Senate Renews FBI Surveillance Powers With Modest Reforms
An effort by Sen. Rand Paul to forbid warrantless investigation of citizens was soundly defeated.
Surveillance
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.
How Fashion Designers Are Thwarting Facial Recognition Surveillance
Privacy activists say we should be alarmed by the rise of automated facial recognition surveillance. Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan says it's time to embrace the end of privacy as we know it.
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.
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.
Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex Speech in the Age of Coronavirus
The 1961 speech by President Dwight Eisenhower foreshadowed the current government's response to COVID-19.
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.
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.
The FBI Is Routinely Screwing Up FISA Warrants Targeting Americans
Carter Page was not an anomaly.
U.K. Cops Remind Us Why We Should Resist the Government's Coronavirus Power Grabs
Threatening shops for selling chocolate Easter eggs and mocking people who are actually following the law undermines citizens’ trust.
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.
Is the FBI Snooping on Political Groups and Ideological Publications?
They have a long history of spying on dissident political groups, from early 20th century socialists and mid-century civil rights leaders to modern environmentalists and Black Lives Matter.
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.
Will We See Real Surveillance Reform This Week?
The USA Freedom Act is about to sunset. Who will decide how and if it will be changed?
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.
The FBI's Sloppy FISA Surveillance Is Exposed
The findings shared by Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed some rotten practices at the FBI and a major media blindspot.
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.
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...
Ban Facial Recognition on College Campuses, Activists Say
"Facial recognition represents a dystopic advancement of the police state."
E-Verify: Making Life Harder for Workers and Small Businesses, With Enthusiastic MAGA Support
E-Verify makes life harder on immigrants who want to work, but it doesn't make things better for anyone—-even those who want to see those immigrants leave.
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.
Facial Recognition and the Danger of Automated Authoritarianism
Hundreds of police departments are using facial recognition technology without oversight.
Senators Propose Limits on Police Use of Facial Recognition
Some privacy activists say the bill still falls short.
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.
The FBI Wants To Treat Carter Page Warrant Mistakes Like Training Problems. A Court Adviser Says That's Not Enough.
After seriously messing up its warrant applications with the FISA Court, can the FBI be trusted?
Is the FBI Snooping on Political Groups and Ideological Publications?
The Cato Institute wants Congress to investigate the FBI after it refused to confirm or deny the existence of files on dozens of political advocacy groups.
The Feds Get Permission To Seize Edward Snowden's Book Profits
A judge rules whistleblower’s failure to subject Permanent Record to pre-publication review violates non-disclosure agreement.
The FISA Court Wants Answers About the Problems with FBI's Carter Page Warrants
Judge demands to know what the agency will do prevent future “omissions” in the applications.
National Security Surveillance Apologists Are Starting to See the Light
Privacy advocates have long warned about potential abuses. Will the mishandling of the Carter Page investigation change some minds?
Devin Nunes Supports Secret Surveillance of Americans, Finds Himself Under Surveillance
Nunes attacked those who wanted to restrain NSA’s snooping. Clearly he never considered whether his call records would be exposed.
Pelosi Moves Forward With Impeachment; Rand Paul Wrong on Devin Nunes' Phone Records
Plus: Trump might send 14,000 more troops to the Middle East, Pelosi wants to take free speech out of a trade deal, and more...
