News & Commentary

As period-tracking apps draw scrutiny, we should also consider how a broader array of health apps may intrude on our privacy.

Birmingham’s new 1.3 million dollar surveillance technology doesn’t prevent or “solve crimes.” It responds to crimes that have already occurred by utilizing surveillance tools that have a documented record of racist targeting and increased criminalization of Black, brown and poor communities.

The Supreme Court on Friday handed down what is arguably the most consequential privacy decision of the digital age, ruling that police need a warrant before they can seize people’s sensitive location information stored by cellphone companies.

On June 11, net neutrality protections will cease to exist. This means your internet service provider will be able to engage in content based discrimination. Internet content it likes — for political or financial reasons — will be delivered at top speeds, while content it disfavors will be slowed or even blocked.

Mark Zuckerberg will soon appear before Congress to address recent news that a company called Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of some 50 million Facebook users in the service of its influence and propaganda campaigns. Members should use this opportunity to press Zuckerberg on Facebook’s collection, use, and sharing of sensitive user data — including on why the company has not taken more steps to prevent discriminatory ads that may run afoul of our civil rights laws.

The ACLU joined privacy groups from across the political spectrum, including Freedom Works and Demand Progress, to deliver the public’s petitions for surveillance reform directly in the halls of Congress. We delivered over 100,000 petitions to members of the House of Representatives urging them to reform the government’s warrantless surveillance powers under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of this year.

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