Surveillance
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."
Chicago Audit Finds ShotSpotter Alerts Rarely Lead to Evidence of Gun Crimes
The report followed media investigations into ShotSpotter's reliability and activist pressure on Chicago to cut its contract with ShotSpotter.
China's New Data Privacy Law Doesn't Protect People Against the Biggest Threat: The Government
The law just addresses use of individuals' data by private companies, carving out exceptions for government harvesting of data.
How a Sneaky Crypto Crackdown Plot Blew Up the Infrastructure Bill
Cryptocurrency advocates fight back against major government overreach.
Texas Cops Realized They Raided the Wrong House. They Kept Searching Anyway.
Three of the officers were denied qualified immunity, but accountability is a long way off.
USPS Gets Hit With Lawsuit Over Social Media Snooping
Plus: Whistleblower on drone killings sentenced to federal prison, Biden carries on Trump's legacy on trade and immigration, and more...
EU Bureaucrats Seek to Diminish Your Cryptocurrency Privacy
Watch what happens when the drive for government surveillance meets longstanding technological ignorance.
Federal Agencies Can't Resist Using and Abusing Facial Recognition
Some agencies don't even know ways their employees are using facial recognition.
Postal Censorship and Surveillance: A Timeline
The government's long and shameful history of intercepting people's letters
The USPS' Semi-Secret Internet Surveillance Apparatus
The agency best known for delivering mail has a side hustle in online snooping.
The Capitol Police Will Open Offices in the States To 'Investigate Threats to Members of Congress'
The House of Representatives gave the agency $2 billion in additional funding.
Treat Tucker Carlson's NSA Snooping Claims Seriously, but Not Literally
The Fox News pundit’s emails were probably reviewed legally—and that’s part of the problem.
Appeals Court Rules Aerial Police Tracking of Citizens Violates Fourth Amendment
Baltimore kept tabs on citizens' movement across 90 percent of the city, without a warrant, to investigate crimes.
Congress Weighs a Moratorium on Facial Recognition and Biometric Surveillance Technologies
And it's not a moment too soon.
Apple Surrendered Former White House Counsel Don McGahn's Account Information to Trump DOJ
Plus: Rep. Joaquin Castro wants Hollywood to hire more Hispanics...or else, lawmakers inch closer to an infrastructure deal, and more...
Feds Seize CNN Reporter's Data, Then Gag CNN
If this doubly punitive anti-press maneuver sounds familiar, that's because it keeps happening, including to Reason.
Amazing New Chinese A.I.-Powered Language Model Wu Dao 2.0 Unveiled
It's ten times more powerful than the current U.S. effort.
The FBI Secretly Ran an Encrypted Messaging Service To Conduct the Same Old Drug War Stings
Plus: ACLU identity crisis, Texas bans vaccine rules, and more...