Disappointing revelations about ACLU

Full disclosure at the top of this:  I was a supporter of ACLU. I stopped supporting them years ago over concerns that they were sharing donor lists. Eventually, they convinced me to come back. I stopped supporting them again.  And after reading Ashkan’s thread, I doubt I will ever donate to them again.

Ashkan Soltani has posted a very disturbing thread about the ACLU.

Here is the beginning of Ashkan’s thread, below. ‘m not going to embed tweets as some people wouldn’t be able to read them.  The following is just the text of the first tweets in his multi-part thread on Twitter:

Yesterday,  @ACLU updated their privacy statement to finally disclose that they share constituent information with ‘service providers’ like @Facebook for targeted advertising, flying in the face of the org’s public advocacy and statements. (1/11)

https://www.aclu.org/about/privacy/statement/

In fact, I was retained by @ACLU last summer to perform a privacy audit after concerns were raised internally regarding their data sharing practices. I only agreed to do this work on the promisee by ACLU’s Executive Director that the findings would be made public. (2/11)

Unfortunately, after reviewing my findings, the ACLU decided against publishing my report and instead sat on it for ~6 months before quietly updating their terms of service and privacy policy without explanation for the context or motivations for doing so. (3/11)

While I’m bound by a nondisclosure agreement to not disclose the information I uncovered or my specific findings, I can say with confidence that the ACLU’s updated privacy statements do not reflect the full picture of their practices. (4/11)

Read the entire thread at https://twitter.com/ashk4n/status/1378064556187021312