Related Updates
Wikimedia's Constitutional Challenges of NSA Upstream Surveillance Move Forward
A court ruling today allowing Wikimedia ’s claims challenging the constitutionality of NSA’s Upstream surveillance to go forward is good news. It shows that the court—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit—is willing to take seriously the impact mass surveillance...
Judge Orders Government to Provide Evidence About Internet Surveillance
We're finally going to get some honesty on how the NSA spies on innocent Americans' communications. A federal judge late last week in Jewel v. NSA , EFF’s landmark case against mass surveillance, ordered [PDF] the government to provide to it all relevant evidence necessary to prove...
What Don’t You Want the NSA to Know About You?
For years, U.S. government surveillance of innocent Americans has been a topic of heated debate, especially for those in the tech community. With Congress gearing up for a fight over the 2017 reauthorization of a surveillance authority that lets the NSA spy on innocent Americans without a warrant—Section 702, enacted...
The End of the NSA's ‘About’ Searches Is Just the Beginning
The NSA is stopping its use of one controversial surveillance technique that impacts Americans' privacy. Make no mistake. This is good news for anyone who wants government surveillance to follow the law. But there’s much more to be done to rein in unconstitutional spying. Initially reported by The New...
Dissent Made Meaningful
Over the last year, large numbers of Americans have grown politically active for the first time. Reflecting the depth of our constitutional crisis, however, many seem not to know how to meaningfully raise their voices or participate in the political process. Civic Participation Beyond Elections Turnout in...
Here’s what Trump can do about surveillance if he really wants to
If the former real estate mogul is truly concerned about being the target of broad surveillance, he now has the power to change that by calling on Congress to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. Cindy Cohn, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s executive director, said in a statement that...
Trump's Director of National Intelligence Pick Is on the Wrong Side of Surveillance
President Donald Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence has laid out his vision for the country’s surveillance, and it’s not good for technology users. In his confirmation in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee this week, former-Sen. Dan Coats, a Republican from Indiana, said there need to be continued...
Liveblogging Today’s House Judiciary Hearing on Section 702
The U.S. government’s warrantless Internet spying is in the hot seat today. The House Judiciary Committee is holding a two-part hearing this morning about the Section 702, created by the FISA Amendments Act, which the government uses to justify the unconstitutional mass surveillance of Americans’ online activity. EFF...
Trump’s Attorney General’s Record on Privacy
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the country’s law enforcement has cleared the Senate. The Senate voted 52-47 on Wednesday to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions, whose record on civil liberties issues—including digital rights—has drawn fire from Democratic lawmakers and public interest groups. EFF has expressed concerns...
New CIA Director Mike Pompeo Sparks Privacy Concerns
The U.S. Senate confirmed Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo to be the Director of the CIA late on Monday over concerns from several congressional Democrats, who warned that putting Pompeo at the head of the intelligence agency would threaten civil liberties. In an impassioned floor speech, Sen. Bernie Sanders called...
