Last week, Obama Administration officials revealed that they will not force technology companies to weaken encryption to give government officials special access to users’ data. However, this is only a partial win for advocates of smart digital security policy. As our U.S. policy manager Amie Stepanovich explains in a post at Just Security, ambiguity remains with regard to the administration’s stand on encryption.…
14 October 2015
Access, EFF, and civil society and business groups filed a “We the People” petition asking President Obama to publicly affirm support for strong encryption, and to reject any law, policy, or mandate that would undermine our security.…
30 September 2015
Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper introduced the Cyber Threat Sharing Act of 2015, a new bill to authorize the public/private dissemination of cybersecurity-related information. The legislation’s limitations on the type of information that can be shared are not enough to protect user privacy. Access is calling on the U.S. Congress not to consider information-sharing legislation–which could ostensibly create new surveillance authorities under the guise of cybersecurity–until existing surveillance authorities are adequately reformed. …
11 February 2015
Today more than 20 digital and civil rights organisations released a joint statement calling on world leaders to resist expanding surveillance measures in wake of the Charlie Hebdo tragedy. …
29 January 2015
This week the White House announced plans to release a new legislative proposal aimed at providing notice to victims of corporate data breaches. While these proposals show the White House’s prioritizing data security, it is not yet clear that Personal Data Notification and Protection Act will actually lead to improved security or provide adequate protection for users’ privacy. …
13 January 2015
2014 was a major year for digital rights, with some significant victories and some worrying setbacks. 2015 is poised to be no different. This year, we asked Access staff to spotlight the big digital freedom issues for 2015. And we’ll need your help in the fight for digital freedom around the globe. …
9 January 2015
Sony Pictures Entertainment was recently pwned by a group calling themselves the Guardians of Peace, ostensibly acting under the guidance of the North Korean government (though this is subject to debate). It was bad that the hackers took advantage of a culture of bad cybersecurity practice at Sony. Thanks to a bevy of embarrassing cybersecurity practices, worse cybersecurity discourse, and a growing culture of fear in Washington (and around the world), there is little doubt that this incident will be spun to support poorly-drafted laws that infringe upon user rights and do nothing to increase security. We shouldn’t, and we don’t, have to sacrifice privacy to achieve better network security. The U.S. Congress needs to reject any legislation that would attack our privacy, such as an invasive information sharing regime.…
23 December 2014
In spite of a feeble legislative term, including the particularly devastating failure of surveillance reform, the 113th U.S. Congress pushed through four positive last-minute cybersecurity bills over the past two days. President Obama is soon expected to sign these bills into law. The new cyber measures increase government transparency and Congressional oversight of federal cybersecurity efforts, while expanding coordination between civilian agencies. Access supports the efforts of Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation and hopes the momentum will lead to more significant legislation for the 114th Congress.…
12 December 2014
Global conversations on cybersecurity, particularly in the west, have been largely focused on securing critical infrastructure. This nation-state-level focus has, perhaps unsurprisingly, implicated the military in defending a country’s national borders and national infrastructure, with “cyber” now joining air, land, sea, and space as a 5th domain of military warfare. To maintain the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the digital age, nations must now advance a user-focused approach to cybersecurity.…
8 December 2014
Today, a coalition of civil society organizations and companies sent a letter to the Obama Administration asking it to set strong guiding principles for the establishment of encryption standards. …
20 November 2014
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary conference is held once every four years, and we expected this year’s conference in Busan, Korea to be full of controversy. The Conference is now about halfway over and our expectations came true. Here’s a quick halftime report on the major happenings and topics of conversation.…
3 November 2014
President Obama’s Executive Order is a great first step towards protecting user security. But it is now time to get serious about providing the level of security our personal data deserves. As National Cybersecurity Awareness month winds down, Obama should instruct administration officials to respect and support the increased use of encryption.…
23 October 2014
The order sets out provisions for sharing critical threat information from government to the private sector, but potentially establishes a foundation for later bidirectional sharing of sensitive information. Its vague categorization of what constitutes critical infrastructure limits transparency on threat reduction, and may hinder confidence building measures intended to mitigate cyber conflict. It offers some civil liberties protections, but doesn’t go far enough.…
13 February 2013