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November 2020 Archives

November 2, 2020

BREAKING: DOJ Releases New Sections of Mueller Report in EPIC Case

The Department of Justice, as part of EPIC v. DOJ, has released extensive new material from the Mueller Report that was previously withheld from the public. The disclosure marks the culmination of EPIC’s 19-month legal effort to obtain the full, unredacted Special Counsel report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The newly disclosed passages concern decisions by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller not to charge particular individuals with criminal offenses. Pages 176–179 and 188-191 of Volume I show that the Special Counsel declined to bring "computer-intrusion conspiracy" and campaign finance charges against Roger Stone, Julian Assange, and Wikileaks. As a result of EPIC’s suit, the Justice Department has already twice released portions of the Report that it initially withheld from the public. Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered today’s disclosures based on an in camera review of the unredacted Report—a step that Walton deemed necessary after determining that Attorney General Bill Barr's redactions to the Report may have been "self-serving." EPIC's Freedom of Information Act case—the first in the nation for the disclosure of the Mueller Report—is EPIC v. DOJ, No. 19-810.

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Posted by John Davisson on November 2, 2020 3:18 PM |

November 4, 2020

Portland, Maine Votes to Add Teeth to Ban on Facial Recognition

Voters in Portland, Maine passed a ballot initiative that strengthens the city's ban on the use of facial recognition by law enforcement and city agencies. The City Council previously passed an order banning face surveillance, but the initiative strengthens the ban with a private right of action and penalties for violations of the law. A growing list of cities have banned facial recognition technology, including Boston, Oakland, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. EPIC has launched a campaign to Ban Face Surveillance and through the Public Voice coalition gathered the support of over 100 organizations and many leading experts across 30 plus countries. Earlier this year, an EPIC-led coalition called on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to recommend the suspension of face surveillance systems across the federal government.

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Posted by EPIC on November 4, 2020 5:20 PM |

November 5, 2020

California Voters Pass California Privacy Rights Act

California voters this week approved Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act, with 56% of voters supporting the measure. EPIC previously published an analysis of Proposition 24, nothing that the measure "would make some important improvements to privacy protections for California residents, particularly through the establishment of a California Privacy Protection Agency." In 2018, the State of California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"), the first comprehensive consumer privacy law enacted in the United States. Proposition 24 significantly changes the CCPA. EPIC has also published a resource to help California residents exercise their rights under the CCPA.

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Posted by Caitriona Fitzgerald on November 5, 2020 3:24 PM |

November 9, 2020

FTC Fails to Address Privacy in Settlement with Zoom

The FTC has reached a settlement with Zoom requiring the company to address data security but fails to address user privacy. Writing in dissent, Commissioner Slaughter said, "When companies offer services with serious security and privacy implications for their users, the Commission must make sure that its orders address not only security but also privacy." Commissioner Chopra, also dissenting, wrote "The FTC’s status quo approach to privacy, security, and other data protection law violations is ineffective." In July 2019, EPIC sent a detailed complaint to the FTC citing the flaws with Zoom and warning that the company had "exposed users to the risk of remote surveillance, unwanted video calls, and denial-of-service attack." In April 2020, EPIC wrote to Chairman Simons urging the FTC to open an investigation. EPIC has long advocated for the creation of a U.S. data protection agency.

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Posted by Caitriona Fitzgerald on November 9, 2020 12:48 PM |

November 10, 2020

EPIC, Coalition Release Data Protection Plan for Biden Administration

EPIC and a coalition of privacy, civil rights, and consumer organizations have released a policy framework for the Biden Administration to protect privacy and digital rights for all Americans. "Without laws that limit how companies can collect, use, and share personal data, we end up with an information and power asymmetry that harms consumers and society at large," the groups said. "Individual, group and societal interests are diminished, and our privacy and other basic rights and freedoms are at risk." The ten recommendations include: 1) recognizing privacy and surveillance as racial justice issues; 2) establishing algorithmic governance and accountability to advance fair and just data practices; 3) encourage enactment of a baseline comprehensive federal privacy law; 4) the establishment of a U.S. Data Protection Agency; and 5) bringing consumer, privacy, and civil rights experts into key government positions.

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Posted by Caitriona Fitzgerald on November 10, 2020 9:31 AM |

Divided Court Rules Baltimore's Continuous Aerial Surveillance is Constitutional

A divided federal appeals court has ruled that Baltimore's use of spy planes to continuously surveil the city does not violate the Fourth Amendment. The technology, known as wide-area aerial surveillance, allows police to capture high-definition video and track the movements of pedestrians and vehicles over a 32-square mile area. Although the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals acknowledged "that there are aerial surveillance programs that would transgress basic Fourth Amendment protections," the court concluded that Baltimore's program "does not violate the Constitution" and "burdens privacy substantially less than a well-established staple of existing surveillance: security cameras." Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory dissented, concluding that the Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter v. United States requiring a warrant for cell phone location data also requires police to obtain a warrant for persistent aerial surveillance. Gregory explained that "Long-term, recorded surveillance of public movements uncovers more than temporary trailing by a suspecting officer; it reveals a person's most intimate associations and activities." EPIC filed an amicus brief in Carpenter v. United States and has long fought to limit drone surveillance and other forms of aerial spying.

