Today, the 老澳门开奖结果 sent a letter to both the House and Senate, urging them to provide secure voice and text messaging capabilities to Members and their staff. (The Washington Post about our letter today.)
In recent years, computer security researchers have warned about the poor security of cellular networks, which in many cases use broken encryption technology that is several decades old. As a result, it is often trivially easy for third parties鈥攚hich can include foreign intelligence services, criminals and stalkers鈥攖o intercept calls and text messages.
Although the calling and texting services provided by wireless carriers are not secure, there are a number of widely available secure communications apps that individuals and organizations can use to protect themselves. These include tools like Apple鈥檚 iMessage and Facetime, Facebook鈥檚 WhatsApp, and Open Whisper Systems鈥� Signal.
In the letter we sent today, to the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms鈥攚ho are also responsible for Congress鈥� digital security鈥攚e encourage the Sergeants to provide smartphones and secure communications apps, such as Signal or FaceTime, to members and their staff. As we note in the letter:
While the civil liberties implications of vulnerable government information technology may not be readily apparent, they are nonetheless, and increasingly, significant鈥�.secure communications facilities preserve effective checks and balances in constitutional government, and insecure facilities threaten them. Those checks and balances serve as safeguards of individual liberties and civil rights. They also protect the civil liberties and privacy of the thousands of Congressional and government employees, who are themselves attractive targets of both foreign adversaries and, indeed, insider threats.
Ensuring the security of Congressional communications against all interception鈥攚hether by foreign governments, criminals, or even other branches of the U.S. government or rogue Congressional staffers 鈥� would promote both basic liberty interests and national security.
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Privacy & Technology
老澳门开奖结果 Applauds Arizona Supreme Court Historic Decision That Police Need a Warrant to Access DNA老澳门开奖结果 Applauds Arizona Supreme Court Historic Decision That Police Need a Warrant to Access DNA
PHOENIX 鈥� In a 7-0 decision, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a warrant is required to extract and analyze people鈥檚 DNA, saying that a person鈥檚 limited consent to a search of biological material for a specific purpose鈥攊n this case, a blood alcohol test for a DUI arrest鈥攄oes not overcome that requirement. The 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona filed a friend-of-the-court brief in State v. Mitcham, arguing the government cannot genetically test biological material it already has in its possession鈥攚hether that鈥檚 blood taken from newborns to test for diseases or swabs collected from sexual assault survivors鈥攖o investigate the donors for a crime without first obtaining a warrant. In the decision, the court wrote that 鈥渋n reaching this conclusion, we emphatically reject the State鈥檚 position that it was free to analyze Mitcham鈥檚 blood in any way it pleased simply because the State lawfully possessed the blood vials.鈥� 鈥淕overnment analysis of our DNA can expose detailed information about our identity, appearance, family relationships, medical conditions, and more. We don鈥檛 consent to sharing all of that information each time we involuntarily shed our DNA or consent to a blood draw. The government鈥檚 argument in this case was a privacy nightmare,鈥� said Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淲e are greatly heartened by the Arizona Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to preserve the privacy of our sensitive genetic information.鈥� In 2015, during a DUI arrest, the defendant in this case consented to the government collecting a sample of his blood solely to test it for blood-alcohol content, and was advised that the sample would be destroyed after 90 days. Instead, law enforcement held on to this sample for three years, at which point it used it for a completely different purpose鈥攖o extract and analyze his DNA, without a warrant or consent鈥攚hile investigating another crime. Had the court accepted the government鈥檚 rationale here, all of us who consent to a biological sample collection, at any point in time, for any purpose, to any government entity, could have been subject to a warrantless DNA search after the fact. 鈥淥ur DNA can reveal so much about us that our genetic privacy must be protected,鈥� said Jared Keenan, legal director of 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona. 鈥淭he Court鈥檚 decision is vital to protecting the strong constitutional rights that keep all Arizonans鈥� information safe from warrantless searches and unconstitutional intrusion.鈥� -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Privacy & Technology
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MississippiJul 2024
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