The watchdogs of liberty must diversify their business. Private products and private services have come to dominate our lives, to induce our dependence and to encircle our worlds. If we sleep or look elsewhere, the circle may become a noose.
It is entirely appropriate that we focus on data privacy in the context of sex scandals, and this points to something crucially important for privacy activists. The combination of concern about sexual autonomy and about technologically-enabled surveillance has been a crucial driver in privacy law.
Matt and Noah are joined by CRCL Online Content Editor Nitzan Weizmann to highlight the problem of pregnancy discrimination. Noah and Matt also take a look at a recent Second Circuit opinion striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act.
A perspective on data collection that emphasizes dignity would bring the nature of these transactions into the open . . . when this is all done secretly and without sufficient concern for the transactions that occur between parties who are all deserving of basic respect and dignity, everyone loses.
Given the consequences of the Farm Bill, one might surmise that Congress spends a long time weighing costs and benefits before foisting it upon us. But in the parallel universe of Washington DC, that’s not quite how things work.
Noah and Matt give their brief reactions to United States v. Alvarez, Miller v. Alabama, Arizona v. United States, and NFIB v. Sebelius. Noah and Matt take a look at Mitt Romney’s recently leaked closed-door comments. The discussion turns to the recent protests and violence in the Middle East over the YouTube video negatively depicting Islam.
Hercules Industries, a Denver company that provides heating and air conditioning equipment recently won a preliminary injunction against the imposition of the preventive care requirement adopted pursuant to the Affordable Care Act. Predictably, conservatives lauded the decision as a victory for religious freedom, because, at least for the moment, this family-owned business that employs around 300 people has the religious freedom to tell their employees they’re on their own to pay for reproductive health services. Don’t expect it to last.
This episode is the first in CR-CL’s summer interview podcast series. This week, Noah interviews Professor Ben Sachs about the disparity between the political speech rights of labor unions and corporations. Noah interviews Emily Bazelon about President Obama’s recent announcement expressing his personal support for marriage equality, and what that announcement will mean legally and symbolically moving forward.
Matt follows up on a post he wrote for HarvardCRCL.org looking at the First Amendment implications of requiring cigarette companies to include new graphic warning labels on their packages. Noah and Matt discuss the competing budget plans presented by the Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington.
Noah and Matt are joined in the studio this week by HarvardCRCL.org Technology and Privacy blogger Andrew Mamo. Matt fills us in on the recent Supreme Court decision in Florence v. Board of Freeholders and the potential impact of a blanket rule allowing strip searches for jail intake even for minor offenses. Andrew discusses the recent concern over Google’s unified privacy policy, the Consumer Online Privacy Bill of Rights, and efforts in Europe to establish a right to be forgotten.
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