Tag: U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB)
Publications
Access, EFF Comment to PCLOB Board
This letter provides more background on Executive Order 12333, and asks for increased oversight of the scale and adequacy of other surveillance activities, the problem of over-classification, and the United States’ endorsement and implementation of international human rights principles on surveillance. …
20 December 2015
Blog
The U.S. must respect the rights of all users
The U.S. government believes that those who are not in the U.S. or who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents — “non-U.S. persons” in official parlance — have few to no privacy rights to protect them from U.S. surveillance. Access provides four policy recommendations that would start the U.S. on a course towards respecting the human rights of all people. …
12 November 2014
Press Releases
PCLOB report fails to consider the rights of non-U.S. persons or promote legislative reform
The PCLOB failed to suggest any reforms that would protect the rights of non-U.S. persons, yet these are precisely the users most frequently and egregiously affected by Section 702 surveillance programs in its report released today.…
2 July 2014
Blog
U.S. top privacy board takes on extraterritorial surveillance
Wednesday’s public hearing held by the US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) showed the government’s deep reluctance towards substantial reform of US surveillance conducted under FISA Section 702. The hearing committed considerable time to questions on the…
21 March 2014
Blog
US privacy oversight board slams legality & usefulness bulk data collection
Access sees the PCLOB’s recommendations as a major step toward ending the practice of indiscriminate bulk collection of user data. While the report is limited in its scope, it makes bold statements casting doubt on both the legality and the utility of the NSA’s mass surveillance programs.…
23 January 2014
Blog
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
Blog
Broad international coalition urges U.S. government surveillance to conform with global human rights
This week, Access joined with 65 organizations and individuals from 25 countries to urge the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) to consider the global human rights implications of the U.S. National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance programs.…
23 August 2013
Blog
Obama announces support for U.S. spy reforms, offers inadequate assurances
Expressing concern about public confidence in the U.S. National Security Agency, President Obama announced today four proposals to reform U.S. surveillance practice. However, even if enacted, these proposals would still fail to actually protect the basic civil liberties of U.S. and non-U.S. persons.
…9 August 2013
Blog
Privacy board awakens after NSA spying is revealed
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is the government oversight body principally charged with protecting privacy and civil liberties in the United States. However, in the eight years since it was established, the PCLOB has met only infrequently. But with the recent revelations of unconstitutional massive data collection by the NSA, it seems the PCLOB’s long run of applied irrelevance may have finally come to an end – and not a moment too soon.
…21 June 2013
Blog
Cautious optimism as US privacy oversight board finally confirms chair
The US Senate finally voted to confirm David Medine as the first Chair of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), a government oversight body charged with protecting privacy and civil liberties in the United States.…
13 May 2013
Blog
New nomination to US privacy oversight board, just ahead of cybersecurity fights in Congress
With the recent re-nomination of David Medine as chairman, the long-dormant US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) may finally come to life. The renewal of the Board and its mandate comes not a moment too soon. A strong,…
25 January 2013