News & Commentary

In a rebuff to Big Brother on the highways, the RI Department of Transportation (DOT) has adopted new regulations designed to protect the privacy of motorists when the state’s new truck toll gantry system takes effect. The regulations, filed this week with the Secretary of State, came about after an earlier version of the DOT’s tolling regulations contained no privacy protections whatsoever, prompting criticism from the ACLU and other privacy advocates. The ACLU of Rhode Island today commended the DOT for responding to that criticism and taking strong action to protect motorists’ privacy.

The RI Department of Transportation (DOT) is holding a public hearing tomorrow afternoon on proposed regulations addressing the imminent installation of toll gantries for the state’s new truck toll program – but the proposal contains no provisions addressing critical privacy issues raised by the system.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to Governor Raimondo's signing of a bill yesterday giving law enforcement access to the Department of Health's prescription database without a warrant:

UPDATE: Despite the strong opposition to the legislation, the Governor signed it into law.  Read our statement here.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to the request from the “President’s Commission on Election Integrity” for detailed information from the Secretary of State about every voter: "The ACLU of Rhode Island is deeply concerned about the Presidential Commission’s request for detailed information on every registered voter in the country. There can be little question that this Commission has a preordained agenda aimed at promoting voter suppression. "Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea has pledged that she will not release to the Commission any information beyond what is already available to the public under Rhode Island law. We are confident that she will safeguard from disclosure any other personal information of the state’s voters that the Commission has requested. We will be prepared to assist in challenging any Commission efforts to obtain that additional information."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today announced the settlement of a federal lawsuit against Tiverton police and school officials over a 2014 incident in which an 8-year-old girl was removed by police from a school bus, taken alone to the police station without her parents’ knowledge, and then held and questioned at the station for several hours before being released. The seizure, detention and interrogation of the young child were based solely on unsubstantiated claims from another child that the girl was carrying “chemicals” in her backpack, and occurred even after the police found nothing in the backpack.

Raising alarm about the lack of privacy for students and their families, the ACLU of Rhode Island today released a report showing that many school districts in the state give themselves the right to remotely spy on students through the use of school-loaned laptop computers. Under so-called “1 to 1” programs, in which a majority of school districts in the state participate, a private vendor provides free laptops or tablet computers for the school year that students can use at home. With this program, however, the ACLU found, students and their families are often required to surrender basic privacy rights.

As the federal agency tasked with auditing and evaluation of Congressional programs, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) doesn’t like to make mistakes. The “congressional watchdog,” the GAO’s mission is to provide Congress “timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair, and balanced” in order to help Congress fulfill their Constitutional responsibilities. Legislation may be crafted and changed based solely on what the GAO includes in their findings, and the GAO’s legitimacy depends heavily on the infallibility of their reports.