Access Now Blog
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Advocates and digital rights defenders reject Obama’s ‘whitewash’ of intrusive spying regime
After President Obama today announced changes to the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, civil liberties groups expressed skepticism and concern over continued bulk collection. Groups including Access, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Free Press and ThoughtWorks vowed to continue organizing “The Day We Fight Back” a day of international activism on February 11, 2014 to demonstrate widespread opposition to the spying regime.…
17 January 2014
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Further action needed for real surveillance reform
Today, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech laying out proposed reforms to the U.S. National Security Administration’s (NSA) mass surveillance programs. In his speech, the President called for reform to the current bulk telephony metadata programs conducted under Section 215, including the introduction of judicial review; guidance and limits on the use of the data of non-U.S. persons; and the creation of improved oversight at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. …
17 January 2014
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NSA Review Group: Report Card
Today, Access released it analysis and review of the President Obama’s Advisory Committee’s Recommendations for N.S.A. reform. While some of the suggested reforms could lead to welcomed increase of privacy protections, overall the recommendations do not go far enough.
…17 January 2014
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U.S. District Court ruling on net neutrality sets dangerous precedent
Yesterday, a U.S. Appeals Court invalidated the U.S. Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules. In its ruling, the court stated that the FCC lacked the authority to prevent internet service providers from discriminating among certain types of traffic — effectively allowing providers to make pay-to-play a reality online. This ruling is a significant blow to net neutrality, in the United States and elsewhere. The Court’s ruling creates a dangerous global precedent places the unique character of the internet — its boldness, creativity, and diversity — at risk. And yet, by ruling selectively on the merits of the case, the Court has left the door open for possible reforms, at least in the United States.…
15 January 2014
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Anticipated PCLOB reports: Classified? Toothless?
Last week, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) released a statement detailing plans to release not just one, but two reports on NSA surveillance programs. The Board will release one report on metadata collection under PATRIOT Act Section 215 and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), expected in late January or early February, and a second report on the targeting of non-US persons under FISA Section 702, with an indeterminate release date. These reports come on the heels of a parallel report by the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, released in December 2013.
…14 January 2014
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Leading Internet Groups and Online Platforms Announce Day of Activism Against NSA Surveillance
A broad coalition of activist groups, companies, and online platforms will hold a worldwide day of activism in opposition to the NSA’s mass spying regime on February 11th. Dubbed “The Day We Fight Back”, the day of activism was announced on the eve of the anniversary of the tragic passing of activist and technologist Aaron Swartz. The protest is both in his honor and in celebration of the victory over the Stop Online Piracy Act two years ago this month, which he helped spur…
10 January 2014
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CREDO steals telcos’ thunder with new transparency report
After years of public calls for telco transparency, today marks a historic moment: the release of the first-ever telco transparency report. We applaud CREDO Mobile for being the first telco in the world to issue such a report, detailing their responses to law enforcement requests for user data.…
9 January 2014
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MLAT: a four-letter word in need of reform
One of the many recommendations in the President’s Review Group report on the NSA surveillance programs released last month was for the review of MLATs, or Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties. This was the second time that MLATs made the news in December: at the beginning of the month, eight major internet companies issued a series of principles for reforming government surveillance that including improving the MLAT system. Clearly MLATs are an issue, but what does this four-letter word mean, and why are they so desperately in need of reform?…
9 January 2014
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Review Group’s privacy recommendations for non-U.S. persons lack teeth
Last month the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies released their report and recommendations on reform of U.S. surveillance programs. The criticisms in the report, and the detailed nature of the more than 46 recommendations, underscore how much the NSA’s current mass surveillance programs violate the fundamental privacy rights of people around the world.
…9 January 2014
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AT&T takes first step toward transparency
Following close on Verizon’s heels, AT&T today announced it will begin to publish a semi-annual online transparency report in early 2014. This announcement is an abrupt about-face for the company, which only two weeks ago requested that the SEC allow it to ignore a shareholder proposal calling for exactly such transparency.…
20 December 2013
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Access applauds Verizon decision to break ranks in favor of transparency
Access welcomes today’s news that Verizon Communications has broken ranks with telcos globally by announcing that it will issue a transparency report. It will be the first telco to do so. We call on all telcos to release regular, detailed transparency reports: Anything less is a failure of their human rights obligations and their investors’ expectations.
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19 December 2013
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Access statement on the President’s Review Group report on NSA surveillance
This afternoon the White House released “Liberty and Security in a Changing World,” the report and recommendations of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies. This five-person task force was convened by President Obama to assess the NSA’s communications surveillance programs and provide recommendations on reform.…
18 December 2013
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Human Rights Day: Advancing a concept of protected information
Even before Edward Snowden began leaking documents detailing the scale and scope of the NSA and other intelligence agencies’ violations with our privacy, Access had been working with civil society organizations (like Privacy International and EFF), as well as international law experts, and human rights scholars to draft the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance (“the Principles”).…
10 December 2013
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Human Rights Day: Breaking with tradition, companies find opportunities in human rights
News broke last week that the US government is surveilling the location and movements of international cell phones, collecting 5 billion daily records of cellphone location data. An official confirmed the bulk collection of data through fiber optic cables in the US, saying intelligence agencies do not intentionally target cellphones in the United States.
…10 December 2013
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Access welcomes internet companies announcement in fight for surveillance reform
This morning eight major internet companies — AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo! — issued a broad and powerful call for surveillance reform. The joint statement represents the strongest stance yet by U.S. internet companies on government surveillance and has the potential to shift the debate in Washington.…
9 December 2013
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Due Process is a Human Right: Demand that the White House support ECPA reform
Today, Access is joining a day of action in the United State calling for reform of the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) — the law known for giving the U.S. government the ability to access your email and documents in the cloud without a warrant. ECPA is one of the internet’s most outdated laws: it was passed in 1986, before most people even had access to the internet.
…5 December 2013
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NSA hacks internet company data centers
The NSA is eavesdropping on the private cables running between the Google and Yahoo data centers where all user data is held. Under a program codenamed MUSCULAR the NSA is going right in, without permission from the companies or the courts.…
1 November 2013
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StopWatchingUs Rally Weekend: Calendar of Events
The StopWatchingUs coalition, is hosting a Lobby Day and Rally on Saturday October 26th, the anniversary of the landmark surveillance legislation the USA PATRIOT Act. We’ll be joining our coalition members and thousands of citizens to march to Capitol Hill…
24 October 2013
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Breaking: Members of the European Parliament call for the suspension of the Swift Agreement
Yesterday, the European Parliament passed a Resolution calling for the suspension of a counter-terrorism agreement with the U.S., following recent allegations that the U.S. has breached the privacy safeguards of the agreement, and in doing so, the privacy of millions of E.U.’s citizens.…
24 October 2013
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You wouldn’t leave your backdoor unlocked: the danger of intentional vulnerabilities
Among the many revelations to come out of this summer, The New York Times recently announced that the NSA has been conducting a systematic and well-funded effort to install “backdoors” in consumer electronic devices, known as “Project Bullrun.” To better understand their history, how they can work, and the risks associated, here are three things you ought to know about backdoors.…
20 September 2013