The ACLU has always adapted when necessary to protect liberty in the United States, and now is such a time. We intend to ramp up our ability to join the fight on the international stage."


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: aclu; globalism

1 posted on 04/14/2005 3:37:36 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe

So this means they are going to start going after Castro, right? Oh I forgot. They are just an anti-American front group.


2 posted on 04/14/2005 3:39:45 PM PDT by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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To: Rodney King

The ACLU announced today that they would lead the fight to free the Dave Clark 5 in Britain.


3 posted on 04/14/2005 3:43:31 PM PDT by brivette
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To: Tailgunner Joe

This organization exists only to DESTROY civil liberties. Hence no efforts against Castro, Kim Il Jung, Hugo Chavez, or the Mad Mullahs. Trust me on this one, folks.


4 posted on 04/14/2005 3:44:59 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (Honoring Saint Jude's assistance every day.)
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To: FormerACLUmember

Pure evil, expanding it's reach.


5 posted on 04/14/2005 3:46:47 PM PDT by skip_intro
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To: Rodney King

My first thought was that the ACLU was invading China.


6 posted on 04/14/2005 3:47:18 PM PDT by Spok
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To: Spok

I wish that on China....and Saudi Arabia....and Iran.....and the Sudan....and.....


7 posted on 04/14/2005 3:49:49 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Does that mean that the American taxpayer will be paying for international lawyers as well?


8 posted on 04/14/2005 4:01:13 PM PDT by Bommer
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Joining with two London-based civil rights groups, the ACLU has formed a coalition focusing on policies being crafted for and by countries around the world under the influence of the U.S. government.

In other words, these criminal vermin are no longer content with trying to destroy America - they want to take down our allies, too. I hope to God that some of these countries treat them like the seditious, corrupt, spiritually bankrupt subhumans they are, and hang them from lamp posts.


9 posted on 04/14/2005 4:25:13 PM PDT by Viking2002 (Let's get the Insurrection started, already..............)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"civil liberties advocates have recognized that to protect American citizens, they will also have to try to preserve the liberties of citizens everywhere"

So, how about filing a lawsuit on behalf of homosexuals in Saudi Arabia? Think that will fly?

10 posted on 04/14/2005 5:13:34 PM PDT by 45Auto (Big holes are (almost) always better.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Recognizing that it can no longer achieve its mission merely by watching policy-makers in Washington, D.C., and state capitals nationwide

So they've only been passive observers all these years. Fancy that.
11 posted on 04/14/2005 5:39:02 PM PDT by Bars4Bill
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To: Bommer

Good question.


12 posted on 04/14/2005 5:41:29 PM PDT by monkeywrench
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To: Tailgunner Joe

ACLU = the Marburg virus of American liberty


13 posted on 04/14/2005 5:44:29 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Tailgunner Joe

AS IF the Fabians who have infiltrated America were of American origin and American allegiance in the first place....


14 posted on 04/14/2005 5:50:12 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (ATTN. MARXIST RED MSM: I RESENT your "RED STATE" switcheroo using our ELECTORAL MAP as PROPAGANDA!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

ACLU, ALWAYS CUTTING LIBERTY UP.


15 posted on 04/14/2005 5:55:06 PM PDT by hgro (ews)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

ACLU is a 4-letter word in these parts.


16 posted on 04/14/2005 6:07:16 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
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