Privacy

SURVEILLANCEHow 9/11 Changed the Way America Surveils Its Citizens
By Amanda Watford
Twenty-five years after 9/11, the surveillance infrastructure built and expanded in its aftermath has become part of a far larger digital ecosystem — producing tools that can collect and analyze information on a scale unimaginable in 2001.
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SURVEILLANCEThe Digital Panopticon: Why Automated Surveillance Threatens a Free Society
By Mike Fox
Flock Safety, a manufacturers of cameras used in automatic surveillance, is merely one piece of a vastly expanding surveillance state. The company’s potential downfall should not be blamed on legislation targeting ALPRs specifically but through the firm enforcement of the Fourth Amendment itself. In a free society, companies that thrive on infringing upon constitutional rights should not be economically viable.
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SURVEILLANCEWorld Cup Propels Surveillance to New Heights
By Anne Toomey McKenna
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is most surveilled World Cup ever. The U.S. government funneled more than US$1 billion to World Cup security to protect transit hubs, stadiums and surrounding areas; improve tactical operations such as bomb squads and SWAT teams; and add and upgrade equipment. The real test is what happens after the World Cup ends and visitors go home.
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SURVEILLANCEDigitally Watched without Consent: Spyware as a Tool of Coercive Control
By Fitriani
Spyware, once primarily used by intelligence agencies and nation-states, has become a tool of intimate partner abuse, quietly deployed against people – mostly women – who have no idea they are being watched.
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SPYWAREThe Indo-Pacific Could Shape Control of the Growing Spyware Market
By Allison Pytlak and Gatra Priyandita
The market for commercial cyber intrusion capabilities (CCICs) is moving faster than the frameworks designed to govern it. What began as a niche ecosystem of surveillance vendors has evolved into a sprawling, fragmented industry.
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SURVEILLANCEU.S. Government Ramps Up Mass Surveillance with Help of AI Tech, Data Brokers – and Your Apps and Devices
By Anne Toomey McKenna
To understand the issues, it is critical to know how these technologies function, who collects what data about you, how that data can be used against you, and why the laws you might think are protecting your data do not apply or are ignored.
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SURVEILLANCESchmidt v. City of Norfolk Brief: Automated License Plate Readers Commit Fourth Amendment Searches
By Matthew Cavedon
Norfolk, Virginia, has deployed nearly 200 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) across the city, capturing every passing vehicle’s location, time, and identifying details—and storing that data for weeks. Now, two residents are suing.
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SURVEILLANCEFISA Reauthorization Fearmongering and Disinformation Kicks Into Overdrive
By Patrick G. Eddington
With just 10 days to go before Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires, surveillance hawks have intensified their propaganda and fearmongering campaign. But FISA’s many problems are reasons for Congress to hit the “pause” button on FISA Section 702 reauthorization, unless and until these problems are eliminated.
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SURVEILLANCECameras Have Quietly Appeared in Thousands of U.S. Cities – Now, Their Integration with AI Is Sounding Alarms
By Jess Reia
For decades, cars dictated urban planning in the United States. Few could have predicted that they would one day also double as nodes for surveillance. What began as a tool to identify threats to national security is becoming a surveillance infrastructure that can be used to track everyone.
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SURVEILLANCEWorried About Surveillance, States Enact Privacy Laws and Restrict License Plate Readers
By Shalina Chatlani
As part of its deportation efforts, the Trump administration has made a push for personal data from voter rolls, driver’s license records and programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.
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CHINA WATCH“DeepSeek Is in the Driver’s Seat. That’s a Big Security Problem”
By Danielle Cave
Democratic countries have a smart-car problem. For those that don’t act quickly and decisively, it’s about to become a severe national security headache.
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DIGITAL IDThe UK Has It Wrong on Digital ID. Here’s Why.
By Paige Collings
In late September, the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government’s plans to introduce a new digital ID scheme in the country to take effect before the end of the Parliament (no later than August 2029). This is the latest example of a government creating a new digital system that is fundamentally incompatible with a privacy-protecting and human rights-defending democracy.
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SURVEILLNCE STATEState Election Officials in Letter Ask Whether They Were “Misled” by Trump Administration
By Quentin Young
A group of Democratic secretaries of state in a letter to top Trump administration officials say they’re concerned the administration misled them about how it would use voter data collected from their states.
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PRIVACYDHS Wants States to Hand Over Driver’s License Data for Citizenship Checks
By Jen Fifield and Zach Despart
It’s the latest step in an unprecedented initiative to pool confidential data that the Trump administration claims will help identify noncitizens on voter rolls and tighten immigration enforcement.
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PRIVACYWilliamson v. United States Brief: Ten Months of Warrantless Video Surveillance Violates the Fourth Amendment
By Matthew Cavedon
In October 2018, law enforcement, without a warrant, surreptitiously installed two video cameras near the top of utility poles to surveil Rolando Williamson’s home.The Eleventh Circuit reasoned that the police did not require a warrant because only parts of Williamson’s home and yard were visible from the alleyway. Cato Institute filed an amicus brief supporting Williamson, arguing that partial exposure does not automatically extinguish Fourth Amendment protections.
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