Domestic Surveillance

By Eva Galperin and Nadia Kayyali via EFF Imagine that you watched a police officer in your neighborhood stop ten completely ordinary people every day just to take a look inside their vehicle or backpack. Now imagine that nine of those people are never even accused of a crime. They just happened to be in […]

NSA Targetting of Innocent Muslim-Americans Raises 1st Amendment Alarms

contributors

By Deirdre Fulton Following Intercept report, rights groups and Muslim-American organizations slam NSA targeting Rights organizations responded harshly to reports that the National Security Agency and FBI covertly monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-Americans using secretive procedures intended to target terrorists and foreign spies. While the revelations, reported by Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain at […]

Bill of Rights

Police: No Searching Journalists’ Cellphones w/out a Warrant, Either (SCOTUS Decision)

contributors

By Josh Stearns According to the Supreme Court, police need a warrant to search the cellphones of people they arrest. The unanimous decision, which was handed down this week, is being heralded as a major victory for privacy rights and a landmark case with implications far beyond cellphones. The New York Times reports, “The ruling […]

Bill of Rights

Supreme Court Requires Warrants for Cell Searches, But won’t Protect Internet Streaming

contributors

Via Electronic Frontier Foundation Justices Rule Changing Technology Demands Limits for Police but Requires Permission from TV Broadcasters San Francisco – The U.S. Supreme Court issued two big rulings in important technology cases today. In a groundbreaking decision on cell phone privacy, the court set powerful limits for police searches of cell phones, ruling in […]

Democracy

Lighting the Darkest Corners of Government: Review of Glenn Greenwald’s No Place to Hide

contributors

Book review and discussion questions for reading groups In No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald shows that a modern investigative reporter doesn’t just need the courage to take on the United States government and established media. He also needs a whole…

Constitution

5 Falsehoods Defenders of NSA keep Repeating that Destroy their Credibility

Juan Cole

By Cindy Cohn and Nadia Kayyali Over the past year, as the Snowden revelations have rolled out, the government and its apologists have developed a set of talking points about mass spying that the public has now heard over and over again. From the President, to Hilary Clinton to Rep. Mike Rogers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

NSA Intercepting Millions of Personal Images for Facial Recognition Tech

contributors

By Sarah Lazare The National Security Agency is mass collecting facial images through its surveillance programs for use in facial recognition technology, journalists James Risen and Laura Poitras revealed Saturday in the New York Times. Secret documents exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal that the spy agency views facial recognition as the next frontier […]

Dissent

Snowden: Clapper pattern of Lies about My Complaints to NSA

contributors

After NBC confirmed Ed Snowden’s earlier claims that he had tried to make use of internal channels to question NSA surveillance programs, James Clapper released a single email from Snowden to the legal department at the NSA, which they claim shows he…

Bill of Rights

“Man-Up” Kerry tries to Swiftboat Ed Snowden

contributors

By Jon Queally U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is facing widespread criticism for his comment that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden—increasingly seen by the American public as a heroic figure for exposing government surveillance—should "man up" by returning home to face criminal charges. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempt to bully Edward Snowden with […]