Category «Free Speech»

Civil Society Groups Demand Transparency and User Protections in Trans-Pacific Partnership

EFF news release: “Civil society groups are coming out in force against the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, following Wikileaks’ publication of the “Intellectual Property” chapter. The leaked chapter confirmed our worst fears that TPP carries Hollywood’s wishlist of policies, including provisions to encourage ISPs to police user activities and liability for users for simply bypassing digital locks on content and devices for …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Copyright, Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Legal Research, Privacy

NYT – N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power

N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power By JAMES RISEN and LAURA POITRAS “Officials at the National Security Agency, intent on maintaining its dominance in intelligence collection, pledged last year to push to expand its surveillance powers, according to a top-secret strategy document. In a February 2012 paper laying out the four-year strategy for the N.S.A.’s …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Patriot Act, Privacy

BBC – Tim Berners-Lee says ‘surveillance threatens web’

“The warning came as he launched his World Wide Web Foundation’s annual web index report, tracking global censorship. It suggests that 94% of the countries in the index do not adequately monitor government internet interception. Thirty per cent of countries block or filter political content, it indicates. The report concludes that the current legal framework on government snooping …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Privacy

Advocacy Groups – General Assembly Should Pass Strong Resolution on Right to Privacy in the Digital Age

Human Rights Watch: “The United Nations General Assembly should approve a new resolution and make clear that indiscriminate surveillance is never consistent with the right to privacy, five human rights organizations said in a November 20, 2013 letter to members of the United Nations General Assembly. After heated negotiations, the draft resolution on digital privacy initiated by Brazil and Germany emerged on …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Government Documents, Privacy

Guardian – Fisa court documents reveal extent of NSA disregard for privacy restrictions

Spencer Ackerman, UK Guardian article – “Newly declassified court documents indicate that the National Security Agency shared its trove of American bulk email and internet data with other government agencies in violation of specific court-ordered procedures to protect Americans’ privacy. The dissemination of the sensitive data transgressed both the NSA’s affirmations to the secret surveillance court about the …

Subjects: Courts, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

National Programmes for Mass Surveillance of Personal Data in EU Member States and their Compatibility with EU Law Study

Follow up to Committee Inquiry on Electronic Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens – Sixth Hearing, see DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT C: CITIZENS’ RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS – National Programmes for Mass Surveillance of Personal Data by EU Member States and its Compatibility with EU Law. See also another version of this document …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Government to Release More NSA Documents and FISA Court Opinions in Response to EFF Lawsuit

“On Monday, the US Department of Justice will release to the public hundreds of additional pages of government documents concerning its use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision of law the NSA relies on to collect the call records of millions of Americans. The disclosures will follow closely on the heels of yesterday’s reports in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

Google Report Shows Growing Government Demands for User Data, Highlights Need for ECPA Reform

CDT – “Today’s Transparency Report from Google, which shows a sharp increase in government demands for user data, provides the latest in a long list of reasons why Congress should act now to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), to make it clear that government officials must obtain a warrant in order to access email and other communications stored …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Report – Telecoms plan shielded European Internet

Via Deutsche Welle: “Deutsche Telekom says the scandal over US and British eavesdropping has prompted German providers to contemplate an inner-German or inner-European Internet. Data would no longer be routed and stored via other continents. Germany’s state-backed Telekom confirmed on Sunday that German providers were discussing an Internet confined within Europe’s “Schengen” countries. One project code-named …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, EU Data Protection, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Patriot Act, Privacy

Oversight Board Adopts EPIC’s Recommendations in New FOIA Rule

“In response to extensive comments submitted by EPIC, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has issued a final rule that will govern its Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, and Sunshine Act practices. The Board’s initial draft of the rule allowed the agency to encourage other agencies to classify information, reserved the Board’s right to terminate public participation in Board meetings “at …

Subjects: Courts, E-Government, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Patriot Act, Privacy

UK Guardian – Google and Facebook may be our best defenders against Big Brother

The big online companies are calling for urgent reforms to protect us from having data intercepted – Jemima Kiss “Surveillance is the undercurrent in every tech conversation now, a lens for understanding our vulnerability and exposure to every part of the online world. This is not a choice between catching terrorists and what David Cameron astonishingly …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Mail, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Patriot Act, Privacy

Senate Intelligence Committee Approves FISA Improvements Act

Increases privacy protections, oversight, transparency of critical intelligence programs: The Senate Intelligence Committee [October 31, 2013] approved the FISA Improvements Act by a vote of 11-4. The bipartisan legislation increases privacy protections and public transparency of the National Security Agency call-records program in several ways, while preserving the operational effectiveness and flexibility of this vital …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Patriot Act, Privacy

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