Cybersecurity

Our world runs on computers and the Internet. We use them for everything, from communicating with long-lost classmates to managing our bank accounts to buying anything from cars to diapers. The effort to keep these systems secure is known as cybersecurity. Unfortunately, all too often, simple, effective cybersecurity steps are not taken, like changing passwords routinely or updating and patching holes in software. Even when they are, sophisticated hackers can sometimes get around these defenses. The government is using this threat to try to expand its power and permit companies to funnel our sensitive, personal online information to it. Learn more >>

04/16/2012
On the Agenda

On the Agenda: Week of April 16 – 20, 2012

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 11:29am

Congress is back in session, so we've got a busy week ahead.

Today, the ACLU, along with several other groups, is launching a weeklong campaign called "Stop Cyber Spying Week" to draw attention to the massive civil liberties problems in H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, better known as CISPA. CISPA is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives next week. Tomorrow ACLU Legislative Counsel Michelle Richardson will speak at a House Hill Briefing called "The False Choice: Cybersecurity vs. Civil Liberties."

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04/09/2012
On the Agenda

On the Agenda: Week of April 9-13, 2012

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 12:02pm

Congress is still in recess this week, but we're looking ahead and planning on some big events later in the month.

Equal Pay Day will fall on April 17 this year, marking how far women, on average, have to work into 2012 to be paid the same as men were paid in 2011. The ACLU is working in conjunction with the Obama administration and the Paycheck Fairness Coalition to roll out material and promote issues of fair pay, including gaining congressional support for the Paycheck Fairness Act and urging the president to sign an executive order banning retaliation for wage disclosure in federal contracting.

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03/26/2012
On the Agenda

On the Agenda: March 26-30, 2012

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 10:20am

All eyes will be on the Supreme Court this week, as the justices hear a case that challenges President Obama's health care law. As we explain below, the Court will devote three days to the case.

As we've pointed out repeatedly, more oversight is needed of the TSA, so we'll be watching a hearing on the agency's effectiveness on Monday as well. The rest of the week rounds out with immigration, reproductive rights and lots of cybersecurity hearings.

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02/16/2012
Cybersecurity

Ice Cream: Very, Very Good. Cybersecurity Bill: Not So Much

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 7:44pm

Today, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee held a hearing on S. 2105, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, sponsored by Sens. Lieberman, Collins, Rockefeller and Feinstein. Introduced earlier this week, this bill delivers the comprehensive reform that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats have been promising since last summer. We will blog a more thorough analysis tomorrow, but short story is that the bill is a mixed bag for civil liberties. The good news is that the bill does not include a kill switch; the bad is that it permits companies to share American internet use data with military agencies like the NSA. So color us shocked that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on the hearing record that the ACLU thinks the bill is "very, very good." Chocolate ice cream is very, very good. The complex, 205-page, ground-breaking rewrite of existing law — well, needs a few changes to really protect privacy. Check back soon for more information.

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02/03/2012
Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Bill Advances in House – But Does it Advance Privacy?

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:06pm

Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity passed a bill that will permit greater information sharing for cybersecurity efforts. Called the PRECISE Act, the bill as reported out of the subcommittee, will create an exception to privacy laws so that companies who hold Internet use information (like your browsing history or IP address) can share it in the name of protecting cybersecurity. This would be facilitated by a new public-private entity created to receive, process and distribute the data back out to companies and government agencies who would theoretically use it to protect their own networks.

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12/05/2011
Cybersecurity

ACLU and Its International Allies Call for Protections in New U.S.-Canadian Border Deal

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 3:47pm

The ACLU today released a set of “Core Legal Principles” that we believe should govern U.S. border policies – specifically, a “North American Security Perimeter” plan that the United States and Canada are jointly developing. We are jointly releasing these Legal Principles with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the London-based Privacy International.

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10/24/2011
Cybersecurity

The Patriot Act, Cyber-Edition

By Josh Bell, Media Strategist, ACLU at 5:22pm

This week marks 10 years since the Patriot Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The ACLU is hosting a blog series that will address some of the sweeping changes to surveillance laws over the past decade. To learn more about the Patriot Act, visit www.aclu.org/patriot.

Congress is currently considering new cybersecurity measures, including some proposed by the Obama administration. But the plans threaten to make the same mistakes as the Patriot Act, which has its 10th anniversary this Wednesday.

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10/06/2011
Cybersecurity

Happy Cybersecurity Awareness Month!

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:50pm

We would like to educate you about how cybersecurity may justify the next series of big brother powers.

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03/03/2010
Cybersecurity

U.S. Security Agencies Begging for a Cybersecurity "Cold War"

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 3:34pm

(Originally posted on Huffington Post.)

So the U.S. security establishment is salivating at the prospect of a new cybersecurity "Cold War." In an over-the-top op-ed in Tuesday's Washington Post, Mike McConnell issues a declaration that we are "fighting a cyber war today" and compares it to the nuclear showdown with the Soviets. McConnell exemplifies the security establishment as much as anyone — former director of the National Security Agency (NSA), former Director of National Intelligence, and currently executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, a private-sector refuge for former U.S. intelligence officials (and a company that stands to make large sums from consulting on cybersecurity).

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02/09/2010
Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is Not Your Gig, NSA!

By Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:57pm

The news that the NSA and Google are working on a deal for the military agency to help protect the information giant's data networks comes at a time when the NSA is angling to get a major piece of cybersecurity action.

The only problem is, despite what the agency would have us believe, the NSA is mainly a spy agency, not a cybersecurity agency. The agency's website says:

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