EPIC Files FOIA Request for Privacy Report on Mass Surveillance Programs 

On October 15, EPIC submitted a FOIA request to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) seeking a 2024 report assessing the privacy issues associated with the Office’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA). Recently, 404 Media reported that the HIDTA program has been used to funnel automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) data from across the country to a centralized government database. This mass collection of data is reminiscent of HIDTA’s Hemisphere Project—a mass surveillance program EPIC previously denounced. The Hemisphere Project, which HIDTA no longer funds, was the largest phone record collection program to date, collecting over a trillion records including location data.  

The 2024 report was commissioned by the ONDCP following concerns regarding the Hemisphere project. The report has not been released to the public despite calls from Senator Ron Wyden earlier this month for the report to be made publicly. In addition to the report, EPIC has requested from the ONDCP a “License Plate Reader Landscape Analysis” which was referenced in the ONDCP’s 2024 and 2025 Congressional Budget Submission. 

EPIC has long stood up for the right of the public to be educated on broad government overreach and mass surveillance programs.