"STATE and territory leaders say they are confident of achieving tougher anti-terrorism laws without compromising civil liberties. Prime Minister John Howard and the leaders meet in Canberra on Tuesday to discuss proposed new laws including allowing terrorist suspects who have never been charged to be electronically tagged for up to a year."

"Voter and civil rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging Georgia's new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls."

"...government ministers have put forward a series of proposals that increase the power of government, narrow the kinds of speech protected as free and, in some cases, abridge the rights of individuals to jury trials... The debate in Britain today centers not so much on whether civil liberties are being diminished as on whether that trade-off makes the country more secure or less so."

"BBC Talking Points opened the question up to the world. 'Would losing some civil liberties be a price worth paying for greater security?' they asked. Most of their respondents had the common sense to see that it would not."

"Alberta's privacy commissioner wants to know why police officers looked up personal information about city lawyer Tom Engel. Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work has launched an inquiry into the reasons police repeatedly looked up Engel's information, using a police records management system and the Canadian Police Information Centre database."

"In 1957, President Eisenhower signed into law the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction."

"... As floodwaters began to slowly recede with the first of the city's pumps returning to operation, Mayor C. Ray Nagin authorized law enforcement officers and the U.S. military late Tuesday to evacuate all holdouts for their own safety."

"Three Irish women who travelled to the United Kingdom for abortions are challenging Ireland in the European Court of Human Rights arguing that their rights to privacy, information and an effective remedy were jeopardised by Ireland's strict abortion laws."

"The American Civil Liberties union has filed a lawsuit against the town of Woodfin, challenging an ordinance that prohibits anyone required to register as a sex offender from entering local public parks."

"Government has so much information on Californians - mostly carried on cards in their wallets and purses - that it could swiftly become something like Big Brother from novelist George Orwell's "1984" in this post-Sept. 11 world. That's the way a diverse coalition of privacy and consumer groups see it."

"Maine is in the midst of its third referendum campaign in eight years to decide if gays should be given broad civil rights protections. And while the measure has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, conservatives are warning Maine could go the way of Massachusetts if gays are given more rights."

"The NYCLU (New York's ACLU) is actually right about something. Random searches of subway riders DO present a problem. Such searches may well fit a legal definition of unreasonable search & seizure. Unfortunately, that's where we part company... because it's what MAKES it a problem that separates us."

"Secret trials. Curbing free speech. Three months in jail without charge. British authorities have hesitated to crack down in the past, largely because of human rights concerns and court actions that allowed radical Islamic activists to operate freely in Britain for years - raising money, beaming satellite TV spots and running Internet sites that condemn America and support al-Qaida. No more."

"... While the [PATRIOT ACT] law is one of the most far-reaching and drastic in U.S. history, it is not the first time the government has moved to utilize a time of real or perceived crisis to increase its powers of surveillance and detention. And while portions of the bill will be reviewed again in two years, much of what is considered its most invasive components remains. "We rushed to put together legislation that we thought would safeguard us from another terrorist attack," U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-AK, said in the aftermath of the House reauthorization vote. "In the process we have created a bill that I feel takes away from our constitutional freedom. This is not patriotism, this is Big Brother.""

"A civil-liberties board ordered by the U.S. Congress last year has never met to discuss its job of protecting rights in the fight against terrorism, and critics say it is a toothless, underfunded shell with inadequate support from President Bush."

"The US Defense Department has developed a new counterterrorism strategy "that would increase military activities on American soil, particularly in the area of intelligence gathering." FoxNews reported Monday that this has caused a great deal of concern among civil liberties advocates who fear the possibility of the military "encroaching" on domestic law."

"Articles today by the Bloomberg news service and the Washington Post documenting Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' skepticism toward what he calls the "so-called" right to privacy add urgency to the need for Senators to get unequivocal answers about Roberts' views on privacy and other constitutional rights, freedoms, and legal protections, People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas said today."

"The sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage sued California's attorney general Tuesday over the summary the state prepared for the group's signature-gathering petitions. The lawsuit claims Attorney General Bill Lockyer inaccurately described the measure, which would also strip same-sex couples of domestic partnership rights."

"Middle Easterners should be targeted for searches on city subways, two elected officials said, contending that police have been wasting time with random checks in efforts to prevent terrorism in the transit system. The city began examining passengers' bags on subways and buses after the second bomb attack in London two weeks ago. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have said several times that officers will not engage in racial profiling."

