Surveillance expansion threatens press freedom – and everyone else's
Image created using Midjourney, CC BY-NC
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.
-
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.
- Learn More
-
-
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.
- Learn More
-
Featured Items
-
Biden administration defends Trump’s indefensible surveillance of reporters
Department of Justice subpoenas for the phone records of three Washington Post reporters represent an outrageous invasion of the First Amendment rights of journalists to communicate with sources, and the defense of their use by the Biden administration raises alarming questions about its commitment to press freedom.
-
Lawmakers can support journalists, but only by actually listening to them first
In the past two months, lawmakers in Florida and New Jersey have advanced misguided proposals that would effectively classify assaults on journalists as hate crimes. These proposals would do little to fix the underlying issues and would likely create a host of new problems.
-
When algorithms come for journalists
Journalists — especially those without institutional newsroom support — rely on tools from major tech companies like Google and YouTube for newsgathering, production and distribution as a matter of course. As these information giants publicly wrestle with controversial content moderation decisions that dominate headlines and Congressional hearings, their decisions also run the risk of stifling routine reporting.
-
Here’s how we impacted press freedom in 2020, a harrowing year for journalists
Freedom of the Press Foundation releases its 2020 Impact Report, outlining the work we’ve accomplished in the past year, an overview of our major projects and initiatives, and how we will be expanding on our work in 2021.
-
The Biden admin’s press freedom record should be judged on actions, not just rhetoric
Talking about the importance of press freedom is nice, actually protecting it is much better.
-
Music industry forces widely used journalist tool offline
The popular free software project “youtube-dl” was removed from Github on Friday following a legal notice from the Recording Industry Association of America claiming it violates copyright law. The tool is widely used by journalists for various reporting purposes.
-
DHS agents have reportedly injured at least 30 journalists in Portland
A disturbing federal assault on journalists is unfolding in Portland.
-
The amended EARN IT Act remains a threat to press freedom
The full Senate is expected to vote on the controversial EARN IT Act in the coming days, after unanimous approval from the Judiciary Committee on July 2. EARN IT would open the door to criminalizing encryption protections and increase censorship online, posing a significant threat to press freedom and whistleblowers.
-
In support of Black lives matter
Freedom of the Press Foundation believes Black lives matter, and we support the efforts of activists and protesters exercising their First Amendment rights to take a stand against police brutality.
-
Senate blocks crucial internet privacy protections in Patriot Act debate
Despite online privacy concerns at an all-time high, the Senate rejected a critical reform to the Patriot Act yesterday, voting to hand the Trump administration and Attorney General William Barr the ability to spy on Americans’ web browsing habits without a warrant.
