Surveillance

Worried About Surveillance, States Enact Privacy Laws and Restrict License Plate Readers
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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The UK Has It Wrong on Digital ID. Here’s Why.
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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The Spy Who Came in from the Wi-Fi: Beware of Radio Network Surveillance
New technology is able to infer the identity of persons with no WiFi device on them through signals in radio networks. Researchers warn of risks to privacy and call for protective measures.
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Trump’s Targeting of “Enemies” Like James Comey Echoes FBI’s Dark History of Mass Surveillance, Dirty Tricks, and Perversion of Justice Under J. Edgar Hoover
As a candidate last year, Donald Trump promised retribution against his perceived enemies. As president, he is doing that. His campaign of vengeance will be helped by the FBI, the independence of which has been sacrificed by Director Kash Patel, who has, essentially, made the bureau an arm of the White House. It marks the first time since J. Edgar Hoover’s 48-year reign as FBI director that the FBI has been used to target people perceived to be political enemies.
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DOJ Files Suit Against Six States That Refused to Share Voter Data
The Trump administration is seeking personal data on millions of Americans., but some states refuse to hand over the information to the government. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday it is suing six states —California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania —that have refused to turn over detailed voter roll data demanded by federal attorneys earlier this year.
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The Toxic Legacy of 9/11…and How to End It
Restoring the Bill of Rights to its proper shape and place in our civic life would be one way to honor those killed on 9/11 and in the wars that followed.
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Flock Safety’s Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe
Two recent statements from the surveillance company reveal a troubling pattern: when confronted by evidence of widespread abuse, Flock Safety has blamed users, downplayed harms, and doubled down on the very systems that enabled the violations in the first place.
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Pervasive Surveillance of People Is Being Used to Access, Monetize, Coerce, and Control
New research has underlined the surprising extent to which pervasive surveillance of people and their habits is powered by computer vision research – and shone a spotlight on how vulnerable individuals and communities are at risk.
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Financial Surveillance Is Expanding—but So Is the Resistance
The last few months were hectic, but not all bad. Amidst the government surveilling cash, prosecuting people in bad faith, and creating new surveillance mechanisms, there were significant wins: Courts pushed back on overreach and Congress began to offer reforms to correct past mistakes.
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Unmanned Systems Are Not Revolutionary (but Could Be)
Rather than revolutionizing warfare, unmanned systems have emerged as evolutions within the larger information revolution; advancements to be sure, but failing to render conventional militaries obsolete or dramatically reshaping force structures.
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From Help to Harm: How the Government Is Quietly Repurposing Everyone’s Data for Surveillance
The data that people provide to U.S. government agencies for public services such as tax filing, health care enrollment, unemployment assistance and education support is increasingly being redirected toward surveillance and law enforcement.
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How DHS Laid the Groundwork for More Intelligence Abuse
I&A, the lead intelligence unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) —long plagued by politicized targeting, permissive rules, and a toxic culture —has undergone a transformation over the last two years. Spencer Reynolds writes that this effort falls short. “Ultimately, Congress must rein in I&A,” he adds.
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Spyware Is Spreading Far Beyond Its National-Security Role
Spyware is increasingly exploited by criminals or used to suppress civil liberties, and this proliferation is in part due to weak regulation.
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The U.K. Demands for Apple to Break Encryption Is an Emergency for Us All
The United Kingdom is demanding that Apple create an encryption backdoor to give the government access to end-to-end encrypted data in iCloud. Encryption is one of the best ways we have to reclaim our privacy and security in a digital world filled with cyberattacks and security breaches, and there’s no way to weaken it in order to only provide access to the “good guys.”
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Monitoring Space Traffic
AeroAstro Ph.D. student Sydney Dolan uses an interdisciplinary approach to develop collision-avoidance algorithms for satellites.
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