Surveillance Oversight

EPIC, Coalition of Civil Liberties Groups Launch New Website on FISA Reform

EPIC and a bipartisan coalition of civil liberties organizations — Americans for Prosperity, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Demand Progress, Due Process Institute, Free Press Action, FreedomWorks, the Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability, Restore the Fourth, and Wikimedia Foundation — have launched a new website on the need for significant reform to the government surveillance ecosystem as part of any reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

• FISA Section 702

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

Ireland Fines Meta €1.2 Billion, Orders Halt of Personal Data Transfers to U.S.

ompany to suspend transfers of personal data to the United States within five months, finding that Meta’s transfers violation the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

• Consumer Privacy

• Data Protection

• FISA Section 702

• International Privacy

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

Newly Released FISC Opinion Reveals FBI Misused FISA Section 702 to Search for Racial Justice Protestors, Activist Groups, and Political Campaign Donors

The FISC detailed the FBI’s “pattern of conducting broad, suspicionless queries” of information collected under Section 702, a sweeping warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance authority.

• FISA Section 702

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

EPIC Urges Appeals Court to Require Police to Obtain Search Warrants Before Conducting Months-Long Recordings of People’s Homes

• Fourth Amendment

• Privacy in Public

• Privacy Laws

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

EPIC Urges FCC to Lower Prices, Reduce Surveillance on Prison Telecommunications

EPIC urged the FCC to lower the cost of prison phone and video calls, and regulate e-messaging systems.

• Communications Privacy

• Consumer Privacy

• Data Protection

• Location Tracking

• Surveillance Oversight

• Wiretapping

• Updates

EPIC Comments to FCC on Martha-Wright Reed Act Implementation

Comments of EPIC to the FCC on the Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act to expand the authority of the FCC to lower prices for prison telecommunications.

• Communications Privacy

• Consumer Privacy

• Government Databases

• Surveillance Oversight

• Wiretapping

• APA Comments

NY City Council Bills 1014-23 and 1024-23 Banning Biometric Surveillance in Places of Public Accommodation and Housing

• Face Surveillance & Biometrics

• Privacy Laws

• Surveillance Oversight

• U.S. State Privacy Laws

• Testimony

EPIC to NY City Council: Pass Bills Banning Facial Recognition in Businesses and Housing

EPIC's Jake Wiener testified before the NY City Council in support of bills banning facial recognition use by business owners and landlords.

• Face Surveillance & Biometrics

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

New ODNI National Security Transparency Report Reveals Steady Increase in Section 702 Surveillance, Continued Warrantless Querying Issues

On April 28, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released its Annual Statistical Transparency Report Regarding the Intelligence Community’s Use of National Security Surveillance Authorities, which shows a steady increase in targeting under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—up to nearly 250,000 in 2022—and continued noncompliance with Congressional safeguards.

• Intelligence Surveillance

• PATRIOT Act

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates

EPIC, Coalition Urge Congress to Eliminate Funding for Failed “Countering Violent Extremism” Program

A letter from EPIC and a coalition to Congress calling for an end to ineffective and dangerous Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevent grant program.

• Democracy & Free Speech

• Intelligence Surveillance

• Privacy & Racial Justice

• Surveillance Oversight

• Updates