Privacy
276 Articles

“Fixes” to Surveillance Law Could Severely Harm FBI National Security Investigations
A core national security law allowing the government to collect intelligence information—Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—is set to expire at the end…

The USA Liberty Act — aka Don’t Let the Constitutional be the Enemy of the Unconstitutional
The House Judiciary Committee has completed its markup of a major surveillance reform bill intended to better protect Americans’ privacy and enhance transparency. Responding…

Top Experts: Can Facebook Legally Disclose Russian Ads–What Does the Stored Communications Act say?
I asked several of the most highly respected legal experts for their views on an issue yet to receive significant attention in the news: whether and to what extent, if any, a federal…

Recap of Recent Pieces on Just Security (Oct. 14-20)
ISIS, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen Amarnath Amarasingam, Jade Parker, and Charlie Winter, ISIS’s Vegas Claim Tells Us More about the Group Than About the Attacker Nadim Houry, What…

We Need to Know More About Government Searches of Travelers’ Electronic Devices
Relying on directives from the George W. Bush administration, U.S. border patrol and immigration officers have been subjecting travelers crossing U.S. borders to intrusive searches…

We Know a Lot More About U.S. Spying Since Section 702’s Last Reauthorization
As Congress finally starts to debate whether to reauthorize Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act before it expires at the end of this year, it’s important to remember that…

Opponents of Closing Sec. 702’s Backdoor Search Loophole are Distorting How the Fix Works
With less than five months to go until Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires, we still do not have a clear path forward to a reauthorization that…

Cross-Border Access to Data: Google’s Senior VP Weighs In
This morning, Kent Walker, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of Google, gave a speech to a packed audience at the Heritage Foundation, laying out the need for new laws…

National Security-Related Congressional Hearings, June 12-16
Monday, June 12 7:00pm – House Committee on Armed Services – The Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of Defense (here)…

Questions to Ask As DHS Proposes Border Drones With Facial Recognition
In what could prove to be a Frankenstein combination of invasive technologies, the Department of Homeland Security is considering a project to arm Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)…

Censorship at the Border Threatens Free Speech Everywhere
Defending one’s political and religious beliefs to government officials is an obligation we associate with life in authoritarian regimes, not open societies. It’s becoming…

To Senate Committee on Homeland Security: Five Questions for Secretary Kelly About Passwords Demands at the Border
On January 31, an NASA engineer and U.S. citizen, Sidd Bikkannavar, was informed by federal border agents he hat he was required to turn over the password to his smartphone on…