Privacy and Technology

At its core, our mission is driven by the notion that the government should not be intruding into our private lives. To have any sense of liberty, we must have a realm that the state cannot enter. The right to privacy is a traditional, core ACLU issue. Of course, with technological advancement, we leave a larger and larger digital footprint. And technology permits the government to gain a deeper hold on our private lives without a physical presence. As such, government intrusion into our private lives is easier and increasingly common.

The ACLU-WV is working to protect and expand the individual right to privacy.

Student Privacy - The rise in mobile devices, smartphones, and the internet has led to fantastic opportunities to share information and interact with our world. But it has also led to significant threats to privacy. The Student Privacy Act guarantees that West Virginia students are protected from digital privacy violations from schools and their administrators. Download our one-pager

Employee Privacy - Americans today are as likely to use a social media account to communicate their ideas to a selective audience they were to use a telephone a generation ago. This vibrant forum for the exchange of ideas and personal information will be compromised if employees and prospective employees know they may be forced to provide employers with access to their personal social media accounts. We're fighting to ensure employers cannot force or coerce their employees or job applicants into providing access to their personal social media accounts, except under a limited set of specifically defined circumstances.