In a blow to Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, the U.S. House of Representatives voted this morning to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for another six years. The bill passed today makes practically no meaningful reform to current surveillance law, which allows the government to conduct “backdoor searches” under Section 702 that target Americans’ communications.
Read MoreToday, the Secure Elections Act, which would greatly improve the security of the U.S. election system, was introduced. This bipartisan bill would streamline information sharing, establish an election cybersecurity federal advisory panel, provide grants to improve cybersecurity and modernize election systems, as well as establish a vulnerability hunting program for election equipment and infrastructure. CDT supports the Secure Elections Act and believes it is a crucial element in sustainably shoring up election cybersecurity for the future.
Read MoreToday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote along party lines to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which provides a strong legal foundation for enforceable net neutrality rules. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has long supported rules that ensure an open internet, and today’s vote will dissolve these protections without an effective plan to…
Read MoreToday, Chairman Ajit Pai released the final order to repeal the net neutrality protections of the 2015 Open Internet Order. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) remains committed to preserving a strong open internet and strongly opposes the Chairman’s proposal.
Read MoreToday, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Rob Joyce released information about the Vulnerability Equities Process (VEP), which determines whether the U.S. government discloses or exploits cybersecurity flaws that it finds or learns about in companies’ products and services. The complicated and important process has implications for cybersecurity, privacy, and economic competitiveness, and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has previously pushed for the process to be more transparent to the public.
Read MoreToday, the USA RIGHTS Act, which is aimed at reforming a secretive government surveillance program, was introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives. The bipartisan bill, which would make major changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), would create stronger protections for the rights of American citizens while also allowing intelligence agencies to conduct targeted surveillance. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) supports the USA RIGHTS Act and believes it is the best proposal currently before Congress. Section 702 is set to expire at the end of 2017 unless Congress acts.
Read MoreToday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in a case focused on whether a U.S. warrant can reach emails stored overseas. The case, Microsoft v. United States, has major implications for the privacy rights of internet users both in the U.S. and abroad. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has filed briefs in the case in support of Microsoft’s position, arguing that the U.S. federal government must use the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty process to gain access to information stored outside of the U.S.
Read MoreToday in an open letter, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and more than 50 human rights, media freedom, and press organisations called on European lawmakers to reject mandatory upload filters in Article 13 of the European Commission’s proposed DSM Copyright Directive. Article 13 would force website operators to use content filtering technology to systematically monitor all user uploads and screen for unlicensed copyrighted content.
Read MoreToday, the Republican and Democratic heads of the House Judiciary Committee revealed the “USA Liberty Act,” legislation that would reform and reauthorize an important intelligence surveillance authority that would otherwise sunset on December 31. The legislation marks an important step forward, but it must do more to protect the rights of both U.S. and global citizens.
Read MoreThe Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is disappointed with the recently published Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that will expand the information DHS says it collects on immigrants to include social media handles and aliases, search results, and “associated identifiable information.” The rule, which takes effect on Oct. 18, 2017, will apply to lawful permanent residents, naturalized U.S. citizens, their relatives and associates, and many who assist in immigration proceedings.
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