Surveillance
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.
Would Other Countries Trust a U.S. Government-Controlled Silicon Valley?
We don’t trust state-controlled companies in China. Would it be different if we did more of the controlling?
Susan Rice Tries To Turn Possible Snowden Pardon Into Attack on GOP
All the worst people are still mad he blew the whistle on government snooping.
Trump Teases Possible Edward Snowden Pardon. He Should Do It!
At least something good could come out of this mess of an investigation.
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.
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.
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...
Microsoft and Amazon Adopt Temporary Bans on Police Use of Their Facial Recognition Tech. That's Not Nearly Enough.
Both companies need to join IBM and others in entirely abandoning the development of this mass surveillance technology.
What 9/11 and the Financial Crisis Teach Us About COVID-19
Sometime in 2021, the American people will be presented with a reorganized and newly empowered federal public health bureaucracy. As time passes, it will grow in size and scope.
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?
Edward Snowden, the Surveillance State, and the 'Dark Mirror' Still Watching Us All
National security journalist Barton Gellman talks about "the surveillance-industrial state," the possibility of a Biden presidency or a second Trump term, and his gripping new book.
How Edward Snowden Revealed the 'Dark Mirror' of the Surveillance State
Barton Gellman's new book is a riveting account of exposing NSA excesses to the light of the day.
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?
Joe Biden's 'Bold' Thinking Shredded Civil Liberties and Destroyed Lives
On crime, drugs, immigration, and foreign policy, his 44-year policy record is a cautionary tale of bipartisanship in response to perceived crises.
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.
The Michael Flynn Unmasking Fight Is Another Chance for More Transparency About Secret Government Surveillance
People insisted the wiretapping of Carter Page was perfectly normal. That turned out to be wrong.
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 Renews FBI Surveillance Powers With Modest Reforms
An effort by Sen. Rand Paul to forbid warrantless investigation of citizens was soundly defeated.
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.
