Sue Udry

September 26, 2023

Woody Kaplan: Troublemaker with a Heart of Gold

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

Does the FBI Have Your Faceprint?

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

Ten Years After a Discriminatory and Illegal Investigation Was Launched Against Her, Sherry Chen Reaches Settlement With Dept. of Commerce

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

Chelsea Manning’s Long Fight for Radical Transparency

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

The FBI Can’t Even Be Bothered to Follow Their Own Rules

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
February 1, 2022

NYC Books Through Bars to Share Banned Books with Incarcerated Readers

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

Arkansas Paper Stands Up for the First Amendment – Despite the Cost

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

California Activists Challenge Clearview AI on Biometric Surveillance

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

“Five feet four inches forward.” The Persistant Courage of Fannie Lou Hamer

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 Chorus of Voices Warns Against Creating a “Domestic Terrorism” Charge

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
November 30, 2020

Selling Out the Fourth Amendment

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

DRAD and Law 4 Black Lives Ask DC Mayor to Get Her Priorities Straight

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

Podcast Shares Stories of Protestors, Journalist Blinded by Police Projectiles 

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