Ban Facial Recognition activists launch congressional “scorecard” to name and shame lawmakers who have not endorsed legislation to stop face surveillance
So far 15 lawmakers in the House and Senate have endorsed the bill, which is supported by a growing coalition of advocacy groups with a combined 15 million members
Fight for the Future and the coalition of 41 prominent grassroots organizations behind the BanFacialRecognition.com coalition have launched a new “Congressional Scorecard” publicly tracking which members of the House and Senate have co-sponsored Federal legislation to stop law enforcement use of biometric surveillance, and which ones haven’t.
The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020 would effectively ban all law enforcement use of facial recognition in the United States, something that researchers, civil rights experts, and grassroots organizations from across the political spectrum have called for. The legislation was originally introduced by Senators Markey and Merkley and House Reps Pressley and Jayapal. So far a total of 15 lawmakers in the House and Senate have co-sponsored the legislation, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Ron Wyden and House members Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Yvette Clark, Anna Eshoo, and Bobby Rush.
“This is a declaration of war. We are going to ban facial recognition and you are either with us or against us. Lawmakers can’t claim to care about civil liberties, freedom, democracy, racial justice, or human rights if they aren’t supporting this common sense legislation to stop the use of biased and invasive surveillance technology that’s as dangerous as nuclear or biological weapons,” said Evan Greer (she/her), deputy director of Fight for the Future. “We won’t let politicians hide. We know they remember us from SOPA/PIPA and net neutrality. Get on the right side of history or get out of office.”
Since last year, Fight for the Future has been leading a national campaignbacked by dozens of other grassroots organizations calling for an outright ban on law enforcement and government use of facial recognition. In February, the group expanded its efforts to explicitly call for lawmakers to also ban private individuals, institutions, and corporations from using this technology in public places, for surveillance purposes, or without the subjects’ knowledge and affirmative consent, such as unlocking a phone. Even seemingly innocuous uses of facial recognition, like speeding up lines or using your face as a form of payment, normalize the act of handing over sensitive biometric information and pose a serious threat to security and civil liberties. The group is also providing support for activists on the ground pushing for bans at the local level. Boston just became the largest city on the east coast to ban government use of facial recognition. Detroit City Council is expected to vote soonon whether to renew their police department’s contract with a facial recognition vendor.
Fight for the Future worked with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and other artists to lead a successful campaignto keep facial recognition technology out of US music festivals and live concerts. More than 40 of the worlds’ largest festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, and SXSW confirmed they won’t use the tech at their events. The group then worked with Students for a Sensible Drug Policy to get more than 60 prominent colleges and universitiesto confirm they won’t use facial recognition on campus. 150+ university faculty issued an open letter echoing student demands to ban the use of face surveillance on college campuses. Students across the country held a national day of action in March.
The group has deployed similar legislative scorecards in the past, including the BattleForTheNet.comscorecard for net neutrality, which helped get more lawmakers on the record on the issue than ever before in history.
More than 590,000 people have signed the open letter demanding Congress reject the EARN IT Act and protect our free speech online and privacy online. Now Congress is listening.
Beginning at 2:30pm on Thursday, July 23rd, Fight for the Future will meet with Senator Ron Wyden (D–OR) to deliver the open letter, and ask him to lead Congressional opposition to this disastrous new bill. The virtual letter delivery will be livestreamed on NoEarnItAct.org, and on Facebook Live. Representatives from Signal and other privacy-focused organizations will also be in attendance to discuss the impact of the EARN IT Act on human rights and the tech industry, including:
Ashkhen Kazaryan, Director of Civil Liberties at TechFreedom
Mark Stanley, Director of Communications and Operations at Demand Progress
Jun Harada, Head of Growth and Communication at Signal
Members of the press are encouraged to join the livestream and ask questions following the letter delivery. If you are a member of the press and you would like to participate, please email press@fightforthefuture.org for more information.
