CIVIL LIBERTIES RESOURCES

American Civil Liberties Union

Extensive information and opportunities for citizen action on civil liberties issues.

National Lawyers' Guild Know Your Rights page

Excellent handbook on basic rights if the police or FBI come to your door. The handbook is available in several languages on-line or as a printable pdf file. This page also has a list of organizations that will provide referrals to lawyers in civil liberties cases.

National Lawyers' Guild Post-9/11 page

Information on a variety of topics relevant to the impacts on legal rights and government openness of the U.S. government's "war on terror."

Center for Constitutional Rights

Includes an analysis of the ìPatriot Act and its impact on constitutional rights in the United States, materials on military tribunals and detainees, the law of war, and more.

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Originating with a Massachusetts effort to pass resolutions urging state and local governments to use their powers where possible to protect residents against repressive federal government measures such as the Patriot Act, this project now maintains a web site with a variety of useful civil liberties materials. It includes resources on how to pass a resolution supporting civil liberties in your town, and links to a variety of legal information and commentary on the erosion of civil liberties resulting from the approach taken by the U.S. government to its open-ended ìwar on terror.

Bill of Rights Defense Committee Links PageTerrorism Law and Policy resources

This site, maintained by the University of Pittsburgh Law School, provides links to a huge compendium of terrorism-related law and policy news, analysis, and government documents, including many relevant to the impact of anti-terrorist legislation and policies on civil liberties.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

EFF focuses on privacy and free speech issues relevant to electronic media. This site features a ìtake actionî section that helps users submit comments such current issues to decision makers.

Goverment Secrecy and Freedom of Information

Federation of American Scientists Government Secrecy Project

This page has a wide range of resources on government secrecy, ranging from classification and declassification issues both current and historic to the impact of current and pending legislation on government openness. You can subscribe here to the excellent FAS Government Secrecy Project e-mail newsletter.

Public Citizen Freedom of Information Clearinghouse

Extensive FOIA information, including links to legal resources, sample litigation materials, and more.

Electronic Privacy Information Center

Good information on open government issues and threats to civil liberties resulting from the anti-terror war and related legislation, such as the Patriot Act and the legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security. Particular focus on computer, internet, and electronic transaction privacy issues.

FOIALAW.NET

This site provides resources for research on freedom of information law worldwide. Links to both government and NGO sites, with some hard to find information on such issues as NATO impact on freedom of information issues.

National Security Archive FOIA page

This site has links to the text of the Freedom of Information Act and amendments, provides a sample FOIA request and appeal letter, and has other useful information.

Selected U.S. Government Freedom of Information Act Web Sites

U.S. Department of Justice This site has a FOIA guide and other reference materials and a list of federal agency FOIA points of contacts and web sites.

Department of DefenseIncludes links to FOIA web sites for DOD agencies and military services.

Department of Energy

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