All Press Releases

Senators Lee and Leahy Introduce Bold Bill to Protect Privacy in the Digital Age


Today, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the ECPA Modernization Act of 2017, legislation that would modernize the privacy laws that protect the digital communications of all Americans. The bill, which would fundamentally reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, is more comprehensive than previous reform efforts. CDT has been a leading advocate for major ECPA reform to protect privacy in the digital age and strongly supports this bipartisan legislation.

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Positive Signals in Copyright Office’s Section 1201 Report


The U.S. Copyright Office released its report on its study of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Reform of Section 1201, which prohibits circumvention of technological protection measures, is essential for cybersecurity researchers working to make software more secure. There were a number of welcome recommendations on reform of Section 1201 in the report, although many of the proposed changes require congressional action.

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NSA Halts Part of Invasive Surveillance Program, Need for Section 702 Reform Highlighted


The NSA is stopping a controversial part of its warrantless surveillance conducted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits the targeting of non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. It reportedly abandoned the practice of collecting communications that merely mention an identifier associated with a target, such as an email address or telephone number. This “about” collection swept in many communications that involved Americans. NSA will continue to collect communications to which the target is actually a party. CDT has advocated against this form of untargeted surveillance.

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CDT Supports the Protecting Data at the Border Act


Today, Senators Wyden (D-OR) and Paul (R-KY) and Representatives Polis (D-CO), Farenthold (R-TX), Smith (D-WA), and Beyer (D-VA) introduced the Protecting Data at the Border Act, which would require the government to obtain a warrant to search the data of U.S. persons. CDT supports the bill and believes, as the bill’s sponsors say, that our “Constitutional rights shouldn’t disappear at the border.”

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House Votes to Strip Privacy Protections from Broadband Users


Echoing the Senate vote last week, today the United States House of Representatives voted to permanently strip Americans of common sense privacy and security protections for some of their most sensitive personal information. In a 215-205 vote, the House approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) measure to reverse the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s broadband privacy rules. The measure also prevents the FCC from passing substantially similar rules to protect broadband customers’ privacy in the future.

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Senate Votes to Strip Privacy Protections from Broadband Users


Today the Senate voted to permanently strip Americans of privacy and security protections for some of their most sensitive personal information. In a 50–48 vote, the Senate approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) measure to reverse the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s common-sense broadband privacy rules. The measure also prevents the FCC from passing substantially similar rules to protect broadband customers’ privacy in the future.

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