Senate Judiciary Committee passes the EARN IT Act, a dangerous bill that threatens online free speech and security
Last-minute amendments to the EARN IT Act failed to address serious concerns about human rights, and the disastrous manager’s amendment made the bill significantly worse
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the EARN IT Act, paving the way for a Senate vote on this controversial bill.
The EARN IT Act has come under fire from legal experts, human rights advocates, and technologists for threatening end-to-end encryption services and making digital communications vulnerable to invasive government surveillance. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee scrambled to amend the legislation at the last minute, but their amendments utterly failed to address the fundamental threat posed by the EARN IT Act … and the manager’s amendment introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made the legislation even worse.
“The EARN IT Act is and always will be a threat to free speech and free expression online,” said Dayton Young, Product Director at Fight for the Future (pronouns he/him). “This legislation is tailor-made to remove important legal safeguards for social media platforms, Internet providers, VPNs, and messaging apps that protect our online communications and personal data”
He continued, “The amendments passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee do nothing to change this fundamental threat to our digital rights. Instead, these amendments simply open up tech companies to the possibility of lawsuits in 50 different states with 50 different legal standards and 50 different sets of regulations. If the EARN IT Act is passed into law, tech companies will be incentivized to reject end-to-end encryption services, verify user identities, and censor any content that might be considered objectionable or offensive rather than risk legal action. That’s going to make us all less safe.”
Since the EARN IT Act was introduced, Fight for the Future has collected more than 575,000 signatures on a petition urging members of Congress to reject the dangerous legislation. This past week, Fight for the Future drove more than 10,000 phone calls to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to the bill.
It appears that the Senate Judiciary Committee did not listen to the public’s concerns.
TOMORROW: Digital activists plan to flood Congress with calls opposed to the EARN IT Act
550,000 people have signed Fight for the Future’s petition urging members of Congress to reject the EARN IT Act, and now the non-profit group is driving calls to the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of a key procedural vote
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on whether or not the EARN IT Act will move forward in the legislative process. Legal experts and privacy proponents warn that the EARN IT Act is an unconstitutional attempt to undermine encryption services that protect our free speech and security online.
So on Tuesday, June 30, digital rights group Fight for the Future is urging Internet users everywhere to call the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge them to reject the EARN IT Act. Anyone interested in participating can visit NoEarnitAct.org/calland enter their phone number to be automatically connected to all 22 Senators responsible for the fate of the EARN IT Act. Tech companies like Mozilla and Tumblr will support the effort by spreading awareness and driving people to NoEarnitAct.org/call throughout the week.
“The EARN IT Act will make everyone in America less safe,” said Dayton Young, Product Director at Fight for the Future (pronouns: he/him). “This dangerous legislation grants the government sweeping new powers to destroy online encryption and spy on every email, text message, and DM we send. Not only does that put us all at risk of invasive government surveillance, but it leaves our digital infrastructure vulnerable to malicious hackers and state-sponsored attacks. We simply can’t allow the EARN IT Act to become law.”
In addition to calling all 22 members of the Senate Judiciary committee on June 30, Fight for the Future is also asking people to sign a petition urging all members of Congress to reject the EARN IT Act. The petition recently went viral, attracting more than 550,000 signatures. To sign the petition — or to learn more about what’s happening on June 30 — please visit NoEarnitAct.org/call.
On Tuesday, June 30, Fight for the Future is asking everyone on the Internet to visit NoEarnItAct.org/call and contact Congress to tell lawmakers to reject the dangerous EARN IT Act.
Policy experts agree that the EARN IT Act is an unconstitutional attempt to destroy essential encryption technology that keeps our digital communications safe from malicious hackers, invasive government surveillance, and other serious threats. The Trump administration has been spying on the digital communications of journalists and Black Lives Matter protesters, and the EARN IT Act will certainly be used as another tool to silence political opposition.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has the power to stop Congress from ever voting on the EARN IT Act. If we flood the offices of these Senators with phone calls demanding an end to the EARN IT Act, they’ll listen.
