News & Commentary

In 2012, the ACLU of Vermont made a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to federal agencies, asking for details about Border Patrol checkpoints on Vermont highways. Whan we reviewed the information we received, two things stood out. First, the U.S. government has prepared a detailed study of possible sites on which to build eight-acre, permanent Border Patrol checkpoints as many as 100 miles from the Canadian border along north-south Interstate highways in New England. Second, we found that most of the interdiction done at the temporary White River Junction (Hartford) Border Patrol checkpoint on I-91 is seizure of drugs, most of that marijuana, and most of that small amounts of marijuana. Securing the border against terrorists -- the justification for a greater Homeland Security presence in the state -- seems of minor importance, based on federal reports.

At a press conference on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, the ACLU-VT released a new report titled Surveillance on the Northern Border. The report details surveillance methods and technologies that are, or could soon, be used in Vermont and the rest of the country. Read it to learn how Vermonters' privacy is eroding -- often without our knowledge.

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That's the response journalist Justin Elliott got when he filed a FOIA request with the NSA. Eliot was trying to get information about the agency's public-relations efforts in connection with a documentary on the NSA aired by the National Geographic Channel. "There's no central method to search an email at this time with the way our records are set up, unfortunately," the NSA FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) officer, Cindy Blacker, told Elliott. The system is apparently "a little antiquated and archaic," she said.

Vermont stands as one of only a few states nationally that has taken steps to regulate the use of automated license plate readers. The action came in the 2013 legislative with the passage of S. 18. The regulations aren't as narrow as we wanted, but they impose important restrictions that greatly reduce the risk of abuse of ALPR systems.

The National ACLU has released the results of its analysis of more than 26,000 pages of documents from police departments in cities and towns across the country, obtained through freedom of information requests by ACLU affiliates in 38 states (including Vermont) and Washington, D.C. The documents concern the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs). It's become increasingly clear that we are living in an era of mass surveillance facilitated by ever cheaper and more powerful computing technology.

For many years there have been complaints that when the attorney general and local prosecutors investigate alleged police misconduct, the result is almost always the same -- the conduct is deemed acceptable and no charges are brought. But Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan tried a different route in the case of a Winooski officer who first Tased and then shot a mentally ill man in April. He called for a grand jury to hear testimony and consider whether charges should be filed against the officer. The grand jury has finished its work and this week "returned a true bill" -- the officer will be charged on one felony and two misdemeanor counts.

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that companies cannot patent human genes. While this may seem like common sense, over the last 30 years the U.S. Patent Office has issued patents on thousands of human genes, including genes associated with colon cancer, Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy, and many other devastating diseases. The status quo meant that companies controlling gene patents had the right to stop all other scientists from examining, studying, testing, and researching our genes.

Last year, in an interview with the news weekly Seven Days, the director of operations at the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles said a new high-tech facial recognition system bought with a $900,000 grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security would not be used for law enforcement purposes. Well, a year later, the director, Michael Smith, says "things have changed" and the high-tech drivers' license photo system is indeed being utilized to help police departments in police investigations.