In the wake of the horrific violence in Minneapolis earlier this year, CDT called out the killings of two people observing ICE activities as well as the agency’s broader constitutional violations. As people across the country documented ICE abuses and spoke out against them on social media, and DHS retaliated by attempting to unmask users’ identities, we’ve emphasized Americans’ right to privacy and anonymity online. In an op-ed, CDT’s Kate Ruane encouraged the private sector to stand up to unconstitutional government actions and safeguard their users’ rights, including their anonymity. CDT and civil society partners also called on the Trump Administration to respect the public’s right to record law enforcement, a crucial element of transparency necessary to a healthy democracy. We previously raised concerns about risks to civil rights and civil liberties posed by ICE’s use of face recognition and other surveillance measures in the field.
Meanwhile, CDT has continued highlighting the risks posed by the federal government’s unprecedented efforts to consolidate and gain access to the data held by state public agencies. Last week, we released widely-cited polling research showing that 74 percent of Americans are concerned about the privacy and security of their data held by the government. Our research showed that these high levels of concern are consistent across demographic groups, including political affiliation, geography, age, and race and ethnicity. We led a letter to Congress urging bipartisan oversight of how public agencies are handling Americans’ personal data.
We continue to engage with a number of federal agencies on this issue, opposing the Treasury Department’s effort to consolidate information about the millions of Americans participating in financial assistance programs, joining an amicus brief challenging the IRS’s disclosure of confidential information to immigration enforcement agencies, opposing the Department of Labor’s effort to access detailed unemployment insurance information, and continuing to speak out against efforts to consolidate highly sensitive state-held voter registration data.
Supporting state governments on the ground, we published a State Public Benefits Administrators’ Guide to complying with existing privacy protections amidst an evolving immigration landscape, and a guide for state legislators seeking to protect the data collected and stored by their government agencies.
CDT is also working to counter government surveillance. When the Department of Defense designated Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company drew a red line against facilitating mass domestic surveillance, CDT played a leading role articulating the constitutional principles and free market values at stake. We filed an amicus brief with the ACLU, published op-eds, and led a high-profile coalition letter that brought together national security leaders like the former CIA Director and former Secretaries of the Army and Navy with civil liberties leaders, free market groups, and human rights organizations.
On the Hill, CDT is pushing for key reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, which is set to expire this month. We’re raising concerns over improper use of U.S. person queries, which enable agencies like the FBI and CIA to read American’s private messages without a warrant, and calling to close the dangerous “data broker loophole” that allows law enforcement agencies to circumnavigate warrant requirements by simply buying sensitive data about Americans from data brokers. Throughout, we’re uniting voices on the right and left to protect Americans’ freedoms and individual rights.
