Privacy
Need Proof That Encryption Backdoors Lead to Hacking? It Happened to Our Own Government.
The National Security Agency arranged for security systems to be secretly compromised. Then the Chinese government allegedly found its way in.
Surprise: DOJ Is Not a Big Fan of Privacy-Preserving Cryptocurrencies
Privacy is a right, not a “high risk” and “possibly criminal” activity
Court Revives Wiretap Target's Attempt to Get Information About the Wiretap
In 2014, more than half of all California wiretaps (and one sixth of all the wiretaps in the U.S.) were authorized by one judge in Riverside County.
Eighth Circuit Seals Published (Printed) Opinion, Later Grants Our Motion to Unseal
An attempt to protect litigant privacy meant that binding precedent was vanished from Westlaw.
Cryptography vs. Big Brother: How Math Became a Weapon Against Tyranny
Part two of a four-part series on the history of the cypherpunk movement
Should Facebook Have a Duty to Report Us to the Police for Felonies Potentially Revealed in Our Posts?
An Ohio judge suggests the answer should be "yes," and an Ohio statute seems to require that when Facebook employees learn of specific felonies revealed by posts that they might be monitoring for some reason.
The #FinCENFiles Shine a Spotlight on How Banks Are Ordered to Snoop on You
Why does media coverage conclude the problem is that the government hasn’t done a good enough job of spying?
NSA Ruling Reminds Us That Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security Is a Bipartisan Impulse
A federal appeals court concludes that the agency's mass collection of phone records was illegal and probably unconstitutional.
In New Tests, Facial Recognition Products Are Consistently Thwarted by Masks
Defeating surveillance is a powerful argument for covering your face.
Mike Godwin, the Creator of Godwin's Law, Is Suing Trump Over His TikTok Executive Order
"I know what moral panics look like; they look kind of like this."
Pandemic Restrictions Are Eroding Our Freedom To Travel
Officials have never liked it when people are free to move about—and beyond their reach.
Not All COVID-19 Tracking Apps Respect Privacy, But Some Pass the Test
New apps can work as surveillance techniques for the government. They can also serve as anonymous health tools for people hoping to return to normal life.
Court Rejects Lawsuit for Sending Gruesome Photos to NRA Lobbyist's E-Mail Address
The Eleventh Circuit threw out a lawsuit brought by former NRA President Marion Hammer.
Serbia's Surveillance Cameras Can Recognize Faces, License Plates
Huawei’s Safe City security system is undergoing a massive expansion across Belgrade.
A Pandemic of Surveillance
Americans are increasingly monitored, and COVID-19 health concerns aren’t improving the situation.
How China's Clamp Down on Hong Kong Could Affect the Global Internet
Will tech companies resist orders to cooperate with demands for information to root out dissidents?
Robert Kraft and Florida Massage Workers Are Still Fighting Unconstitutional Surveillance Video
"Supreme Court jurisprudence...is heavily weighted against you," an appeals judge told state prosecutors last week.
Senators Propose a Cool New Contest To Destroy Your Online Privacy
A new, terrible anti-encryption bill with a twist
Russia Lifts Ban on Telegram App
Two years of rule-flouting by elites and ordinary citizens show the unsustainability of top-down prohibition.
New Louisiana Law Will Let Doctors Decide When Marijuana Is Right for Their Patients
While there are still numerous barriers to access in Louisiana's medical marijuana system, a specific list of "qualifying conditions" will no longer be one of them.
Public and Private Sectors Clash on Contact Tracing
Apple and Google’s API promises to put privacy first. State health authorities have other ideas.
Federal Aircraft Accused of Tracking Protesters
Plus: Breonna’s Law bans no-knock raids in Kentucky, Amazon's third-party problem, new findings on metabolism, and more...
Surveillance Bill Yanked After Trump Tweets Veto Threat. Will It Be Changed for Better or Worse?
