EPIC Commentaries

Over the past several years, EPIC has published many letters and columns on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues. This collection of "EPIC Commentaries" highlights many of the key concerns for consumers and Internet users today – the increasing scope of surveillance, the consolidation of the Internet economy, and the need for the effective enforcement of fundamental rights.

• Caitriona Fitzgerald and Susan Grant, Florida's privacy bill needs teeth back or it's 'protections' are meaningless, Tallahassee Democrat (April 23, 2021)
• Caitriona Fitzgerald, Stacked Against Users: How Regulators Failed and Google Turned The Internet Into a Surveillance Machine, Medium (September 10, 2020)
• Caitriona Fitzgerald and Mary Stone Ross, Now is the time for a US data protection agency, The Hill (February 21, 2020)
• Mary Stone Ross, I helped draft California’s new privacy law. Here’s why it doesn’t go far enough, Fast Company (January 3, 2020)
• Marc Rotenberg and Len Kennedy, Surveillance in China: Implications for Americans, New York Times (December 19, 2019)
• Marc Rotenberg, Save the .ORG domain and all it symbolizes, The Hill (December 8, 2019)
• Marc Rotenberg and Bilyana Petkova, US Supreme Court Blocks Citizenship Question on 2020 Census, Trump Issues Executive Order to Collect Citizenship Data, European Data Protection Law Review Volume 5, Issue 3 (2019)
• Marc Rotenberg, To prevent data breaches like Capital One, Congress needs to act, CNN (July 20, 2019)
• Eleni Kyriakides, Critiquing DOJ's Claim that the Budapest Convention Requires the CLOUD Act's Solution, Cross Border Data Forum (July 9, 2019)
• Marc Rotenberg, Bilyana Petkova, US District Court Blocks New York City Data Collection, Ordinance Violates Fourth Amendment, European Data Protection Law Review Volume 5, Issue 2 (2019)
• Marc Rotenberg, The Battle Over Artificial Intelligence, New York Times (April 19, 2019)
• Eleni Kyriakides, The CLOUD Act, E-Evidence, and Individual Rights, European Data Protection Law Review, vol. 5, no. 1 (January 16, 2019)
• Marc Rotenberg, Updates to U.S. privacy laws are long overdue, Washington Post (January 10, 2019)
• Marc Rotenberg, America Needs a Privacy Law, New York Times (December 25, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, After Latest Facebook Fiasco, Focus Falls on Federal Commission, Techonomy (December 21, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, Carpenter Fails to Cabin Katz as Miller Grinds to a Halt: Digital Privacy and the Roberts Court, American Constitution Society Supreme Court Review (December 4, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, The Digital Economy & Privacy Protection: the Challenges Ahead, Japan Economic Forum (Nov. / Dec. 2018)
• Eleni Kyriakides, On Big Brother Watch v. U.K.: The Future of Surveillance at Two Europe-Wide Courts, Just Security (October 15, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, Democracy and the Internet, New York Times (October 3, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg and Natasha Babazadeh, US Supreme Court Affirms Fourth Amendment in Rental Car Search, Steers Clear of Commercial Contract Limitation (Byrd v United States), European Data Protection Law Review (September 26, 2018)
• Ralph Nader and Marc Rotenberg, Consumer Voices Needed in US Privacy Debate, Nader.org (September 24, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, Drones need regulating, but this isn’t the way to do it, Washington Post (July 10, 2018)
• Alan Butler, Supreme Court puts us on a pro-privacy path for the cyber age, The Hill (June 29, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, Congress can follow the EU’s lead and update US privacy laws, Financial Times (June 1, 2018)
• Eleni Kyiriakides, Digital Free for All Part Deux: European Commission Proposal on E-Evidence, Just Security (2018-05-17)
• Eleni Kyriakides, Lessons Learned From ICDPPC 2009, Global Partners Digital (May 4, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, Regulating Privacy, The New York Times (May 6, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, The Facebook-WhatsApp Lesson: Privacy Protection Necessary for Innovation, Techonomy (May 4, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, How the FTC Could Have Avoided the Facebook Mess, Techonomy (March 22, 2018)