So on Tuesday, June 30, please do the following:
1. Visit NoEarnItAct.org/call 2. Enter your phone number (it will not be saved or stored or shared with anyone) 3. When you are connected to a Senator’s office, encourage that Senator to reject the EARN IT Act 4. Press the * key on your phone to move on to the next lawmaker’s office
Let’s all speak up and make our voices heard … while we still can.
Today lawmakers in the House and Senate jointly introduced legislationthat effectively bans law enforcement use of facial recognition in the United States. The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020 is sponsored by Senators Markey and Merkley as well as Representatives Jayapal and Pressley. It would immediately stop Federal agencies in the US from using facial recognition technology, and would require local and state law enforcement agencies to enact a similar policy banning use of facial recognition in order to receive Federal grants through the Byrne grant program. There is no time limit on the ban –– it would stop the use of the technology unless Congress passes a law to “un-ban” it.
The legislation comes just one day after Robert Williams, a Black man in Detroit who was falsely arrested in front of his family due to a racially biased facial recognition algorithm,told his story in the Washington Post.
Fight for the Future, the digital rights group behind BanFacialRecognition.com, a coalition of dozens of organizations calling for an outright ban on law enforcement use of facial recognition, issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Deputy Director Evan Greer (pronouns: she/her):
“Facial recognition is a uniquely dangerous form of surveillance. This is not just some Orwellian technology of the future –– it’s being used by law enforcement agencies across the country right now, and doing harm to communities right now. Facial recognition is the perfect technology for tyranny. It automates discriminatory policing and exacerbates existing injustices in our deeply racist criminal justice system. This legislation effectively bans law enforcement use of facial recognition in the United States. That’s exactly what we need right now. We give this bill our full endorsement.
Congress should pass this bill as soon as possible. Republican lawmakers especially who have been speaking out about civil liberties and privacy in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis will expose themselves as hypocrites if they do not quickly endorse this legislation. Once this bill is passed, Congress should move quickly to pass legislation that also bans corporations, schools, and other private institutions from using facial recognition for surveillance purposes.
Facial recognition is like nuclear or biological weapons. It poses such a threat to the future of human society that any potential benefits are outweighed by the inevitable harms. This inherently oppressive technology cannot be reformed or regulated. It should be abolished.”
Since last year, Fight for the Future has been leading a national campaign backed by dozens of other grassroots organizations calling for an outright ban on law enforcement and government use of facial recognition. In February, the group expanded its efforts to explicitly call for lawmakers to also ban private individuals, institutions, and corporations from using this technology in public places, for surveillance purposes, or without the subjects’ knowledge and affirmative consent, such as unlocking a phone. Even seemingly innocuous uses of facial recognition, like speeding up lines or using your face as a form of payment, normalize the act of handing over sensitive biometric information and pose a serious threat to security and civil liberties. The group is also providing support for activists on the ground pushing for bans at the local level. Boston just became the largest city on the east coast to ban government use of facial recognition. Detroit City Council is expected to vote soonon whether to renew their police department’s contract with a facial recognition vendor.
Fight for the Future worked with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and other artists to lead a successful campaign to keep facial recognition technology out of US music festivals and live concerts. More than 40 of the worlds’ largest festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, and SXSW confirmed they won’t use the tech at their events. The group then worked with Students for a Sensible Drug Policy to get more than 60 prominent colleges and universities to confirm they won’t use facial recognition on campus. 150+ university facultyissued an open letterechoing student demands to ban the use of face surveillance on college campuses. Students across the country held a national day of action in March.
