In advance of a hearing on Filtering Practices of Social Media Companies, EPIC has sent a statement to the House Judiciary Committee. EPIC said that "algorithmic transparency" could help establish fairness, transparency, and accountability for much of what users see online. In 2011, EPIC sent a letter to the FTC stating that Google's acquisition of YouTube led to a skewing of search results after Google substituted its secret "relevance" ranking for the original objective ranking, based on hits and ratings. The FTC took no action on EPIC's complaint. But last year, after a seven year investigation, the European Commission found that Google rigged search results to give preference to its own shopping service. The Commission required Google to change its algorithm to rank its own shopping comparison the same way it ranks its competitors.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has issued the 2017 report on activities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Scrutiny of FISA applications increased substantially in 2017. The 2017 FISA report reveals that there were 1,614 FISA applications in 2017, of which 1,147 were granted, 391 were modified, 50 were denied in part, and 26 were denied in full. As compared to 2016, the FISA court denied nearly two times as many applications in part, and denied nearly three times as many applications in full. EPIC testified before Congress in 2012 on the need to improve review of FISA applications. In recent comments on US surveillance authority, EPIC noted the reauthorization of 702 spying authorities without sufficient safeguards.
EPIC has sent a statement to the House Homeland Security Committee in advance of a hearing with the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. EPIC urged the Committee to ask the CBP Commissioner about the collection of biometric data at US airports. EPIC described the growing use of facial recognition that capture the images of US travelers. EPIC also pointed to a recent study that found racial disparities with the technique. EPIC is currently seeking records from the federal agency concerning the accuracy of facial recognition. EPIC also recommended the Committee examine how CBP will comply with state laws prohibiting warrantless aerial surveillance when deploying drones at the border. As a result of an earlier FOIA lawsuit, EPIC found that the CBP is deploying drones with facial recognition technology without warrant authority.