"Two-thirds of Australians, including half of Coalition voters, believe Australia is more at risk of terrorist attack because of the Iraq war, and are willing to sacrifice privacy and civil liberties for protection from it. The results of the latest Herald Poll come as the Federal Government is contemplating a range of new counter-terrorism measures in the wake of the London bombings, including new legislation to introduce the controversial charge of indirect incitement to terrorism, a national identity card and increased use of closed-circuit surveillance cameras."

"California's highest court ruled Monday that country clubs must offer gay members who register as domestic partners the same discounts given to married ones - a decision that could apply to other businesses such as insurance companies and mortgage lenders. The decision by the California Supreme Court dealt with a policy at the Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego that allowed only the children, grandchildren and spouses of married members to golf for free."

"The Department of Defense has developed a new strategy in counterterrorism that would increase military activities on American soil, particularly in the area of intelligence gathering. The move is sparking concern among civil liberties advocates and those who fear an encroaching military role in domestic law enforcement."

"Chicago's use of the Internet to humiliate customers of prostitutes, or "johns," has led to concerns that the practice may violate constitutional rights. At issue is Chicago's recent decision to run a Web site that posts the names and photos of people who have been arrested for soliciting a prostitute -- but not convicted."

"I WILL PLACE a bet, here and now. Within two years, tens of thousands of British motorists will have been arrested, fingerprinted, DNA-tested and drug tested for minor road and traffic violations. Some for turning the wrong way at an intersection. Some for thoughtlessly driving in a bus lane. The experience will be traumatic, but efficient. Fingerprints will be scanned at the roadside and transmitted instantly for checking against the national fingerprint database. While this information is being processed, a sample of saliva or a hair will be taken."

"A chapter of Iraq's draft constitution obtained by The Associated Press gives Islam a major role in Iraqi civil law, raising concerns that women could lose rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance."

"BACK IN THE 1960s, under the guise of fighting communism, the FBI opened thousands of secret files on American citizens whose sole crime was to protest government policies that they found unjust. Under COINTELPRO, a covert intelligence program, federal agents bugged people's homes, sent anonymous letters to their spouses about alleged marital infidelities and infiltrated pacifist organizations, creating havoc within their ranks. The goal was to crush public opposition to the Vietnam War and destroy an emerging civil rights movement that J. Edgar Hoover feared might produce a "Black Messiah." For those old enough to remember those dark times, there is a chilling sense of deja vu."

"The recent attacks in London by home-grown terrorists have intensified attention on homeland security in the US. And that in turn has raised new questions about protecting civil liberties and privacy during a new kind of war that knows no national borders."

"The House of Representatives, ignoring protests from civil liberties groups, renewed the USA Patriot Act on Thursday mostly along party lines, to make permanent the government's unprecedented powers to investigate suspected terrorists."

"Critics of the USA Patriot Act say the law has made it too easy for law enforcement to spy on people. They contend that, by easing restrictions on the use of surveillance tools once reserved for foreign-intelligence investigations, the law cuts too deeply into personal liberties and privacy rights."

"The FBI has thousands of pages of records in its files relating to the monitoring of civil rights, environmental and similar advocacy groups, the Justice Department acknowledges. The organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Greenpeace, are suing for the release of the documents. The organizations contend that the material will show that they have been subjected to scrutiny by FBI task forces set up to combat terrorism."

"Civil rights activists are urging Canada's intelligence officials to not increase surveillance on Muslim communities, saying it will conflict with their Charter rights. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous to even be considering greater surveillance of Muslim Canadians," Lawrence Greenspon, a lawyer and civil rights advocate, told CTV News."

"In 2003, abortion opponents took a calculated gamble and pushed through the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, a federal law very similar to a state law ruled unconstitutional just three years before. Critics asserted they were defying the court and doomed to fail in any legal challenge. Strategists for the anti-abortion movement were betting that the Supreme Court would soon be different: more conservative, and more open to an array of new abortion restrictions. With the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, part of the court's majority for abortion rights, that gamble may soon begin to pay off."

"... The Patriot Act in its current form includes provisions that threaten the American legacy of liberty and privacy. But it can be fixed easily to restore meaningful checks and balances while properly focusing our limited anti- terrorism resources on foreign terrorists rather than ordinary Americans. Bipartisan legislation, the Security and Freedom Enhanced Act, is a good place to start."

"The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed great concern that the Bush administration will replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who announced her retirement today after more than two decades on the court, with a nominee whose judicial philosophy is fundamentally opposed to the progress made in protecting individual rights over the past century."