Surveillance expansion threatens press freedom – and everyone else's
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Mass surveillance is widespread. Congress must rein in government spying powers.
In 2013, whistleblower and longtime Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) board member Edward Snowden’s stunning revelations of mass surveillance by the National Security Agency shocked the world. Since then, we’ve learned even more about the alarming scope of surveillance by the U.S. government.
Mass surveillance undermines everyone’s privacy, and it threatens press freedom by allowing the government to spy on communications between journalists and their sources.
Featured Items
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US officials have no problem leaking classified information about surveillance—as long as it fits their narrative
In the past few days there have been a flurry of stories about the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai peninsula, which investigators reportedly think may have been caused by a bomb. Notably, anonymous US officials have been leaking to journalists that they believe ISIS is involved, and it’s …
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Journalists around the world stand up in support of Netzpolitik after outrageous 'treason' investigation
Last week, the German government informed the popular news site Netzpolitik that two of its journalists were under investigation for treason for reporting on their government's mass surveillance programs - in other words they were being investigated for doing their job. In the days since, protests were staged in Berlin …
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We just sued the Justice Department over the FBI’s secret rules for using National Security Letters on journalists
Today we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department over their unpublished rules for using National Security Letters and so-called informal “exigent letters” to conduct surveillance of journalists. Last year, after a backlash stemming from the surveillance of Associated Press and Fox News journalists, the …
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Laura Poitras lawsuit against the US for repeated searches at the border hightlights critical press freedom issue
Awarding-winning filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras sued the Department of Homeland Security and several other federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) yesterday, demanding an explanation for the dozens of times the US government detained and questioned her traveling over the border from 2006-2012. Poitras, who is also …
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Snowden DoublePlusUngood: Continuing shades of Orwell in the NSA saga
It was great to read this Edward Snowden New York Times op-ed—great because the piece is as thoughtful and informative as you’d expect, and even better because it’s an example of Snowden’s continuing ability to raise awareness of the dangers of an unchecked surveillance state. In fact, Snowden has …
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Our statement on Congress passing the USA Freedom Act, the NSA 'reform' bill
Today the Senate passed a version of the USA Freedom Act, a bill touted by its authors as surveillance reform that will end the NSA’s mass, suspicionless collection of Americans’ personal data. Given that parts of the Patriot Act expired on June 1st, and that the government is pretending …
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Justice Department report directly contradicts the Attorney General's claims about the Patriot Act
In the midst of the last-minute Congressional debate about whether to re-authorize Patriot Act Section 215, the Justice Department Inspector General (IG) released a long awaited report today on how the FBI has used (and abused) Section 215 for the past few years. Unfortunately, the report is heavily redacted so …
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US officials leak information about the ISIS raid that’s more sensitive than anything Snowden ever leaked
Over the weekend, the US government announced that special forces soldiers entered Syria to conduct a raid that killed an alleged leader of ISIS, Abu Sayyaf. In the process, anonymous US officials leaked classified information to the New York Times that’s much more sensitive than anything Edward Snowden ever revealed, …
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Dangerous 'cybersecurity' bills going through Congress threaten the rights of journalists and whistleblowers
Along with dozens of other civil liberties organizations, Freedom of the Press Foundation has signed on to two letters strongly opposing the dangerous “cybersecurity” bills making their way through Congress and expected to be voted on sometime in the next week. The bills are little more than new surveillance powers …
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Why aren’t more news organizations protecting their e-mail with STARTTLS encryption?
The Guardian published a shocking story a few weeks ago showing that in 2008 Britain’s spy agency GCHQ collected and stored the e-mails of some of the world’s biggest news organizations, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and BBC. We wanted to find out which news organizations are still …
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