September 26, 2023
Defending Rights & Dissent has lost a champion. Woody Kaplan, who died at his home surrounded by loved ones, in Boston on August 3, 2023. Over the decades, Woody’s impact on DRAD has been immeasurable. He loved our mission, and
December 22, 2022
Is the FBI deploying facial recognition technology against peaceful protesters? Is it enabling state and local law enforcement to identify protesters using FBI biometric tools? Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) want answers
November 18, 2022
Sherry Chen, a scientist at the National Weather Service was arrested in October 2014 after an illegal and discriminatory internal investigation (read more here). She was wrongly charged with espionage and faced 25 years in prison and a fine of
November 4, 2022
In 2010, as an Army private serving in Iraq, Chelsea Manning released hundreds of thousands of classified records shining light on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These files included the “Collateral Murder” video (which showed American soldiers gunning
April 15, 2022
Last month, the public learned that the FBI frequently fails to comply with its own rules regarding particularly sensitive investigations involving political and religious organizations, the media, and public officials. And not just minor rule-breaking, but SIGNIFICANT lapses averaging more
April 6, 2022
Defending Rights and Dissent joined with the APA Justice Task Force to the Department of Commerce demanding justice for Sherry Chen (read more about her case here)
February 1, 2022
Every month, NYC Books Through Bars offers supporters a way to send books to incarcerated readers in prisons across the country. It’s always an intriguing collection. Last month, the group collected 450 books during their January campaign that included books
November 23, 2021
Almost every state in the country has considered legislation designed to restrict the right to participate in a boycott. The motivation behind these bills is no secret: it is to undermine the BDS movement – a campaign launched by Palestinian
March 9, 2021
The lawsuit alleges that the company’s surveillance technology violates privacy rights and facilitates government monitoring of protesters, immigrants, and communities of color. Clearview’s facial recognition tool—which allows instantaneous identification and tracking of people targeted by law enforcement—chills political speech and other protected activities, the suit argued.
March 9, 2021
Hamer’s brilliance as a public speaker, bravery in the face of white supremacy, and understanding of how to organize communities made her an effective civil rights advocate. Hamer saw with clear eyes the imperative of addressing both legal and extralegal barriers to political participation.
January 20, 2021
a new federal domestic terrorism statute or list would adversely impact civil rights and — as our nation’s long and disturbing history of targeting Black Activists, Muslims, Arabs, and movements for social and racial justice has shown — this new authority could be used to expand racial profiling or be wielded to surveil and investigate communities of color and political opponents in the name of national security
December 7, 2020
It’s unclear when Timuel Black joined our board. I only know that I met him in 1992, and he was a longtime board member even back then. But what is clear is that his energy, wisdom, and insight has helped
November 30, 2020
US law enforcement and military agencies have been buying their way around the Fourth Amendment using loopholes in federal privacy laws to access vast troves of our personal data. As we all know, private companies like Facebook, Google, and Verizon,
September 14, 2020
DC’s Mayor Muriel Bowser was angry when federal agents aggressively fired chemical agents at peaceful protesters outside the White House on June 1, to clear the way for President Trump to wave a bible in front of a church. On
September 3, 2020
Americans protesting the killing of George Floyd were met by militarized police using excessive force and firing rubber bullets and other projectiles into crowds of unarmed people and at journalists covering the protests. The first episode of a new podcast