Posted by John Davisson on November 10, 2020 1:43 PM |

EPIC Again Urges DHS Advisory Committee to Investigate Fusion Centers

EPIC submitted comments urging the Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee to investigate fusion centers and recommend that DHS ban facial recognition technology at fusion centers. EPIC's comments followed an October 27, 2020 meeting of the committee at which EPIC Law Fellow Jake Wiener gave verbal comments. Fusion centers are centralized systems that pool and analyze intelligence from federal, state, local, and private sector entities. EPIC previously urged the Advisory Committee to recommend that Customs and Border Protection halt the use of facial recognition. Earlier this year, an EPIC-led coalition called on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to recommend the suspension of face surveillance systems across the federal government.

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Posted by EPIC on November 10, 2020 5:55 PM |

November 16, 2020

EPIC to Massachusetts Supreme Court: Facebook Needs to Disclose Apps that Violated User Privacy

EPIC has filed an amicus brief in Massachusetts Attorney General v. Facebook urging the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to require Facebook to disclose information about third-party apps that violated user privacy protections. The Attorney General requested the information as part of an investigation into the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal. EPIC wrote that Facebook has been obligated to collect information about user privacy abuses for more than a decade but failed to do so in this case until threatened with litigation. As a consequence, EPIC argued, if the company is allowed to keep this information secret, "Facebook will continue to evade accountability and the harmful effects of Facebook's business practices could go undetected." EPIC argued that Facebook has had a long pattern of secrecy, and that Facebook now "knows a shocking amount about each of its users, but its users know shockingly little about Facebook." EPIC has long sought accountability for Facebook's broken privacy promises. EPIC filed the original FTC Complaint in 2009 that led to the FTC's 2012 Consent Order with the company, subsequently filed several complaints alleging violations of the Order, urged the FTC to investigate the Cambridge Analytica incident, and moved to intervene in and filed an amicus brief challenging the FTC's 2019 settlement with Facebook.

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Posted by Melodi Dincer on November 16, 2020 10:50 AM |

November 10, 2020

California Voters Reject Proposition to Mandate Pretrial Risk Assessment Use

Proposition 25, which would have abolished cash bail in California but replaced it with the mandatory use of controversial pretrial risk assessment tools, was rejected by 56% of the state's voters earlier this month. Pretrial risk assessments attempt to predict the likelihood that a person will fail to appear at trial or be arrested again. Research has shown that these tools reflect and encode biases based on race, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Although pretrial risk assessments are widely used throughout the country and parts of California, Proposition 25 would have mandated their use in the state. EPIC recently published Liberty At Risk, a report on pretrial risk assessment tools, and maintains a resource on algorithms in the criminal justice system.

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Posted by John Davisson on November 10, 2020 4:38 PM |

November 13, 2020

#ReclaimYourFace: European Civil Society Groups Oppose Biometric Surveillance

A coalition of twelve European civil society groups launched a new campaign this month calling for a ban on "biometric mass surveillance". To date the campaign has gathered over 5,000 signatures. EPIC has launched a campaign to Ban Face Surveillance and through the Public Voice coalition gathered the support of over 100 organizations and many leading experts across 30 plus countries. In October, EPIC urged the Department of Homeland Security to rescind a proposed rule allowing broad biometric data collection and suspend the Department's use of facial recognition.

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Posted by EPIC on November 13, 2020 4:25 PM |

EPIC Seeks Documents on Facial Recognition System Used to Identify D.C. Protester

EPIC filed a series of open government requests seeking information on a previously undisclosed facial recognition system used by police departments in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. EPIC sent requests to Metropolitan Police Department, Maryland National Capitol Park Police, and Montgomery County Police Department. The system was first revealed by the Washington Post on November 2, 2020. A protester accused of assaulting a police officer during a June 1 protest at D.C.'s Lafayette square was identified when police ran an image of him from Twitter against the National Capitol Region Facial Recognition Investigative Leads System (NCR-FRILS). EPIC recently filed suit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain documents about the agency's use of facial recognition. Earlier this year, an EPIC-led coalition called on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to recommend the suspension of face surveillance systems across the federal government.

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Posted by EPIC on November 13, 2020 4:40 PM |

November 19, 2020

LAPD Bans Use of Clearview AI Facial Recognition

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) issued a moratorium on the use of third-party commercial facial recognition systems including Clearview AI. However, the LAPD will continue to use a Los Angeles County system which searches booking images. LAPD officers have used Clearview AI at least 475 times since 2019. Clearview AI is a particularly dangerous facial recognition system because it queries a database of over 3 billion images scraped from social media sites, compromising the privacy of more individuals than smaller-scale systems. EPIC recently filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking information on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) use of Clearview AI. EPIC leads a campaign to Ban Face Surveillance.

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Posted by EPIC on November 19, 2020 10:45 AM |

November 20, 2020

Bipartisan Internet of Things Security Bill Passes Congress

Both branches of Congress have now passed a bill governing the security of the Internet of Things. The "Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019" sets baseline cybersecurity standards for IoT devices purchased by the federal government. The bipartisan measure is sponsored by Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) in the House and Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) in the Senate. "While more and more products and even household appliances today have software functionality and internet connectivity, too few incorporate even basic safeguards and protections, posing a real risk to individual and national security," said Sen. Warner. The bill now heads to the President's desk for signature. EPIC recently told Congress that "the IoT network is the weak link in consumer products" and urged the establishment of of mandatory privacy and security standards.

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Posted by Caitriona Fitzgerald on November 20, 2020 11:14 AM |

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About November 2020

This page contains all entries posted to epic.org in November 2020. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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