Privacy & Surveillance

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.

LATEST NEWS & ANALYSIS

LITIGATION & ADVOCACY

  • Amicus Brief

    WhatsApp v. NSO Group

    A case challenging the development and use of commercial spyware

  • Amicus Brief

    Amazon v. Perplexity AI

    A case addressing the application of computer crime laws to AI tools that collect information on behalf of users

  • Amicus Brief

    Chatrie v. United States

    A Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of geofence searches

RESEARCH

Events

Surveillance Ascendant, Democracy in Free Fall

A convening addressing the threats to speech and privacy enabled by commercial surveillance in our quickly shifting democratic landscape

 

Digital Authoritarianism and the Fight for Democracy

How new tools of surveillance and censorship are fueling rights violations around the world

 

Riverside Church and online

Regardless of Frontiers: The First Amendment and the Exchange of Ideas Across Borders

A symposium and exhibition exploring the international border as a venue, justification, or pretext for censorship or surveillance