Demand Your dotRights!

We are spending more and more time online – reading, writing, connecting and consuming. The more time we spend online, the more information we share with the businesses that make the Internet work. We share our emails, location information, chat histories, photos and lists of our friends. We share educational and medical information. All of this information is just as sensitive as it ever was, but the laws that protect our privacy have not kept pace with social and technological change.

The dotRights campaign is focused on updating and expanding privacy laws to include new developments in technology, so that the government has the same restrictions on access to Americans’ private, personal information online as they do offline.

_{*Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see YouTube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view ACLU-TN's privacy statement, click here.}

 

Learn the Facts

dotRights Overview

Search Engines - When you browse through online stcks of information, you are leaving a trail that reveals a lot about you: interests, hobbies, habits, and concerns.

Webmail - Online email services make it easy to keep in touch with friends and family. But every email creates a record of who you write, what you write, and when you send and read it.

Social Networking - Replacing interactions in the coffee shop with connections online leaves behind a lot of information about you, friends, and activities.

Photo Sites - The pictures you develop, store, or share online can tell many thousands of words to others about you and who you know, where you've gone, and what you've done.

Media Sites - Reading a book or watching a video is a great way to learn and explore new things. But a lot of information can be collected about who you are and what you read and watch.

Cloud Computing - Moving files from your hard drive to an online service or accessing applications through the Internet can be convenient. But, those documents and files you store or produce online can say a lot about you.

Location Information - Location data from your cell phone or laptop can tell more than just where you travel, but also what you do and even who you know.

 

In Tennessee

Has You're Online Speech Been Silenced?

Ever posted an image online?  If so, a new Tennessee law exposes you to potential prosecution.  The “offensive images” law makes it a crime to transmit any image online that causes “emotional distress” to any individual.

Effective on July 1, the law was intended to curtail cyber-bullying but provides no criteria for determining what is offensive or disturbing, thus violating the First Amendment freedoms of speech and expression.  The new law’s overly broad and vague language leaves everyone with an online presence vulnerable to prosecution. 

Individuals, especially artists and political activists, who believe that their freedom of speech and expression will be limited by the new law should contact ACLU-TN by calling (615) 320-7142 or emailing aclutn@aclu-tn.org and including “Offensive Images” in the subject line.

 

Take Action

It's Time to Modernize our Privacy Law
In 1986, there was no World Wide Web, nobody carried a cell phone, and the only "social networking" two-year-old Mark Zuckerberg was doing was at pre-school or on play dates.

1986 was also the year that the law that protects the privacy of your electronic life - email, cell phone location records, Facebook posts, search history, and cloud computing documents - was passed.

Online privacy laws shouldn't be older than the Web. Ask Congress for a privacy upgrade today!

Fix SOPA
Congress has introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which could potentially result in the takedown of large amounts of non-infringing content from the internet, violating our First Amendment rights.

Spread the Word About dotRights
Please help us spread the word about dotRights. You can send your friends an e-card here.

Petition to Internet Companies: Protect My Privacy!
The things we do and say online leave behind ever-growing trails of personal information. With every click, we entrust our conversations, emails, photos, location information and much more to companies like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo. But what happens when the government asks these companies to hand over their users' private information?

In the News

• ACLU Campaigns for Internet Privacy
• ACLU-TN Launches Campaign Against State Internet Law

Resources

• ACLU's Information on Internet Privacy
• Guide to Facebook Privacy Controls
  
  

Events

Speaking Tour

In early November, ACLU-TN hosted a speaking tour throughout the state of Tennessee that addressed technology, online free speech and privacy.

Knoxville - Monday, November 7th at 6 p.m.
University of Tennessee College of Law - Room 132
1505 Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville, TN

Featuring Allie Bohm, ACLU Policy & Advocacy Strategist and Prof. Glenn Reynolds of the UT College of Law.  Moderated by UT College of Law Dean Douglas A. Blaze

Nashville - Tuesday, November 8th at 6:30 p.m.
Watkins College of Art, Design & Film - Room 503
2298 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard, Nashville, TN

Featuring Allie Bohm, ACLU Policy & Advocacy Strategist and Jason Driskill, digital artist and Renaissance Center curator.  Moderated by Vanderbilt professor Bruce Barry.

Memphis - Wednesday, November 9th at 3:30 p.m.
University of Memphis - Manning Hall, Room 332
3744 Alumni Avenue, Memphis, TN

Featuring Allie Bohm, ACLU Policy & Advocacy Strategist and Professor Kris Markman of the University of Memphis Dept. of Communications.  Moderated by Attorney Brian Faughnan of Thomason, Hendrix, Harvey, Johnson & Mitchell PLLC.

Cyberbullying CLE

On Wednesday, November 9th, ACLU-TN Legal Director Tricia Herzfeld hosted a Continuing Legal Education seminar to discuss student protection vs. First Amendment concerns, sexting and cyberbullying, and relevant Tennessee laws. This event is open to lawyers and law students. Sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association.