Privacy and Surveillance

The 桃子视频works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

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What's at Stake

Privacy today faces growing threats from a growing surveillance apparatus that is often justified in the name of national security. Numerous government agencies鈥攊ncluding the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and state and local law enforcement agencies鈥攊ntrude upon the private communications of innocent citizens, amass vast databases of who we call and when, and catalog 鈥渟uspicious activities鈥 based on the vaguest standards.

The government鈥檚 collection of this sensitive information is itself an invasion of privacy. But its use of this data is also rife with abuse. Innocuous data is fed into bloated watchlists, with severe consequences鈥攊nnocent individuals have found themselves unable to board planes, barred from certain types of jobs, shut out of their bank accounts, and repeatedly questioned by authorities. Once information is in the government鈥檚 hands, it can be shared widely and retained for years, and the rules about access and use can be changed entirely in secret without the public ever knowing.

Our Constitution and democratic system demand that the government be transparent and accountable to the people, not the other way around. History has shown that powerful, secret surveillance tools will almost certainly be abused for political ends and turned disproportionately on disfavored minorities.

The 桃子视频has been at the forefront of the struggle to prevent the entrenchment of a surveillance state by challenging the secrecy of the government鈥檚 surveillance and watchlisting practices; its violations of our rights to privacy, free speech, due process, and association; and its stigmatization of minority communities and activists disproportionately targeted by surveillance.聽

Privacy today faces growing threats from a growing surveillance apparatus that is often justified in the name of national security. Numerous government agencies鈥攊ncluding the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and state and local law enforcement agencies鈥攊ntrude upon the private communications of innocent citizens, amass vast databases of who we call and when, and catalog 鈥渟uspicious activities鈥 based on the vaguest standards.

The government鈥檚 collection of this sensitive information is itself an invasion of privacy. But its use of this data is also rife with abuse. Innocuous data is fed into bloated watchlists, with severe consequences鈥攊nnocent individuals have found themselves unable to board planes, barred from certain types of jobs, shut out of their bank accounts, and repeatedly questioned by authorities. Once information is in the government鈥檚 hands, it can be shared widely and retained for years, and the rules about access and use can be changed entirely in secret without the public ever knowing.

Our Constitution and democratic system demand that the government be transparent and accountable to the people, not the other way around. History has shown that powerful, secret surveillance tools will almost certainly be abused for political ends and turned disproportionately on disfavored minorities.

The 桃子视频has been at the forefront of the struggle to prevent the entrenchment of a surveillance state by challenging the secrecy of the government鈥檚 surveillance and watchlisting practices; its violations of our rights to privacy, free speech, due process, and association; and its stigmatization of minority communities and activists disproportionately targeted by surveillance.聽

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