• Jeramie D. Scott, Selling you out: Mass public surveillance for corporate gain, The Hill (March 16, 2018)
• Christine Bannan, Equifax's Data Breach Sins Live on to This Year's Tax Season, The Hill (February 1, 2018)
• Marc Rotenberg, Twenty-Five Years Later: What Happened to Progressive Tech Policy?, The Washington Spectator (2018-01-22)
• Alan Butler, US Supreme Court Finds Broad Restrictions on Access to Social Media Sites Unconstitutional, European Data Protection Law Review (January 2018)
• Jeramie D. Scott, How many 'likes' does it take to build a dystopia? We're about to find out, NBC News (December 14, 2017)
• Alan Butler, SCOTUS justices are ready to tackle privacy rights in the digital age, The Hill (December 2, 2017)
• Alan Butler, Top Experts: Can Facebook Legally Disclose Russian Ads–What does the Stored Communications Act say?, Just Security (2017-10-27)
• Marc Rotenberg, Let's Use Government Data to Make Better Policy, Scientific American (October 4, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Facebook’s Privacy Hokey-Pokey, Fortune (September 27, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Equifax, the Credit Reporting Industry, and What Congress Should Do Next, Harvard Business Review (September 20, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Trump’s Double Standard When It Comes to Privacy, Newsweek (September 16, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Trump and Privacy, Washington Spectator (September 14, 2017)
• Alan Butler, Symposium: Millions of tiny constables – Time to set the record straight on the Fourth Amendment and location-data privacy, SCOTUSblog (August 3, 2017)
• Jeramie Scott, Facial recognition surveillance is here — but privacy protections are not, The Hill (July 13, 2017)
• Jeramie D. Scott, Social Media and Government Surveillance: The Case for Better Privacy Protections for Our Newest Public Space, 12 J. Bus. & Tech. L. 151 (2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Data Driven, The Economist (May 25, 2017)
• Alan Butler, United States of America ∙ Whither Privacy Shield in the Trump Era?, European Data Protection Law Review (April 21, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Urgent Mandate, Unhurried Response: An Evaluation of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, European Data Protection Law Review (April 21, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, When the Government Is Watching You, New York Times (March 28, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Americans have a right to know what intel community knows on Russia, The Hill (March 27, 2017)
• Marc Rotenberg, Criticism ‘bombs’, Boston Herald (October 14, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Is the Textalizer a Good Way To Prevent Texting While Driving?, Costco Connection (October 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Will either candidate protect your data? It's time to ask., Christian Science Monitor (September 28, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Bias by Computer, New York Times (August 10, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Unlawful stops legitimized after the fact?, San Francisco Daily Journal (July 5, 2016)
• Claire Gartland, Biometrics Are a Grave Threat to Privacy, New York Times (July 5, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Promoting innovation, protecting privacy, OECD Observer (June 2016)
• Alan Butler, Rule may expand hacking authority, San Francisco Daily Journal (May 12, 2016)
• Rotenberg & Jacobs, "Enforcing Privacy Rights: Class Action Litigation and the Challenge of cy pres", Springer (2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Google, Europe and Privacy, New York Times (May 2, 2016)
• Alan Butler, Whack-a-mole with the NSA, San Francisco Daily Journal (March 31, 2016)
• Alan Butler, It's How Hackers Help That Matters, New York Times (March 30, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, They're Right to Distrust U.S. Data Security, Wall Street Journal (March 22, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Not your father's Terry stop, San Francisco Daily Journal (March 1, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Privacy and Drone Spying, New York Times (February 18, 2016)
• Marc Rotenberg, Digital Privacy, in the U.S. and Europe, The New York Times (October 13, 2015)
• Marc Rotenberg and Alan Butler, Supreme Court's Ruling on Hotel Guests' Privacy, The New York Times (July 8, 2015)
