Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) may be the most common mass surveillance technology in use by local law enforcement around the country—but they’re not always used in the same way. Typically, ALPR systems are comprised of high-speed cameras connected to… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Locational Privacy’
An Update on Verizon's AppFlash: Pre-Installed Spyware Is Still Spyware
This post is an UPDATE to a piece we originally published last week. Verizon recently rolled out a new pilot project to pre-install on customers’ devices an app launcher/search tool that, we believe, is really just spyware. This software, called… Read More ›
Congress is Trying to Roll Back Internet Privacy Protections As You Read This
Call congress now! Back in 2014 over 3 million Internet users told the U.S. government loudly and clearly: we value our online security, we value our online privacy, and we value net neutrality. Our voices helped convince the FCC to… Read More ›
Congressional Oversight Committee Wants Warrants to Rein in Police Abuse of Cell-Site Simulators
A bipartisan Congressional committee’s recent report showcases troubling details about police abuse of cell-site simulators, and calls on Congress to pass laws ensuring that this powerful technology is only deployed with a court-issued probable cause warrant. Cell-site simulators, often called… Read More ›
Congress Must Protect Americans’ Location Privacy
Your smartphone, navigation system, fitness device, and more know where you are most of the time. Law enforcement should need a warrant to access the information these technologies track. Lawmakers have a chance to create warrant requirements for the sensitive… Read More ›
EFF to BART: Adopt Spy Tech Control Law
EFF urged the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board to adopt a new law that would ensure community control of whether to adopt new surveillance technologies. All too often, police executives unilaterally decide to adopt powerful new spying tools that… Read More ›
Congress Must Pass Long-Delayed Email Privacy Bill
It’s time for Congress to put an end to a glaring loophole in privacy law. Thanks to the wording in a more than 30-year-old law, the papers in your desk are better protected than the emails in your inbox. Congress… Read More ›
Most Young Gig Economy Companies Way Behind On Protecting User Data: 2016 In Review
“Sharing” or “gig economy” companies like Uber and Airbnb continued to grow in 2016, meaning their data protection and privacy practices came into sharp focus as millions of Americans turned to these young companies for everything from rides to the… Read More ›
Mass Surveillance at Public Gatherings Is Why We Need Oversight Policies
You probably don’t expect the government to log and track your personally identifying information, despite having broken no laws, just because you attended an event at the fairgrounds. That would be preposterous in the Land of the Free. But, according… Read More ›
AT&T requires police to hide Hemisphere phone spying
AT&T built a powerful phone surveillance tool for police, called Hemisphere. Every day, AT&T adds four billion call records to Hemisphere, making it one of the largest known reservoirs of communications metadata that the government uses to spy on us…. Read More ›