This guide from the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut explains privacy rights in Connecticut and identifies the gaps and gray areas where those rights are endangered.
From surveillance cameras and wiretapping to drug testing and GPS tracking, Privacy Rights in Connecticut examines legal precedents under the state and federal constitutions, as well as relevant laws, cases and contracts. The intent is to inform people living in Connecticut of their rights, to provide a practical and comprehensive legal reference for attorneys and law enforcement personnel and to guide legislators and policy makers in addressing privacy concerns.
The 130-page guide is based on a 2003 publication from the ACLU of Connecticut, which required substantial updating because of rapid technological change.
“Advancing technologies invade privacy, and the law is not keeping up,” said Sandra Staub, legal director of the ACLU of Connecticut. “We want not only to provide a practical guide to the current state of privacy law but to expose those areas where new and comprehensive protection is needed. If we allow our expectation of privacy to diminish, we might never recover that lost ground.
The guide was researched and written by Robert Schultz, a volunteer attorney with the ACLU of Connecticut, with research support and editing by ACLU of Connecticut staff and interns. Among the findings:
- The courts and lawmakers have yet to set coherent limits on surveillance technology, which has become so refined that it can reveal individual private and personal information, even when the individual is in a public place.
- Many newer forms of communication, including email, need more protection from government and employer monitoring similar to protection that has been given to traditional forms such as telephone calls.
- Although Connecticut law provides some extra privacy in the workplace, the right of workers to privacy in their online postings and off-duty communication remains unsettled under state and federal law.
- The use of strip searches, DNA collection, fingerprinting and drug testing continues to expand without meaningful legal restraint.
- Many of the gaps in current law can be easily addressed, and the guide includes recommended solutions.
Date
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 - 12:00am
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Related issues
Privacy
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Style
Standard with sidebar
Sexual assault and harassment are serious problems in the United States armed forces that threaten the strength, readiness, and morale of the military, undermine national security, and have devastating personal effects on survivors and their families.
Less well known is the second battle that many veterans who survive sexual violence must fight with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) when they return to civilian life. The process of obtaining VA disability benefits for the enduring mental health effects of military sexual trauma (MST) is an unfair fight in which veterans are often unsuccessful. They face a broken bureaucracy, with protracted delays and inaccurate adjudications. And based on records that VA has withheld until now, it is clear that veterans who survive in-service sexual trauma also face discrimination in seeking compensation.
This report presents the first opportunity for veterans, policy-makers, and the public to examine in detail the experiences of MST survivors as they seek compensation from VA. It is based on data provided by VA in settlement of two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the Service Women’s Action Network, ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and the ACLU of Connecticut, with the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School serving as lead counsel.
As a result of these settlements, VA handed over never-before-released data on mental health disability benefit claims filed by veterans suffering from the aftermath of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. These data offer a close look at the enduring health consequences and bureaucratic battles that survivors of in-service sexual trauma face as they transition back to civilian life. Notably, the data reveal that VA has granted disability claims for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) caused by in-service sexual trauma at significantly lower rates than it has granted claims for PTSD arising from other causes. Moreover, the data also reveal dramatic variation among VA regional offices in the treatment of MST-related mental health claims and disparate treatment by gender.
Date
Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - 12:00am
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Related issues
Women's Rights
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Style
Standard with sidebar