• Alan Butler, Get a Warrant: The Supreme Court's New Course for Digital Privacy Rights after Riley v. California, 10 Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy 83 (July 7, 2015)
• Jeramie Scott, Federal regulations should limit surveillance and data collection, Asbury Park Press (May 28, 2015)
• Marc Rotenberg, FAA needs to set rules on drone surveillance, Philadelphia Inquirer (May 21, 2015)
• Alan Butler, Court Must Keep Protecting Privacy, San Francisco Daily Journal (March 3, 2015)
• Jeramie Scott, Cybersecurity: The View from Washington, San Francisco Daily Journal (January 28, 2015)
• Marc Rotenberg, Google's position makes no sense: Opposing view, USA TODAY (January 22, 2015)
• Marc Rotenberg, Online Privacy: Who Writes the Rules? , The New York Times (December 27, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg and Julia Horwitz, Privacy Rules for Uber, The Huffington Post (December 12, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, The Right to Privacy Is Global, U.S. News & World Report (December 5, 2014)
• Khaliah Barnes, Student Data Collection Is Out of Control, The New York Times (September 24, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, Superpowers of the Web: The Writer Responds, The New York Times (July 19, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, Invitation to a Dialogue: Internet Behemoths, The New York Times (July 15, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg and Alan Butler, Symposium: In Riley v. California, a Unanimous Supreme Court Sets Out Fourth Amendment for Digital Age, SCOTUSBlog (June 26, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, On International Privacy: A Path Forward for the US and Europe, Harvard International Review (June 1, 2014)
• Khaliah Barnes, Include the Public in the Debate Over Surveillance, The New York Times (May 26, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, EU Strikes a Blow for Privacy: Opposing view, USA TODAY (May 15, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg and Khaliah Barnes, Students and Data Privacy, Business Day (May 3, 2014)
• Khaliah Barnes, N.S.A. Surveillance Creates Vulnerability, The New York Times (April 21, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, Deciding Where to Set the Limits on Surveillance, The New York Times (April 11, 2014)
• Alan Butler, The PCLOB Report and the Need for Executive Branch Constitutional Enforcement, Just Security (March 11, 2014)
• Khaliah Barnes, Why a 'Student Privacy Bill of Rights' is desperately needed, The Washington Post (March 6, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg and Julia Horwitz, Make Legal Memos Public, The New York Times (January 20, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, Ginger McCall, Julia Horwitz, The Open Government Clinic: Teaching the Basics of Lawyering, The Indiana Law Review (Spring 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, Obama Sets Good Course on Privacy Debate, CNN (January 17, 2014)
• Marc Rotenberg, Google, Let Users Opt in on Privacy Setting, CNN (January 11, 2014)
• Khaliah Barnes, Agencies Behaving Badly: Government Surveillance and Privacy Act Violations, Jurist (January 2, 2014)
• Alan Butler and Amie Stepanovich, Square Peg, Round Hole - How the FISC Has Misapplied FISA to Allow for Bulk Metadata Collection, Just Security (December 2, 2013)
• Marc Rotenberg, Protecting Data Privacy, The New York Times (November 4, 2013)
• Marc Rotenberg, Better Privacy Laws: Priority for America and Germany, , The New York Times (September 3, 2013)
• Alan Butler, Standing Up to Clapper: How to Increase Transparency and Oversight of FISA Surveillance, 48 N.E. L. Rev. 55 (2013)
• Alan Butler, When Cyberweapons End Up On Private Networks: Third Amendment Implications for Cybersecurity Policy, 62 Am. U. L. Rev. 1203 (2013)
• Marc Rotenberg and David Jacobs, Updating the Law of Information Privacy: The New Framework of the European Union, Harvard Journal Of Law And Public Policy (Spring 2013)
• Marc Rotenberg and Khaliah Barnes, Amassing Student Data and Dissipating Privacy Rights, Educase Review (January 28, 2013)
• Marc Rotenberg, Internet Freedom Advocates in Tow, The New York Times (December 9, 2012)
• Marc Rotenberg, Google's proposals on internet privacy do not go far enough, Financial Times (September 24, 2007)