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.
Take Action
Tell Congress to Fix Section 702 of FISA.
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Call or Email Your Senator or Representative
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Call or email your senator or representative and urge them to fix Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A recent change to the law has vastly expanded the government’s spying powers.
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Write to Your Local Paper
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Help advance press freedom by writing newspaper op-eds or letters to the editor in support of fixing Section 702 of FISA.
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Featured Items
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Digital security lessons from the Barrett Brown case
During a hearing last month in the case of Barrett Brown — a jailed journalist known for his advocacy of the hacktivist collective Anonymous — the Justice Department (DOJ) entered into the court record 500 pages of evidence containing e-mails and chat logs that it claimed would demonstrate “relevant conduct” …
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British spy agency intercepted emails of journalists, considers them 'threats' alongside terrorists and hackers
Newly disclosed documents from Edward Snowden, revealed today by the Guardian, show that the British spy agency (and close NSA partner) GCHQ intercepted emails from many of the US and UK’s most well-known news organizations, including the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, Reuters, the Guardian, Le Monde, the …
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FOIA Rundown: The Year in Review, Private Prisons, and Stolen Brains
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Regrets the error: My last newsletter referred to "ace blogger Andrew Howard." Mr. Howard's first name is Alex.Also, while not technically a correction, I forgot to give …
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Why everyone should care about journalist Barrett Brown's sentencing today
Journalist Barrett Brown is expected to be sentenced by a judge today in a highly controversial case brought by the Justice Department. The below excerpt is an adapted and updated version of the foreword to Barrett's most recent book, written by author Barry Eisler. If you don’t believe …
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Watch Barrett Brown explain why journalists should be covering intel contractors two years before Snowden
Today, a judge in Dallas will decide the fate of journalist Barrett Brown, who is being sentenced in a case that has been fraught with controversy and deplorable conduct by the Justice Department from its beginning in 2013. Brown, who author Barry Eisler profiled earlier today, was one …
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Will the government try to force James Risen to testify? Judge orders them to decide by next week
Now is not exactly the best time for Obama's Justice Department to be subpoenaing one of the nation's best journalists for reporting on a spectacularly botched CIA operation, but that's the decision Attorney General Eric Holder faces this week. A federal Judge in Virginia has given the government until next …
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This Week in Transparency: FOIA reform passes Senate Judiciary Committee
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. FOIA REFORM The Senate Judiciary committee reported the FOIA Improvements Act of 2014 to the full Senate by a unanimous vote last week. More than 70 transparency and …
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Watch many of the nation's best reporters and technologists discuss post-Snowden journalism security
Along with Reporters Committee and OTI, we hosted a one-day conference on journalism and digital security last Friday in DC. The panels were full of many of the nation's best national security reporters, technologists and lawyers. The event was capped off by a surprise appearance via video by Edward Snowden, …
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Digital security conference on Nov. 7th will bring together many of the nation's best reporters and technologists
This Friday November 7th, Freedom of the Press Foundation—along with Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Open Technology Institute—are co-hosting a conference on journalism and digital security in Washington DC that will focus on how news organizations and reporters can use technology and encryption to better protect …
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Why is the FBI falsifying AP stories and possibly spoofing news websites to hack suspects?
Buried in a three-year old Freedom of Information Act document, ACLU's Chris Soghoian yesterday found a 2007 email from a Seattle FBI office that showed the FBI secretly falsified an Associated Press story, and possibly spoofed the Seattle Times website, in an attempt to get a suspect to click …
