The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont [ACLU VT]

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont is freedom's watchdog, working in the courts, legislatures, and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Learn How To Protect Your Privacy Online!

When you learn, share, shop, and connect online, a lot happens behind the scenes that companies and the government don't want you to know. The sites that you visit can collect detailed information about you -- your interests, politics, relationships, and more. This information can be shared, sold, or handed over to the government -- without a warrant.

Look behind the curtain to see what's really happening to your personal info. See what you can do right now to take back control and keep details about your private life from being used and abused.

Student Rights Handbook -- Know Your Rights!

"Can they do that?" It's a question we get asked all the time from students in Vermont public schools. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1969 Tinker vs. Des Moines case that students "don't shed their constitutional rights" at the schoolhouse gate.

Our Student Rights Handbook touches on everything from dress codes to censorship, searches to discipline. Learn about your rights at school -- and exercise them.

Multimedia Corner

Lesbian Couple Feel Pain Of Discrimination

Kate Baker and Ming Linsley were planning to hold their wedding reception at Vermont's Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville only to find that the innkeepers didn't host gay receptions because of "their personal feelings." Baker and Linsley contacted the ACLU, and they are suing the Wildflower Inn for discrimination. Say "No" to Discrimination and "Yes" to Equality. Watch the video below, and then send a message of support to Kate and Ming.

Other recent ACLU videos (all on YouTube*):

From our 2010 annual meeting:

Data Aggregation and Privacy

From our 2009 annual meeting:

Who Will Hold Government Accountable When There Are No More Newspapers?

From our 2009 civil liberties conference on First Amendement rights:

Thought And Expression In a Changing World

*Please note that by playing these clips, YouTube will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see YouTube’s privacy statement on their Web site to learn more. To view the National ACLU’s privacy statement, click here. You can also go directly to YouTube to view the videos there.

Civil Liberties Blog

Search Warrants In The News

January 25, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said “get a warrant.” Why, then, on Wednesday, did a witness at a legislative hearing in Montpelier say “you don’t need one?”

Read the rest of this entry »

All Civil Liberties Blog posts»

Items Of Interest

Dissent Is Patriotic

Dissent is a form of patriotism. Free and open discourse is the lifeblood in a democracy. As long as the ACLU has existed, we've been defending the rights of demonstrators to speak their minds and gather to express their views.

Know your rights.

Reclaiming Our Liberties
Ten Years After 9/11

A decade after the September 11th attacks, the United States is at risk of enshrining a permanent state of emergency in which the nation's core values are subordinated to ever-expanding claims of national security, an ACLU special report concludes. Read more.

Want to know what the government knows about you?

File a FOIA.

Here's how.

At The Legislature

The legislature is tackling a number of issus with important civil liberties implications this session. One of those issues is police access to the state Health Department's electronic database of Vermonters' prescription drug records. Read about it and other issues we're following, access our legislative e-updates, and link to further resources relating to specific issues at our Legislative Report page.

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