Privacy & Surveillance
Protecting the privacy vital to free thought and expression
Our laws restricting surveillance and data collection are struggling to keep pace with new technology that can track and reveal our expressive lives in ever more detail, and with new business models that rely on the aggregation and exploitation of this information.
Our work is meant to illuminate the scope and impact of surveillance by government and private corporations, promote stronger legal protections for privacy, and enrich public understanding of the interplay between privacy and the freedoms of inquiry, speech, and association.
Featured
Deep Dive
Why is The U.S. Still Probing Foreign Visitors’ Social Media Accounts?
Many people expected the Biden administration to end a Trump-era policy. Instead, the administration is expanding it.
By Anna Diakun & Carrie DeCellLATEST NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Deep Dive
U.S. Courts Must Stop Shielding Government Surveillance Programs from Accountability
The NSA’s surveillance of Americans’ internet use raises serious constitutional concerns, but the government claims a lawsuit against the program would compromise “state secrets”
By Alex Abdo & Patrick C. Toomey -
Press Statement
Wikimedia Foundation, Knight Institute, and ACLU Urge U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to NSA’s Mass Surveillance
Groups argue the government cannot invoke “state secrets” to block court oversight
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Quick Take
Why is Biden Doubling Down on Trump’s Surveillance Policy?
State Department refuses to disclose Biden administration report on social media visa vetting
By Anna Diakun
LITIGATION & ADVOCACY
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FOIA Lawsuit
Knight Institute v. CIA
A FOIA lawsuit seeking records on the government’s use of “spyware”
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Amicus Brief
United States v. Xiang
An Eighth Circuit appeal addressing the constitutionality of warrantless electronic device searches at the border
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FOIA Lawsuit
Knight Institute v. Department of State
A FOIA lawsuit seeking records relating to the Biden administration’s review of the use of social media identifiers in visa vetting
RESEARCH
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Essays and Scholarship
Privacy, Autonomy, and the Dissolution of Markets
Pathways from platform capitalism
By Kiel Brennan-Marquez & Daniel Susser -
Essays and Scholarship
Licensure as Data Governance
Moving toward an industrial policy for artificial intelligence
By Frank Pasquale -
Essays and Scholarship
The Keys to the Kingdom
Mathias Vermeulen on overcoming GDPR concerns to unlock access to platform data for independent researchers
By Mathias Vermeulen
Events
New York, NY
A Conversation with Edward Snowden
A post-event video featuring Snowden talking about surveillance, security, and whistleblowers
Columbia University, New York, NY
Protecting Privacy in the "Golden Age" of Surveillance
Joan Feigenbaum and Robert S. Litt discuss encryption, surveillance, law enforcement, and privacy with Knight Institute Senior Staff Attorney Alex Abdo
Columbia University, New York, NY
Freedom of Expression in an Age of Surveillance: Measuring the "Chilling Effect"
The second in a series of events examining the role of the First Amendment in assessing the lawfulness of government surveillance