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
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
Help advance press freedom by writing newspaper op-eds or letters to the editor in support of fixing Section 702 of FISA.
Featured Items
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Secret Justice Dept. subpoena drives home the need for a strong journalist shield law
With a reporter surveillance scandal of its own embroiling Biden’s Department of Justice, it’s now more important than ever for his administration to throw its weight behind passing a journalist shield law such as Senator Ron Wyden’s PRESS Act.
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FPF, dozens of groups condemn LA County sheriff’s retaliatory statements against reporter
The Los Angeles County sheriff’s public threat of retaliatory investigation into a reporter is an outrageous press freedom violation, and Freedom of the Press Foundation has joined over two dozen groups last week in a letter condemning that action.
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Supreme Court entrenches ‘state secrets’ privilege, dealing a blow to accountability
The Supreme Court upheld and potentially expanded its pernicious “state secrets” privilege in two opinions late last week relating to expansive government surveillance and anti-terrorism programs.
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Understanding the new CIA mass surveillance scandal
The CIA is operating a mass surveillance program affecting Americans entirely in secret.
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Government secrecy kills
Even the Director of National Intelligence admits the U.S. secrecy system is horribly broken.
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Undead EARN IT Act poses newly urgent threat to press freedom
After public backlash led to a major defeat in 2020, lawmakers are now attempting to rush the anti-privacy legislation through the Senate.
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Support the NSO Group whistleblower, and others like him
Journalists have been working incredibly hard to expose the spyware company and its authoritarian users. But let's not forget about the whistleblowers.
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‘Concerns’ raised in NSA watchdog report, but still no meaningful oversight
Stop us if you've heard this one before: the NSA failed to follow procedural and policy requirements surrounding the use of surveillance data collected on U.S. persons, according to a new report from the group's Office of the Inspector General.
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Biden’s Justice Dept. promised to support a strong journalist shield law. So why hasn’t it?
Sen. Ron Wyden calls the Justice Department’s inaction on key press freedom issue “extremely frustrating, and frankly unacceptable”
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Investigate Customs and Border Protection for illicit investigations of journalists
New reporting into a government operation codenamed "Operation Whistle Pig" describes a shocking level of invasion into the personal and private lives of journalists. In blockbuster reporting, Yahoo News describes the actions of the Counter Network Division, a secretive unit of U.S. Customs and Border Protection that works with law enforcement and the intelligence community.
