EPIC has submitted an urgent Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI seeking records about the agency’s response to the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. According to several reports, Russian hackers infiltrated computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee. The U.S. Intelligence Community has officially attributed the attacks on the Russian government, yet questions have been raised about the failure of the FBI to investigate the attacks on the political parties of the United States. Congress is expected to establish a Select Committee to investigate the matter. “The FBI,” stated EPIC in the FOIA request, “ is entrusted with protecting the cybersecurity of the public and its institutions. The American public, thus has a great interest in understanding the nature of the FBI’s response to the Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election.” EPIC is seeking expedited processing of the FOIA request. EPIC has recently filed a FOIA lawsuit against the FBI, regarding the expansion of “Next Generation Identification,” one of the largest biometric databases in the world.
EPIC has filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief in Packingham v. North Carolina, a U.S. Supreme Court case about a state law that bars access to certain websites. Under a North Carolina law, released sex offenders are barred from accessing any website that allows people under 18 to create profiles and communicate online, including major news sites, such as the New York Times and CNN. In a brief joined by thirty-five technical experts, legal scholars, and civil liberties organizations, EPIC explained that North Carolina laws violates the First Amendment right to receive information, censors vast amounts of speech unrelated to protecting minors, and will lead to widespread police monitoring of all internet users. "The state can no more criminalize what an individual chooses to read on a personal electronic device than it can restrict the contents of a home library: the privacy of both is sacrosanct," EPIC wrote. EPIC regularly files amicus briefs with the US Supreme Court on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues. EPIC previously argued for First Amendment privacy protections in Doe v. Reed, Watchtower Bible v. Stratton, and Patel v. Los Angeles.
A recent report from the Center for Investigative Reporting finds that Uber continues to allow employees broad access to rider location data, raising questions of whether the transportation service is violating the terms of a settlement with New York’s Attorney General. According to the report, "Uber gave thousands of employees access to where and when each customer travels." Uber recently changed the terms of service and expanded the collection of users location data. Uber also faces legal action in Europe over whether it should be considered a transportation service or digital platform. Last year, EPIC filed a complaint with the FTC, charging that Uber’s plan to track users and gather contact details is an unlawful and deceptive trade practice. That complaint, like many other consumer privacy complaints, is still pending before the Federal Trade Commission.
