The House Rules Committee has announced that it will consider the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 on Monday, February 26, allowing the bill to be voted on as early as next week. The House bill would substantially expand the legal risk involved in hosting individuals’ speech online, result in broad-based censorship, and discourage some platforms from engaging in good-faith moderation efforts.
Read MoreMotivated by a desire to help fellow artists and creators bring their work to life, Perry Chen founded Kickstarter — the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) will honor Chen with its Digital Visionary Award at its 2018 Annual Dinner, Tech Prom, on March 29, recognizing his work as an artist, innovator, and leader in leveraging tech for good.
Read MoreCDT is excited to welcome Eric W. Muhlheim, Chief Financial Officer of OpenX Technologies, Inc., to its Advisory Council. The Advisory Council aims to bring new insight and expertise to CDT’s tech and internet policy advocacy work. Its members come from diverse fields and backgrounds, and all share a commitment to advancing digital rights worldwide.
Read MoreToday, Senators Hatch, Graham, Whitehouse, and Coons introduced a bill that would significantly amend ECPA. The Center for Democracy & Technology supports ECPA reform, but does not believe the CLOUD Act does enough to protect the privacy of internet users.
Read MoreIn 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.
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