WASHINGTON - September 12 - Following a briefing today at the Department of Justice (DOJ), the American Civil Liberties Union reiterated its deep concern over new guidelines that would govern FBI investigations. The new guidelines would lower standards for beginning "assessments" (precursors to investigations), conducting surveillance and gathering evidence, and would replace existing guidelines for five types of existing guidelines: general criminal, national security, foreign intelligence, civil disorders and demonstrations.

WASHINGTON - September 2 - Public Citizen has urged a federal judge to reject a lawsuit settlement    between TD Ameritrade and as many as six million of its clients, saying the deal does little to address a security breach that allowed hackers access to customers' Social Security numbers, birth dates, account numbers and e-mail addresses.

NEW YORK - August 27 - In oral arguments today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged a federal appeals court to uphold a decision striking down the national security letter (NSL) provision of the Patriot Act. This provision gives the FBI the authority to issue letters demanding private information about people within the United States, and to place the recipients of the letters under indefinite gag orders. Recent reports issued by the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have revealed the FBI's widespread, systemic abuse of its NSL power.

WASHINGTON - August 22 - In response to today's Wall Street Journal article on the flaws found in the terrorist watch lists by a preliminary congressional investigation, the American Civil Liberties Union calls on all presidential candidates, as well as current President Bush, to pledge to put a moratorium on the use of the lists unless major overhauls are made. The investigation found the current database system beleaguered with flaws and technological hurdles.