Secrecy & Surveillance

Coalition Calls for Biden Administration to Prioritize Privacy and Civil Liberties in Filling Vacancies

By |2021-09-08T13:58:49-04:00September 8th, 2021|News|

NCAC has joined a coalition of 20 organizations led by the ACLU in urging the Biden Administration to appoint privacy and civil liberties-minded candidates to fill the existing vacancies on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) and uphold government transparency. The PCLOB, created based on a recommendation of the 9/11 commission, was charged by Congress in 2007 to [...]

NCAC Urges Congress Not to Authorize FISA Anti-Privacy Provisions

By |2020-12-19T16:54:23-05:00September 15th, 2020|News|

NCAC has joined a coalition of two dozen organizations calling on Congressional leaders not to reauthorize several expired provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities by adding them as amendments to a must-pass appropriations bill or other emergency legislation. In a letter sent to Congress on September 14, NCAC and the other organizations argue that these controversial measures [...]

NCAC Urges Transparency in COVID-19 Data Collection

By |2020-08-17T12:17:16-04:00July 9th, 2020|News|

NCAC has joined Open the Government and two dozen organizations in urging Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to rescind an order to hospitals requiring them to send daily COVID-19 data reports to HHS, a change that creates urgent concerns about transparency, accountability, and the politicization of data. In a letter sent to Azar on July 23, NCAC [...]

NCAC Urges Speaker Pelosi to Support Critical Change to Patriot Act

By |2020-05-18T15:42:32-04:00May 18th, 2020|News|

NCAC has joined a coalition of more than 50 civil liberties, civil rights and government transparency organizations in urging Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress to include civil liberties reforms in the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020, a bill that would extend surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act which expired in March. The coalition’s [...]

NCAC Urges Privacy Protection Reforms

By |2020-05-20T11:36:16-04:00April 21st, 2020|News|

NCAC has joined a coalition of 36 organizations led by the ACLU, FreedomWorks, and Demand Progress, to urge Congress to reform the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020, a bill that would extend provisions of the Patriot Act which expired in March and pose unprecedented threats to Americans’ civil liberties.  These provisions include the controversial “lone wolf” and “roving wiretap” [...]

Government Transparency Is Not a Partisan Issue: Eclipse of Sunshine Week

By |2020-01-03T15:50:37-05:00March 16th, 2018|Blog|

Since 2005 the National Association of News Editors has branded the third week of March “Sunshine Week.” But in 2018, Sunshine Week is looking less bright. Sunshine Week has been obscured by an eclipse. Zach Garrett cautions against allowing partisan politics to obscure the real issues.

Eclipse of Sunshine Week: NCAC Joins Coalition Condemning Government Threats to Openness, Ethics and Accountability

By |2019-06-12T17:57:59-04:00March 13th, 2018|Blog|

NCAC has joined a large group of organizations in opposing the continued, and growing, threats to openness, ethics and accountability created by a culture of secrecy in the US government. NCAC and its cosignatories have designated this week, which should celebrate public access to information, the Eclipse of Sunshine Week.

The Censored Truth of a Guantanamo Prisoner

By |2016-01-19T10:39:53-05:00May 12th, 2015|Censorship News Articles|

Published in January, The Guantanamo Diary is an intense account of Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s excruciating experiences as a prisoner of the U.S. war on terror. Slahi was detained in his native Mauritania in 2001; a CIA rendition plane flew him to Jordan for brutal interrogation sessions, and from there he was taken to Afghanistan and then finally to the infamous [...]

The Censored Truth of a Guantanamo Prisoner

By |2016-01-15T11:33:26-05:00February 12th, 2015|Blog|

Published in January of this year, The Guantanamo Diary is an intense account of Mohamedou Ould Slahi's excruciating experiences as a prisoner of the U.S. war on terror. Slahi was detained in his native Mauritania in 2001 before a CIA rendition plane flew him to Jordan for brutal interrogation sessions. From there, Slahi was flown to Afghanistan and then finally [...]

NCAC Co-signs Letter to US Senate Expressing Concerns Over SAVE Act

By |2019-03-07T22:47:19-05:00November 13th, 2014|Incidents|

(Update: NCAC signed on to another letter in January 2015 organized by the Center for Democracy & Technology.) NCAC and other organizations concerned with human rights sent the below letter to the Unites States Senate to convey strong opposition to S.2536, the "Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation" (SAVE) Act. While we believe that Congress should provide additional funding for victims [...]

The Top 40 Free Speech Defenders of 2014

By |2020-08-19T12:00:30-04:00October 23rd, 2014|Blog|

"Complacency is ever the enabler of darkest deeds." Robert Fanney recognized, as we do at NCAC, that silence and apathy lead to repression and censorship. In our 40th anniversary year, we celebrate the artists, authors, students, educators, librarians, lawmakers, celebs du jour, and yes, even corporations, who refused to remain silent on the top threats to free speech in 2014. [...]

NCAC Joins Letter Calling for Reform of US Government Watchlisting System

By |2016-01-25T10:59:05-05:00October 15th, 2014|Incidents|

In a joint letter to the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division and the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, NCAC and the below signatories question the legality of federal watchlisting practices. The letter deems the current system of labeling thousands of people, including American citizens, as suspected terrorists as "bloated and unfair." The signatories [...]

NSA Surveillance Reform Bill Makes For Tentative Progress

By |2020-01-03T14:47:28-05:00May 8th, 2014|Blog|

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to limit NSA’s mass surveillance.  The USA Freedom Act has the support of some groups pressing for reform which characterize it as an important first step in curbing the government’s bulk collection of private records, while noting that more still needs to be done.  See http://newamerica.net/node/109858. Other organizations express concerns that [...]

Secret without Reason and Costly without Accomplishment: Questioning the National Security Agency’s Metadata Program

By |2020-01-03T14:43:54-05:00April 4th, 2014|Blog|

Mueller, John & Mark G. Stewart, "Secret without Reason and Costly without Accomplishment: Questioning the National Security Agency's Metadata Program," I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society (2014) Download a PDF. Excerpt When Edward Snowden’s revelations emerged in June 2013 about the extent to which the National Security Agency was secretly gathering communications data as part of the country’s [...]

Vermont legislation would “refuse material support” for NSA mass data collection

By |2020-01-03T14:08:29-05:00February 5th, 2014|Blog|

Similar legislation has been introduced in 12 states. From Truthout.org: On Tuesday, January 28th, a transpartisan group of four Vermont state representatives introduced legislation that would block some of the practical effects of mass data collection by the National Security Agency (NSA). Rep. Teo Zagar (D-Windsor-4-1), along with co-sponsor Reps. Susan Davis (P/D-Orange-1), Patricia Komline (R-Bennington-Rutland) and William Stevens (I-Addison-Rutland) [...]

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