The Newsom-DeSantis debate was largely pointless. It involved Ron DeSantis who is running for president but trailing far behind the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, and Gavin Newsom who has stated he doesn’t intend to run for president this election cycle but has been suggested as a potential replacement for Joe Biden if he chooses to…
Observing the United States in the 1830s, the French political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in his Democracy in America that “the position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in one.” Tocqueville was observing the exceptionality of American society, with its…
Sometime in the past week was the tenth anniversary of my first attempt at running away from home. I was just as much an adult ten years ago as I am today. The difference is that ten years ago it was legal to hit me, vanish my relationships, and sequester me from society. I look…
Every day that I have the presence of mind to remember it, I am so grateful and so excited and so relieved to be a legal adult. I can associate with whoever I like, with no fear that I will bond with them only to be barred from seeing them later. I can read any…
Senator Al Franken has introduced the Location Privacy Protection Act (S. 1223), which would ban spyware that sneaks onto your cell phone and tells someone else your GPS location or other sensitive information. Such apps are being marketed to employers who want to spy on their employees, to people who want to spy on their…
Matt Smith, principal at Garrett High School in Indiana, recently expelled a student for Tweeting a swear word on his own time. In response, NYRA’s new Executive Director sent Smith the following message: Dear Mr. Smith, I was disappointed to hear reports that your school chose to expel a student for a Tweet he wrote…
The American Library Association (ALA) assembled a panel to discuss Youth, Privacy and Freedom at this year’s Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference in Washington, DC. NYRA was pleased to participate in the very successful ALA conference on Youth & Privacy in Chicago this March, and was honored to be invited to speak on this panel….
Last night NYRA’s President, Jeffrey Nadel, took on New York State Senator and former police officer (better known for his crusade against sagging pants), Eric Adams, to defend the privacy and dignity of young people against his attacks. Sen. Adams published a video on YouTube urging parents to search the rooms and backpacks of their…
Tonight, NYRA President Jeffrey Nadel, appeared on national television to debate NY State Sen. Eric Adams about his new video calling on parents to routinely search through the rooms of their kids for guns and drugs. Nadel did a fantastic job, and in response to his common sense and fact based argument the flustered Senator…
Today, New York State Senator and former police officer (better known for his crusade against sagging pants), Eric Adams, published a video on YouTube instructing parents on how to search the rooms and backpacks of their kids for drugs and weapons. His calls for parents to invade the privacy of their children has attracted considerable…
