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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Will the US State Dept Condemn UK's Attempt to Use 'Terrorism' Laws to Suppress Journalism?
(UPDATE: The State Department responds, see below) In a shocking court filing this week, the UK government accused journalist Glenn Greenwald’s partner David Miranda of “terrorism” for allegedly transporting leaked (and heavily encrypted) NSA documents from documentarian Laura Poitras in Germany to Greenwald in Brazil, on a journalistic mission …
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EXCLUSIVE: Clapper Memo Reveals Rationale Behind NSA Review Group Secrecy
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/808719-clapper-memo-exempting-nsa-review-group-from-faca.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, page: 2, container: "#DV-viewer-808719-clapper-memo-exempting-nsa-review-group-from-faca" }); //--><!]]> When President Obama announced last August that he would take steps to try and win back public confidence in the wake of a series of troubling disclosures by The Guardian …
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Committee to Protect Journalists Issues Scathing Report on US Press Freedoms
It’s nearly impossible to gauge the full impact of harassment of the press. How do you measure the stories that go untold because a journalist felt intimidated? How do you quantify the corruption that won’t be exposed because sources are afraid to talk? When the impact of threats is silence, …
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Freedom of Information Act Requests to the NSA Up Over 1000%
This blog post originally appeared on MuckRock, an open-government journalism organization that was one of Freedom of the Press Foundation's first beneficiaries. A veritable Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) frenzy ensued in 2013 following a series of leaks about NSA surveillance programs, recently released documents show. The emails were …
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Will Attorney General Eric Holder Guarantee the First Amendment Rights of the NSA Journalists?
The essay was originally published in the Guardian. Another week and another wave of stories on the NSA and the unconstitutional out-of-control surveillance state hit the digital newsstands, showing once again why the tide is turning. Some revelations are so surreal, it's hard not to assume they're satire …
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NSA Claims No Audio, Transcripts or Notes From Official's Interview With Gellman, But Assertion Appears to Be Untrue
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/797986-nsa-response-to-leopold-foia-for-interview-audio.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, container: "#DV-viewer-797986-nsa-response-to-leopold-foia-for-interview-audio" }); //--><!]]> Last month, Barton Gellman published an explosive story in the Washington Post about the NSA's widespread privacy violations, based on documents he obtained from whistleblower Edward Snowden. Gellman also wrote a companion …
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That Time DOJ's FOIA Cop Accused Me of Engaging in a Vast FOIA Conspiracy
The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) is the top cop that’s supposed to ensure all government agencies—including DOJ—comply with an important law: the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).OIP is also supposed to make sure all government agencies—including DOJ—have implemented President Barack Obama’s January 2009 FOIA memorandum …
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DHS Dumps 1,400 Pages of Heavily Redacted Records Related to Agency's Role in Drafting 2012 Counterterrorism Guidelines
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) just released 1,400 pages of emails and other internal records concerning the agency’s role in advising the Department of Justice and Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on changes made to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) guidelines used to collect and retain data …
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UK Authorities Destroy Guardian's Hard Drives, Force Journalists to Report NSA Stories In Exile
Fresh off the news that UK authorities detained the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald for nine hours yesterday, Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger has published an extraordinary report of government pressure and intimidation that should send chills down the spine of anyone who cares about a free press. Rusbridger, who …
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Investigating Acts of Journalism Under 'Terrorism' Laws Is A Hallmark of Authoritarian Regimes
In an outrageous and unacceptable attack on press freedom, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda, was detained for almost nine hours at Heathrow airport in London earlier today under section 7 of the UK’s pernicious Terrorism Act. Miranda was returning to his home in Brazil after a week-long visit …
