EPIC, Coalition Call on DHS to Withdraw Social Media Data Collection Plan

November 5, 2019

EPIC, the Brennan Center and over 40 organizations have opposed the Department of Homeland Security plan to collect social media identifiers from immigrants and foreign travelers. The civil liberties coalition warned of the "chilling effect on speech, intrusion of privacy, and disparate impact" the plan would have. As EPIC explained in a Spotlight on Surveillance, government collection of social media data raises substantial privacy and civil liberties concerns. EPIC previously opposed a proposal by the DHS to collect social media identifiers. In EPIC v. DHS, a 2011 Freedom of Information Act case, EPIC uncovered the first agency plan to monitor social media.

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