A coalition of civil society organizations and security experts urged President Obama to reject proposal to weaken encryption used in U.S. products. Administration officials, including FBI Director Comey, have advocated for broken encryption to enable law enforcement access to private communications. The letter details how weakened encryption undermines cybersecurity and economic security.
A broad coalition of organizations now oppose cybersecurity bills currently before Congress. The groups warn that the measures will increase monitoring of Internet users, increase government secrecy, and remove judicial oversight for government surveillance. Many have described the cyber security bills as “cyber surveillance” measures.
Over sixty NGOs from around the world joined a letter to President Juncker of the European Commission, urging him to uphold robust data protection standards. The institutions of the European Union are currently negotiating the new General Data Protection Regulation. The European Commission previously promised that the Data Protection Regulation would be at least as strong as the 1995 Directive it replaces.
A coalition of consumer groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of the impact on the American public of the growing consolidation of consumer data in the digital marketing industry. The groups asked the FTC to launch an investigation and hold a public workshop on protecting privacy in online transactions.
A coalition of civil liberties groups is advocating for changes that would create more oversight and accountability in Congress for national security issues. In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, more than 50 organizations recommended that the leadership provide all Members of Congress with access to relevant information and sufficient staff assistance. That groups recommended revising procedures for the House Permanent Select Committee on Oversight so that other Committees are kept informed, unclassified reports are made public with minimal delay, and the Committee operates more openly. The groups proposed a Congressional option for whistleblowers
A coalition of consumer privacy groups in comments to the Federal Communications Commission on the “Roadmap for Improving E911 Location Accuracy” explained that collecting location information without privacy protections puts customers at risk.