Weak reforms to the government’s power to secretly snoop on Americans wasn’t enough for the president. What happens next?
House May Blow Its Chance To Protect Americans' Browser History From Federal Snooping
Sen. Wyden withdraws support for amendment due to fears it has been weakened too much.
Amendment Revived to Protect Americans' Internet Search Records From Warrantless Collection
The House will consider a surveillance reform proposal that failed in the Senate by just one vote.
Sen. Ron Wyden Wants To Stop the Government From Spying on Your Internet Searches
The Wyden-Daines Amendment would've prohibited warrantless monitoring of web activity, but it lost by one vote in the Senate. Will Nancy Pelosi bring it back in the House?
Judge to FBI: You Should've Gotten a Warrant Before Turning On That Phone
Plus: Virginia decriminalizes marijuana, it's not Trump's call whether we close the country again, and more…
Justice Department Attempts To Blame Encryption for Terrorist Attack Feds Failed To See Coming
The FBI and attorney general want to ruin everybody's data security and draft Apple into compromising your safety.
COVID-19 Contact Tracers or Cootie Cops?
Tracing where people have been and who they’ve met can be effective for battling disease. But, oh boy, does it lend itself to abuse.
Senate Votes Down Protections Against Warrantless Government Collection of Americans' Browser and Search History
The amendment lost by one vote. Absent from today's vote? Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sen. Mitch McConnell Looks To Undermine Efforts to Protect Americans From Secret FBI Surveillance
An amendment to a FISA renewal bill would let the FBI snoop on your online browser history.
FISA Surveillance and Possible Reforms Are Back on the Senate's Agenda
The USA Freedom Act expired in March. Some senators are pushing for better privacy protections before the renewal vote.
Immigrants Have a Right to Privacy Too
Forcibly collecting DNA samples from immigrants in detention is yet another horrifying form of mass surveillance
This App Protects Privacy While Tracing COVID-19 Infections
Stanford researcher Tina White and the new nonprofit Covid Watch are committed to protecting both individual rights and public health.
Josh Duggar ("19 Kids and Counting") Lawsuit Thrown Out
Josh Duggar had sued over the government's releasing records of his juvenile investigation.
Masks Can Be a Symbol of Privacy and Personal Responsibility, Not Tyranny
Plus: Family Dollar guard murdered over mask enforcement, doctors see "multisystem inflammatory syndrome" in kids with COVID-19, and more...
How to Track COVID-19 Without Mass Surveillance
Apple and Google's Bluetooth-based app would reportedly be voluntary and anonymous. Privacy advocates say we should accept nothing less.
How COVID-19 Will Affect the Future of Policing
Like all of us, law enforcement will face a world of reduced public interactions, devastated economies, and changed ways of life.
Freedom Is a Pandemic Casualty in Authoritarian Regimes and Liberal Democracies
Around the world, governments are taking advantage of COVID-19 to tighten the screws on their subjects.
China Is Rolling Out a Government Digital Currency. We Shouldn't Try to Copy Them.
Western countries aren’t immune to the siren call of surveillance via commerce-tracking.
Community Anger Shuts Down Connecticut City's Plan To Use Drones for Coronavirus Monitoring
Westport won’t be using tech to monitor people’s body temperatures or whether they’re properly social distancing.
Cellphone-Tracking Can Help Fight the Pandemic Only If Governments Resist Their Snoopy Instincts
Contact tracing might offer hope for slowing the spread of the pandemic—or fulfill every Big Brother-ish fear privacy advocates have ever raised.
2 Decades of Dubious Surveillance Will Make It Much Harder To Track COVID-19 Now
Government officials have only themselves to blame if citizens decline to share their information.
We Can Track COVID-19's Spread Without Violating Privacy
The coronavirus is no excuse to intrude on people's lives unnecessarily. Tech provides decentralized systems for contact tracing.
The Surveillance State Thrives During the Pandemic
Can we take government officials at their word that they'll eventually abandon their new powers?
