Surveillance
ICE Operates a Sweeping 'Dragnet Surveillance System,' New Report Finds
ICE has spent $2.8 billion since 2008 developing surveillance and facial-recognition capabilities, mostly in secrecy and without real oversight.
Ending Roe Threatens More Than Abortion Rights
Plus: Lawsuit against Twitter can move forward, antitrust bills targeting Big Tech falter, and more...
The FBI Secretly Searched Americans' Digital Communications 3.4 Million Times Last Year
Plus: A questionable algorithm can sic state social workers on families, governments aren't the only entities that can expand contraceptive access, and more...
Houston Says Businesses Must Install Surveillance Cameras and Cops Can View Footage Without a Warrant
Plus: The Warrant for Metadata Act, DOJ will appeal order ending mask mandate, and more...
Europe Targets Self-Hosted Bitcoin Wallets—and Financial Privacy
Proposed EU rules would be equivalent to tracking all cash transactions
Postal Inspectors Have Been Illegally Spying on Americans
The Post Office's inspector general uncovers unrestricted online snooping by postal cops without any legal authority.
'Geofence Warrant' for All Cell Location Data From Area Near Robbery Is Ruled Unconstitutional
Plus: New rules on sex discrimination in education, economists warn of housing market exuberance, and more...
Pandemic Policy Turned Schools Into Surveillance States
Cameras and tracking technology purchased to battle COVID-19 will be a lingering affliction.
Biden Has His Eye on Bitcoin
The president's anticipated executive order stopped short of feared regulations but suggests federal unease with uncontrolled development.
Teacher Spying Is Instilling Surveillance Culture Into Students
“We totally stalked what they were doing on Google,” one teacher said.
NYC Mayor Adams Wants More Facial Recognition Software for Cops
Facial recognition software can secretly surveil and is subject to error.
New Report Highlights an Old Problem—the CIA Is Still Snooping on Americans
In a program separate from the ones disclosed by Edward Snowden, we see more mass secret domestic data collection.
Dear Olympics Media: Please Spare Us Your Fawning Over China's Digital Surveillance
Regarding the authoritarian country's central bank digital currency, you do not, under any circumstances, “gotta hand it to them.”
When Humanitarianism Prolongs the Inhumane
"A future of bloodless global discipline is a chilling thing."
Facebook Is a Snitch
Social media accounts are windows into your activities, and the cops are watching.
She Survived China's Attempt to Erase Her
“We have been through horrific things, but I’m still proud of being Uyghur," says Tursunay Ziyawudun, a survivor of China's torture camps.
Attract Government Attention and Get Your Name Run Through a 'Terrorist' Database
Offending the powerful can be dangerous in an increasingly authoritarian world.
Don't Worship an FBI That Took the Steele Dossier Seriously
Why trust an agency that conceals information from judges but prosecutes us for lying to it?
Can the Government Hide Its Misdeeds as 'State Secrets'?
A surveillance case will determine whether officials can be sued for "national security" rights violations.
Justice Department Charges a Steele Dossier Source With Lying to the FBI
The investigation of Trump aide Carter Page has exposed major problems with federal secret surveillance warrants.
Facebook Is Shuttering Its Face Recognition System
Privacy advocates applaud the move.
Supreme Court Rebuffs Attempt To Open Up Access to Classified FISA Court Reports
Do Americans have a right to know the extent that the government surveils them?
Your Cell Phone Is Spying on You
An FBI document reminds us: Your cell phone provider knows where you've been—and will tell the feds.
Whistleblower Absurdly Attacks Facebook's Privacy-Protecting Encryption Efforts
When "protecting users' safety" actually means the opposite
Dems Try To Pass Off $10,000 IRS Reporting Threshold as Merely Going After the 1 Percent
Proposed IRS surveillance now limited to non-wage net annual transactions of $10,000 and above. Which is still ridiculously low and intrusive.
Dems Want to Soak the Rich by Snooping on the Poor
Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and co. insist that the IRS needs to know about $600 bank accounts.
The Government's Secret 'Google Search' Warrant Trap
With “keyword warrants,” anyone who queries certain terms on search engines will get caught in the surveillance dragnet.
Government Eyes In the Sky
The federal government and police are finding new ways to use drones to invade privacy.
The FBI's Secret FISA Court Surveillance Applications Are Chock Full of Screw-Ups
More than 400 problems were found with 29 warrant requests, twice the number previously revealed.
Proposed Local Facial Recognition Technology Ban Draws Fire
Protecting citizens from intrusive government surveillance is a virtue well worth signaling.
Government Is Lousy at Protecting Civil Liberties, Say Americans
People doubt the government's role as a protector but send mixed messages about their value of freedom.
The Dangerous Dream of Zero COVID in Australia
The government is ignoring the costs of lockdowns—for lives, for liberty, and for the economy.
What Fear Does to Our Freedom
COVID-19 and 9/11 both created opportunities to restrict our liberties in the name of keeping us safe.
Federal Grants Brought the Equipment of the War on Terror Home to American Police Departments
Twenty years after 9/11, weaponry and surveillance gear originally developed for the military have become commonplace in police departments around the country.
Biden Won't End the Warfare-Surveillance State
National security reporter Spencer Ackerman on 9/11, mass surveillance at home, and failed wars abroad.
America's Post-9/11 Surveillance Authorities Were Inevitably Turned Against Its Own Citizens
We were warned about the dangerous power of the USA PATRIOT Act. Edward Snowden proved that critics were justified.
Spencer Ackerman: How 9/11 Destabilized America and Produced Trump
The Reign of Terror author on fighting surveillance and interventionism done in the name of stopping jihad.
9/11's Lesson: War Doesn't Work
Historian Stephen Wertheim says two decades of failed wars have finally made America more likely to embrace military restraint.
Americans Are Souring on Mask Mandates and Warrantless Surveillance: Poll
Plus: Tipped minimum wage kills jobs, how the U.S. "helped" out women in rural Afghanistan, and more...
Biden's Total Financial Surveillance
What if every one of your noncash financial transactions was automatically reported to a beefed-up, audit-hungry IRS?
Apple Delays Plan To Snoop on Users' Pictures
An encryption back door will lead to abusive authoritarian surveillance—even if you present it as a way to stop child porn.
COVID Money Funded Ankle Monitors for Student-Athletes in Washington
"You have no choice in the matter."