Tag: Regulation

Recent revelations of sweeping government surveillance demonstrate the urgent need to update outdated privacy laws to reflect modern surveillance technologies in a way that is consistent with international human rights. To move toward that goal, Access is excited to announce the release of the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.

The Amash-Conyers amendment, the U.S. Congress’ first attempt to limit the NSA surveillance, may have been unsuccessful. But its narrow loss demonstrates the growing force behind the call to reform these programs. To know where we go from here, its important to look at the potential impact of this amendment.

In less than 24 hours the U.S. Congress will vote on an amendment that could help put an end to the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telecommunications metadata, offering the first legislative opportunity to begin to rein in U.S. government’s massive spying program.

Representatives from the NSA, FBI, and DOJ faced serious scrutiny before the US House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in a hearing on the ‘Administration’s use of FISA Authorities.’ The defining narrative of the hearing came from the Members themselves, who indignantly contended that Congress had been largely kept in the dark about the nature and scope of the surveillance programs.

Access joined a broad coalition in sending a letter to US government officials calling on the government to a) ensure internet, telephone, and web-based service providers be allowed to regularly report specific data regarding intelligence information requests, and to b) establish its own transparency report with specific data on number of requests, statutes, authorities, and affected individuals.

Some of the world’s leading sustainable investment firms have joined the growing chorus of voices speaking out against private sector compliance in the U.S. government’s sweeping violations of human rights through its widely publicized NSA surveillance programs.

James Comey, nominee for director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, failed to take a stand against the U.S. government’s widely publicized recent intrusions into personal privacy at his confirmation hearing. However, many of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled their support for important reform.

Hundreds in New York marched to protest the U.S. government’s unlawful surveillance programs and to support privacy rights.

After almost four years of discussion, Ecuador’s National Assembly passed a new Communications Law, providing a legal framework for the fundamental right to communications considered in the Constitution of 2008. While this new legislation represents a great advance for internet access, along with a more equitable distribution of public spectrum, it also contains some provisions that represent a threat to freedom of expression.

The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC), a group of 21 governments committed to collaborating to advance internet freedom, convened in Tunis, Tunisia for their third annual meeting of governments, businesses, and civil society. While the conference had several programmatic tracks, recent revelations of sweeping state surveillance took center stage, including civil society’s statement at the closing plenary (below) which pointed to a series of principles that should underlie communications surveillance policies and practices.