Privacy

Politicians, pundits and populists across the political spectrum are blaming tech companies for undermining democracy, invading privacy, facilitating various other ills, from sex trafficking to the opioid crisis, and concentrating power over both markets and speech too narrowly. Taken together, these arguments would fundamentally transform the approach that has allowed the Internet to flourish. We proudly defend the freedoms that make technological progress both possible and beneficial

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TechFreedom Releases First Comprehensive Analysis of Federalism Obstacles to State Net Neutrality Regulations

WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, TechFreedom published a comprehensive analysis of why state laws and executive orders attempting to replicate, or expand upon, the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules will likely fail in court. Earlier this year, the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO) repealed those rules after concluding that broadband is a Title I information service requiring a regulatory light touch, rather than a Title II telecommunication service subject to common carrier ...

Graham Owens
October 31, 2018
Article

The Facebook Scandal: How Congress, FTC Should Respond

WASHINGTON D.C. —­­ Today, as the House and Senate hold hearings with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TechFreedom issued a letter to Members of Congress sharing (1) our legal analysis of Facebook’s handling of user data and (2) policy guidance on how the Federal Trade Commission and Congress should respond to Facebook’s handling of Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of user data. “Facebook clearly dropped the ball here, and some governmental response is justified, but Congress must ...

Berin Szóka
April 10, 2018
Podcast

Carving Out Privacy Rights: Carpenter v US

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December 1, 2017
Article

Ambitious Surveillance Reform Bill Introduced in Senate

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced key legislation aimed at protecting American citizens whose data is gathered inadvertently under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Reps. Zoe Lofgren, (D-CA), Ted Poe, (R-TX)  and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), introduced companion legislation in the House. If passed, the USA RIGHTS Act of 2017 would be the biggest win for privacy and transparency since the USA ...

October 24, 2017
Article

Simons, Chopra, Phillips Nominated to Federal Trade Commission

WASHINGTON D.C. — Yesterday, the President nominated Republican Joe Simons to chair the Federal Trade Commission as well as Democrat Rohit Chopra and Republican Noah Phillips. Simons directed the FTC’s Bureau of Competition 2001-03, and previously directed held two other senior roles in that Bureau in the late 1980s; he is currently a Partner at Paul Weiss. Chopra served as Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombudsman between 2010 and 2015, and is currently a Senior Fellow ...

Berin Szóka
October 19, 2017
Article

A Victory for Online & Political Free Speech in Dreamhost Case

WASHINGTON D.C. —Yesterday, in a major victory for online and political free speech, the Chief Judge of the D.C. Superior Court revised an earlier order governing how the Department of Justice can access user data stored by Dreamhost. Judge Morin’s new order allows the web hosting company to protect the identities of innocent political dissidents by redacting the identities of individual users of the anti-Trump website disruptJ20.org before turning over information to DOJ. Before obtaining ...

Graham Owens
October 11, 2017
Article

House Bill Makes Key Surveillance Reforms but Leaves Backdoor Open for Americans’ Communications

Today, a discussion draft of major legislation was introduced to protect American citizens whose data is gathered inadvertently under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. Similar to the USA Freedom Act of 2015, which ended bulk surveillance of American citizens under Section 215 of the 2001 PATRIOT Act, the USA Liberty Act of 2017 overhauls surveillance that is supposed to be limited to targets outside the U.S. but actually affects Americans. Section ...

October 5, 2017
Article

FTC Process Reforms Key for Next Century of Consumer Protection

ECHFREEDOM PRESIDENT TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE TODAY WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, TechFreedom President Berin Szóka will testify on the need for FTC reform, particularly in regard to its policing of data security and privacy, before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security. Szóka’s written testimony states: The question is not whether the FTC should be the Federal Technology Commission, ...

September 26, 2017