Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability

“It’s Getting Harder to Square the Emerging Surveillance State with the Declaration of Independence”

@Rep_Davidson @RonWyden @RepDelBene @SenMikeLee 4/ Congress should pass the Email Privacy Act and apply the Fourth Amendment to the reality of 21st century technology. protectprivacynow.org/news/congress-…

@Rep_Davidson @RonWyden @RepDelBene @SenMikeLee 3/ Our emails can contain medical information, financial records, family conversations, political discussions, and the intimate details of our daily lives. The idea that constitutional protection should diminish after a certain amount of time is a relic of the dial-up era.

1/ We applaud @Rep_Davidson @RonWyden @RepDelBene @SenMikeLee for updating the antiquated ECPA with the bipartisan Email Privacy Act, which would require gov to obtain a warrant before accessing the contents of Americans' email and other stored communications.

Americans’ location and personal data should not be treated as a commodity for export. At today’s Foreign Affairs Committer hearing, I asked Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler how the Bureau of Industry and Security is using its authorities to prevent data brokers from exporting Americans’ sensitive information.

Judicial Watch files FOIA lawsuit against @TheJusticeDept re: interagency MOU between @FBI and an agency whose name is redacted re: targeting and minimization procedures referenced in FISA Court opinion. judicialwatch.org/fisa-targeting…

.@Wired investigation re: @TheGarden surveillance and data collection should have everyone taking a close look at the privacy threats that often go unnoticed. x.com/STOPSpyingNY/s…

.@LAPDHQ halts use of Flock ALPRs after an audit urged a pause on new deployments and contracts until enforceable privacy and oversight rules are in place. x.com/latimes/status…

@Google 7/ If the Constitution bars the government from compelling disclosure without a warrant, Congress should not permit agencies to obtain the same information merely because a private intermediary has placed it on the market. protectprivacynow.org/news/after-cha…

@Google 6/ The bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act would close the data broker loophole, and the core provisions of that legislation should be incorporated into FISA Section 702 when it comes up for reauthorization.

1/ SCOTUS decision in Chatrie v. US settled one important question while raising another: if gov needs a warrant to compel @Google to disclose Americans’ location records, why should it be able to sidestep that requirement by buying the same records from a data broker?

5/ Add to these risks hacking by cybercriminals and bad-faith state actors. It’s all coming to a technocratic authoritarian surveillance state near you. Read more: protectprivacynow.org/news/license-p…

4/ What could go wrong? A few risks: false positives, arrests of innocent people, police using ALPR systems for stalking and intimidation, and the collection of personal data by for-profit corporations ready and willing to sell that info to any and all comers, incl. gov.

1/ ALPRs are far from being foolproof, but the tech used by police in place of critical thinking is about to get a massive injection of mission creep: tracking people instead of cars.