Fight for the Future is continuing to run campaigns in defense of basic human rights and civil liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, the group launched TakeThisSeriously.org, a pledge calling on people to listen to public health officials, practice social distancing, and fight back against attempts by governments and corporations to exploit the crisis by expanding surveillance or cracking down on human rights. The group is also running high profile campaigns to stop the encryption-killingEARN IT act, oppose the reauthorization of FISA and USA PATRIOT ACT surveillance authorities, and end Amazon’s 1,300+ Ring doorbell partnerships with police. They recently had a major victory pressuring Zoom to change course and offer end-to-end encryption to all users.
Thousands of people and dozens of prominent civil liberties, privacy, and racial justice organizations are calling on the Detroit City Council to vote against a measure to renew the Detroit Police Department’s controversial contract for invasive, racially biased facial recognition software.
Local organizations like the Detroit Community Technology Project, Detroit Digital Justice Coalition, ACLU-Michigan, Detroit Justice Center, Green Light Black Futures Campaign, and the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership have been leading the fight to oppose the DPD’s controversial use of facial recognition surveillance software for years. They have held town halls, consulted on legislation and ordinances, organized community surveys, hosted community meetings, launched social media campaigns and hosted livestreams, organized demonstrations and educated the public through teach-ins. The issue has been thrust into the spotlight again in recent weeks as massive racial justice protests have swept Detroit, and the nation.
Dozens of national organizations, including Color of Change, Greenpeace, MoveOn, CAIR, Daily Kos, Mijente, United We Dream, and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination League have endorsed the BanFacialRecogntion.com campaign led by Fight for the Future. Today, Fight for the Future electronically delivered nearly 2,000 signatures to Detroit City Council, with a note urging them to vote against the renewal and expansion of DPD’s face surveillance contract with DataWorks Plus. The group has also set up a phone number to drive calls to the city council. Detroit residents can call 858-264-0403 to easily connect to each member of the council in succession and make their voice heard.
More than 75,000 people across the US have taken action calling on elected officials to enact an outright ban on law enforcement use of facial recognition, which experts say is a uniquely dangerous form of surveillance that exacerbates existing forms of discrimination in policing.
“We are at a historic moment in the world, where there is a global outcry in defense of Black lives. People are waking up all over the world demanding that the system of policing be reimagined. That the resources poured into militarization, mass surveillance and incarceration be reinvested into neighborhoods, families, equitable health systems, better educational systems, affordable water and truly affordable housing infrastructure. We know that now is the time to make it clear that surveillance and safety are opposites. It would be shameful for the Blackest city in America to ignore the call to model what respect for Black lives could look like, by instead doubling down and further investing in this racially unjust technology.” said Tawana Petty (she/her), Director Data Justice Program, Detroit Community Technology Project
“We believe that all people deserve to feel safe and cared for in our communities, and we know safety is established by adequate resources that create self sustaining communities and prioritize the most marginalized. Surveillance and facial recognition technology - and policing in all its forms - compromises the true safety of marginalized communities. It is beautiful to see so many people rising up to say that we keep us safe, that we will not accept the violence of the state, that we deserve to be valued and prioritized - and cities demonstrate their priorities in the ways they spend money. The calls to #DefundPolice & #BlackOutGreenLight are rooted in the demand to be seen as deserving of true safety, to be free from fear and distrust of our neighbors, to demand the resources we need to thrive. We know that police and surveillance cameras do not keep us safe.” PG Watkins (they/them), organizer with the Green Light Black Futures campaign
“As the world continues to reel from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and brown protesters are literally risking their lives to protest against police violence in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others. In response, the police have escalated their violence toward protesters with tear gases, rubber bullets, and surveillance tools, like facial recognition, to target, track and arrest protesters. The police are not neutral actors and do not maintain public safety. After seeing the abusive and problematic use of facial recognition against protesters, several tech companies have stepped away from the facial recognition business. It’s time for our local representatives all over the country to step up and revoke all contracts that give the police more power and more tools to harm our communities. Defunding the police also means taking away their technology." said Myaisha Hayes (she/her), Campaign Strategies Director at Media Justice
"While the nation is watching, Detroit’s City Council has the chance to be on the right side of history. There is no good facial recognition software — bias is baked into its coding — and in the hands of the police, it’s a dangerous surveillance tool that heightens the tremendous attacks that Black communities already face. A vote to renew the facial recognition contract for the Detroit Police Department is a vote against Black Detroiters and all Detroiters who are taking action for justice.” - said Brandi Collins (she/her), Senior Campaign Director at Color Of Change
“The rapid spread of facial-recognition technology has outpaced our ability to keep its many abuses in check. In particular, this dangerous technology allows law enforcement and corporate actors to monitor and identify individuals without their knowledge or consent. We know that police disproportionately surveil people of color, religious minorities and dissident groups in ways that undermine their rights to privacy, free expression and free assembly. We can only imagine how dangerous this spying capability is when used at a protest or religious gathering. The technology is less accurate when used to identify – or rather, so often misidentify – people of color, raising incredibly troubling racial justice issues. No regulations could account sufficiently for the serious threat facial recognition technology poses. ” - Sandy Fulton (she/her), Director of Government Relations at Free Press
“At a time when local elected officials across the country are listening to their communities and taking steps to defund and rein in police departments that have routinely violated people’s basic human rights, it’s unthinkable that the Detroit City Council would not only renew but expand their city’s use of invasive, racist, facial recognition surveillance software,” said Evan Greer (she/her), Deputy Director of Fight for the Future. “The whole world is watching. Detroit police have a massive surveillance apparatus, one of the most extensive in the country. If Detroit City Council votes to renew this contract during this moment in history, they’re showing blatant disregard for the safety and basic rights of Black and brown people, not just in Detroit but around the world.”
“Study after study has shown that face recognition is inaccurate, biased, and prone to misuse,” said Clare Garvie (she/her), senior associate with the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law. “Detroit residents have every right to be concerned, and City Council would do well to listen.”
Jake Laperruque (he/him) of the Project on Government Oversight said “Facial recognition is dangerous. It is especially prone to misidentifying people of color, can easily be abused to target protesters, and enables dragnet surveillance. Detroit and other cities across the country should stop pushing this invasive and unchecked surveillance on their communities.”
"The use of facial recognition technology is invasive, often unconstitutional, and always discriminatory. We stand with Detroit Community Technologies and residents of Detroit in calling on the City Council to oppose the renewal DPD’s facial recognition software contract,“ added Sue Udry (she/her), executive director, Defending Rights & Dissent.
"The disproportionate surveillance of Black people stems directly from the militarization of law enforcement and feeds directly into overpolicing. Combined with facial recognition’s proven bias against communities of color, now is absolutely the wrong time to extend controversial, privacy-invasive, and faulty surveillance,” said Sean Vitka (he/him), Senior Policy Council at Demand Progress.
Lauren Sarkesian (she/her), Senior Policy Counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute, said “Last week, three major tech companies halted their sales of facial recognition technology to police, acknowledging the technology’s racial bias and its disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities. These moves should serve as a wake-up call to lawmakers across the country, including the Detroit City Council as it considers renewing its contract in the coming weeks. Facial recognition technology is dangerous and unregulated at present, and does not belong in the hands of Detroit police for use in surveilling residents of already over-surveilled communities. Especially now as our nation begins to confront longstanding patterns of racial injustice, the Detroit City Council must oppose the renewal of the Detroit Police Department’s facial recognition contract, and halt law enforcement facial recognition use throughout the city.”
VICTORY! Zoom will offer end-to-end encryption to all users, not just those who pay
End-to-end encryption keeps people safe and protects human rights. Every company should offer it wherever possible, and governments should stop trying to ban it
Today, Zoom announced they will offer end to end encryption to all users.
This comes one day after civil and privacy rights groups - Fight for the Future, Mozilla, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Daily Kos, Color of Change, Council on American-Islamic Relations-SFBA, Kairos, Media Alliance, Mijente, MPower Change, Daily Kos, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, Jewish Voice for Peace, X-Lab, S, Constitutional Alliance, Secure Justice, and Open Media - delivered 70,000 signatures to Zoom demanding they implement end to end encryption for all users.
The groups initially launched their campaign in response to Zoom’s admissionthat they did not use end to end encryption despite years of marketing otherwise. In April, the groups held a press conferencecalling on Zoom to offer end to end encryption as the single most important thing the company could do to keep people safe.
Fight for the Future, issued the following statement, which can be attributed to deputy director Evan Greer (she/her):
“This is a big victory for grassroots activists who fought hard to make sure that Zoom offers strong encryption to everyone, not just to their corporate clients and those who can pay.
End-to-end encryption is one of the most important technologies keeping people safe online, and it’s essential for basic human rights. Every company should offer users end-to-end encryption wherever possible. And companies should stand up for their users rights by refusing to enter into partnerships or build backdoors for law enforcement agencies that routinely abuse their power.
Companies should also speak out and fight for their users rights by opposing dangerous and misguided attempts by lawmakers and government agencies to undermine end-to-end encryption. Zoom should join Signal and dozens of civil society groups in opposing the EARN IT act, for example.
Lawmakers in Congress should do everything in their power to encourage the widespread adoption and use of end-to-end encryption, and should reject legislation that would undermine encryption or discourage companies from offering it.”
FFTF is currently running campaigns to opposethe reauthorization of FISA and Patriot Act surveillance authorities, calling on federal and local lawmakers to ban facial recognition, supporting protesters with surveillance self-defense advice, pressuring local elected officials to shut down Amazon Ring’s surveillance partnerships with police, and has mobilized 600k petition signers in working to stopthe EARN IT act.
UPDATED JUNE 11th: Microsoft has now issued a similar statement saying they will stop selling facial recognition software to police until there are “national standards.” The statement below has been updated to reflect this development.
Amazon just announced that they will place a one year moratorium on selling their invasive, racially biased facial recognition surveillance software to police. The announcement comes on the heels of one from IBM, who announced plans to get out of the facial recognition business entirely, and questioned whether artificial intelligence powered surveillance should be allowed at all.
Digital rights group Fight for the Future, who have led a coalition of dozens of organizations calling for an outright ban on facial recognition surveillance, issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Deputy Director Evan Greer (she/her):
“These moves from Amazon and Microsoft are essentially a public relations stunt. But it’s also a sign that facial recognition is increasingly politically toxic, which is a result of the incredible organizing happening on the ground right now.
Amazon and Microsoft know that facial recognition software is dangerous. They know it’s the perfect tool for tyranny. They know it’s racist––and that in the hands of police it will simply exacerbate systemic discrimination in our criminal justice system.
The specifics of Amazon and Microsoft’s statements are telling. They “stand ready to help if requested.” They’ve been calling for the Federal government to “regulate” facial recognition, because they want their corporate lawyers to help write the legislation, to ensure that it’s friendly to their surveillance capitalist business model. It’s likely Congress will impose some limitations on police use of facial recognition soon. Amazon wants to pretend it was their idea all along. They’ll spend the next year “improving” the accuracy of their facial recognition algorithms, making it even more effective as an Orwellian surveillance tool. Then they’ll unleash their army of lobbyists to push for industry-friendly “regulations” that assuage public concern while allowing them to profit.
We also know that Amazon has marketed their face surveillance technology to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and their statement doesn’t say whether this moratorium will apply to other government agencies that routinely violate human rights. Amazon’s Ring surveillance doorbell company still maintains more than 1,000 surveillance partnerships with police departments across the country, enabling automated racial profiling and surveillance of entire neighborhoods.
