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.
Privacy
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?
COVID-19 Patients and Their Families Are Being Put on Police-Enforced Lockdown
From doxxing people with the new coronavirus to making diagnosed and suspected patients wear ankle monitors, some states are taking all the wrong steps to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Before You Use Our GPS Travel Data To Formulate Coronavirus Policy, Make Sure You Understand the Data
Confusing travel distance with actual human mingling is no way to create smart policy.
Tear Up Your Census Form for a Better America
The government is perfectly capable of counting heads in a less-intrusive and more-hygienic way.
Ring's Expanding Public-Private Panopticon Doesn't Actually Stop Crime
Despite broad claims from the company, available police reports don't support the idea that filming everything in front of people's doors stops much crime.
The EARN IT Act Is the New FOSTA
The new bill takes aim at internet freedom and privacy under the pretense of saving kids.
Over Objections From Privacy Advocates, Tame Surveillance Bill Sails Through the House
Some Republican senators are working hard to get Trump behind stronger fixes.
A Compromise Bill on Domestic Surveillance Reform Aims to Do Just Enough to Shut Trump Up
Privacy activists on the left and the right decry a limp set of proposed changes to the USA Freedom Act.
Senators Push Sneaky Anti-Privacy Bill
The EARN IT is an attack on encryption masquerading as a blow against underage porn.
Rand Paul Says Trump Is Backing Surveillance Reform
Plus: Who's using Clearview AI?, court rules against Joe Arpaio, and more...
The Feds' Bulk Collection of Our Data Records Has Been Expensive and Useless. But That Doesn't Mean It's Going to Stop.
A congressional battle erupts over how much to reform the soon-to-expire USA Freedom Act—if they reform it at all.
Encryption Foes in Washington Won't Give Up
Government officials keep trying to make us expose our data to them—and the criminals who ride on their coattails.
Delaware Court Creates Expungement Remedy for Quickly Dismissed Protection-from-Abuse Orders
"[T]he parties argued as public figures employed in the areas of law and civil service, their livelihoods are tied to their reputation."
CIA Encryption Meddling and Chinese Espionage Allegations Make It Clear: We All Need Strong Data Protection
Somebody tell the FBI and Congress.
California Attorney General Defends Gang Database Despite Abuses by LAPD
Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced action against the department.
Where Have You Been? Your Cellphone Knows and Is Willing to Tell
Your cellphone is tracking your movements and, despite legal protections, federal, state, and local officials are finding new and disturbing ways to use that information.
Australia Moves To Restrict Cash and Build Up Its Surveillance State
It’s all part of the international push by officials to monitor the public. You’re next.
Lindsey Graham Wants to Use Mistrust of Big Tech To Destroy Your Right to Online Privacy
Online platforms would have to "earn" speech protections by compromising encryption—all in the name of fighting child porn.
40 Privacy Groups Ask Federal Oversight Agency To Push for Suspension of Federal Facial Recognition Technology
40 privacy advocacy groups send open letter to agency
House Moves To Give Homeland Security More Power To Snoop
Plus: Santa Cruz decriminalizes shrooms, the feds target medical marijuana in Michigan, "the growing threat to free speech online," and more...
Lawmakers Say the FBI's Problematic Carter Page Warrants Require Congressional Surveillance Reforms
A bipartisan coalition wants to restrain secret snooping and create more independent oversight of the secretive FISA Court.
Trump and Comey Are United Against Encrypted Communications
Don’t worry—America’s ruling factions still disagree over who should be in charge of the snooping.
LAPD Chief Says Its Gang Database Abuse Scandal Now Has 'Criminal Aspects'
At least 20 officers have been suspended while the LAPD investigates the placement of innocent motorists on the gang database.
The FBI Wants Access to a Mass Shooter's iPhone. Will They Demand a Back Door?
A deadly shooting on a Naval base in Florida may lead to a new battle against encryption.
The First Amendment and Privacy: Free Speech Rules (Episode 9)
Episode 9 of Free Speech Rules, a video series by UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh
