Privacy & Technology

“The progress of science in furnishing the Government with means of espionage is not likely to stop with wiretapping. Ways may someday be developed by which the Government, without removing papers from secret drawers, can reproduce them in court, and by which it will be enabled to expose a jury the most intimate occurrences of the home…Can it be that the Constitution affords no protection against such invasions of individual security?”
-- Louis Brandeis
U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Olmstead v. United States, (1928)

The word "privacy" means many different things to different people. One widely accepted meaning is "the right to be let alone," as it was described by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.

The United States is at risk of turning into a full-fledged surveillance society. From using the telephone to seeking medical treatment to applying for a job or sending e-mail over the Internet, our right to information privacy is in peril. Our personal and business information is being digitized through an ever-expanding number of computer networks in formats that allow data to be linked, transferred, shared and sold, usually without our knowledge or consent. Employers and schools are turning to drug testing policies without any reasonable suspicions of illegal drug use. DNA has the power to disclose not only private personal and medical information about any individual but also blood-relatives. The use of DNA is expanding as a tool for crime-solving and has also been used to exonerate the innocent. The same technological advances that have brought enormous benefits also make us more vulnerable than ever before to unwanted snooping.

As technology provides new ways to gather information and databases proliferate, the need for privacy protections becomes more urgent. The ACLU is a national leader in working to guarantee that individuals may determine how and when others can gain access to their personal information.

Litigation

Lanier v. Woodburn

Ninth Circuit Rules Drug-Testing Policy, As Applied, Unconstitutional

March 13, 2008 - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that a City of Woodburn pre-employment drug-testing policy is unconstitutional, as applied to Janet Lynn Lanier. Lanier in 2004 had applied to be a page at Woodburn Library.

Washburn v. Columbia Forest Products, Inc.

Oregon Supreme Court Narrows Definition of Disabled Worker

October 2006 - In Washburn v. Columbia Forest Products, Inc., 340 Or 469, 134 P.3d 161 (2006), the Oregon Supreme Court was faced with the question under the Oregonians with Disability Act of whether a person’s disability should be assessed with or without regard to measures which mitigate the disability.

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Legislation

CRIMINAL JUSTICE: DNA Evidence Retention (SB 731) (2011)

This session, because of the evenly divided House, it was easier to stop than to pass a bill. The ACLU nevertheless spearheaded the passage of SB 731, culminating a ten-year effort to bring added protection to the criminal justice system regarding the preservation and use of evidence containing biological material (DNA) to prove innocence.

PRIVACY: Toll Way Consumer Protections (SB266) (2011)

The ACLU proposed SB 266, which would have provided consumer privacy protections if Oregon implements toll collection for roadways. We believe it is important that prior to use of toll collection in Oregon sufficient privacy protections for consumers be put in place. These protections include allowing a person to travel on a toll road anonymously (allowing for some means of cash payment), restricting the use of any personal information collected for any other purpose other than toll collection and requiring the government to provide sufficient information to consumers about their privacy protection options and rights.

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Other

Oregonians Unite Against Attack on Workforce and Business as Part of National Day of Action Against E-Verify

September 14, 2011 - The ACLU of Oregon along with a group of business, immigrant, labor, faith, and civil rights leaders stood together with others from across the country to tell Congress that forcing employers to use the flawed E-Verify system will harm U.S. workers and employers and undercut the country’s economic recovery. The groups held a press conference at St. Francis of Assisi, 311 SE 12th Avenue, Portland.

Speakers included Kevin Díaz, Legal Director of the ACLU of Oregon; Jeff Stone, Executive Director for the Oregon Association of Nurseries and Co-Chair of the Coalition for a Working Oregon; Javier Lara, Organizer for PCUN (Oregon’s farm worker union); Ignacio Páramo, MLK Worker Center Director for VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project; and Valerie Chapman, Pastoral Administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

The ACLU of Oregon’s Perspective on Electronic Health Care Records: What Do We Mean by “Privacy”?

by Andrea Meyer, Legislative Director/Counsel, ACLU of Oregon

Presentation before the Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University (January 13, 2011) and before the Health Information Exchange Conference, HIMSS Oregon (January 20, 2011)

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