Home : Privacy & Technology : Surveillance & Wiretapping

Why a Surveillance Society Clock? (09/04/2007)

Fact Sheet: Why BellSouth Stockholders Should Be Cautious (07/21/2006)
Considerations for BellSouth shareholders with regard to the AT&T merger and the NSA spying controversy

Secure Flight compared to CAPPS II (03/29/2005)
Chart and graphic comparing Secure Flight to its predecessor CAPPS II

The MATRIX: Data Mining Moves Into the States (10/30/2003)
Now the same ideas that inspired TIA have reappeared in an alarming new program that has been dubbed The Matrix (""Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange""). Run by a private corporation on behalf of a cooperative network of state governments, The Matrix, which is already up and running, is a ""data surveillance"" program every bit as dangerous and Orwellian as Total Information Awareness.

Q&A On Face-Recognition (09/02/2003)

FAQ on Government Access to Medical Records (05/30/2003)
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Government Access to Personal Medical Information (under the USA Patriot Act and the HIPAA regulations)

Q&A on the Pentagon's "Total Information Awareness" Program (04/20/2003)
TIA may be the closest thing to a true "Big Brother" program that has ever been seriously contemplated in the United States. It is based on a vision of pulling together as much information as possible about as many people as possible into an "ultra-large-scale" database, making that information available to government officials, and sorting through it to try to identify terrorists.

Feature: Monitoring the Government's New Surveillance Powers (03/12/2003)
Feature on the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act request demanding that the Department of Justice provide information about the pervasiveness of domestic spying.

Is the Threat From "Total Information Awareness" Overblown? (12/18/2002)
Since the Pentagon's ""Total Information Awareness"" entered the news recently, the Pentagon, the Heritage Foundation, and others have begun claiming that the furor over the program is based on an exaggerated fears about what it would do. However, a look at statements and materials made by the Pentagon about its intentions before the furor erupted shows that public concern is entirely justified.

Comparison of electronic surveillance under Title III and FISA (09/19/2002)

What's Wrong With Public Video Surveillance? (02/25/2002)
Although the ACLU has no objection to cameras at specific, high-profile public places that are potential terrorist targets, such as the U.S. Capitol, the impulse to blanket our public spaces and streets with video surveillance is a bad idea.

ID Cards: 5 Reasons Why They Should Be Rejected (01/01/2002)
ID Cards

Surveillance Under the USA/PATRIOT Act (10/23/2001)

Surveillance Powers: A Chart (10/10/2001)

Wiretapping Provisions of Anti-Terrorism Legislation (10/10/2001)