The reality is that facial recognition technology is too dangerous to be used at all. Like nuclear or biological weapons, it poses such a profound threat to the future of humanity that it should be banned outright. Lawmakers need to stop pandering to Big Tech companies and corrupt law enforcement agencies and do their jobs. Congress should act immediately to ban facial recognition for all surveillance purposes.”
Fight for the Future has been leading a national campaignbacked by dozens of other grassroots organizations calling for an outright ban on law enforcement and government use of facial recognition. In February, the group expanded its efforts to explicitly call for lawmakers to also ban private individuals, institutions, and corporations from using this technology in public places, for surveillance purposes, or without the subjects’ knowledge and affirmative consent, such as unlocking a phone. Even seemingly innocuous uses of facial recognition, like speeding up lines or using your face as a form of payment, normalize the act of handing over sensitive biometric information and pose a serious threat to security and civil liberties.
Fight for the Future worked with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and other artists to lead a successful campaign to keep facial recognition technology out of US music festivals and live concerts. More than 40 of the worlds’ largest festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, and SXSW confirmed they won’t use the tech at their events. The group then worked with Students for a Sensible Drug Policy to get more than 60 prominent colleges and universitiesto confirm they won’t use facial recognition on campus. 150+ university facultyissued an open letterechoing student demands to ban the use of face surveillance on college campuses. Students across the country held a national day of actionin March.
The group is currently supporting protesters with surveillanceself-defense advice, pressuring local elected officialsto shut downAmazon Ring’s surveillance partnerships with police, running campaignsto opposethe reauthorization of FISA and Patriot Act surveillance authorities,calling on Zoomto offer end-to-end encryption to all users, and working to stopthe EARN IT act, which threatens both end to end encryption and online freedom of expression. Follow us on Twitter @fightfortheftr.
Congress has failed to enact even the most basic reforms to ineffective and invasive mass government surveillance programs authorized under FISA. They should let them sunset and never bring them back.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on legislation that would reauthorize several domestic surveillance authorities including Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT ACT. They may also vote on an amendment offered by Representatives Lofgren and Davidson that claims to prevent mass surveillance of US internet activity, but in fact fails to do so thanks to a major loophole added by Rep Adam Schiff at the last minute. House reps should vote no on both the underlying USA Freedom Reauthorization Act, and –– unless it is improved –– the watered down Lofgren/Davidson amendment, which essentially throws immigrant communities under the bus and could potentially be used to conduct dragnet surveillance of all people who have watched a specific YouTube video or visited a specific website.
Digital rights group Fight for the Future, who have long opposed the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and related surveillance authorities, issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Deputy Director Evan Greer (she/her):
“Mass government surveillance is fundamentally incompatible with democracy and basic human rights. It shouldn’t matter where you’re from. Everyone should have the basic right to due process and to be free from unreasonable and warrantless government intrusion into their private lives.
House Democrats had an opportunity to enact meaningful protections that would have kept people safe. Instead they let Rep Adam Schiff throw it all away at the last minute. Frankly, Schiff may be the biggest hypocrite in Congress. He constantly talks about how the Trump administration is dangerous and authoritarian. And he’s right. But time and time again he has done everything in his power to ensure that the Trump administration has essentially limitless domestic surveillance authority that can be weaponized to target immigrants, activists, journalists, and religious minorities. Speaker Pelosi shouldn’t let Adam Schiff near national security legislation ever again. His disgraceful actions just handed a win to Trump and McConnell for absolutely no reason other than that he just seems to truly love government spying, despite there being almost no evidence that these programs have ever saved a single human life.
Enough is enough. Congress should let these FISA surveillance authorities die. And they should never bring them back."
Fight for the Future and a broad coalitionof civil society groups from across the political spectrum have been working tirelessly to oppose the reauthorization of mass government surveillance programs. The group has driven tens of thousands of phone calls and emails to lawmakers in recent weeks, hosted a popularreddit AMA, a series of livestreams on MTV News, and a day of action at SaveInternetPrivacy.org.
