Tag: US

Today, the USA FREEDOM Act, in an amended form, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a unanimous vote of 32-0 (7 not voting). Among several legislative proposals to reform the NSA currently discussed by U.S. Congress, Access believes there is only one that will meaningfully change foreign intelligence surveillance: the USA FREEDOM Act.

Following revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) deliberately weakened cryptographic standards put out by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST recently proposed a series of principles to guide cryptography standards-setting going forward. Access, together with a coalition of eleven other digital rights, technology, privacy, and open government groups, submitted a letter today calling on NIST to strengthen cryptography principles, noting in particular that the principles must be “modified and amended to provide greater transparency and access.”

Access provides a timeline and analysis of the Heartbleed vulnerability

In the wake of the ongoing revelations about NSA surveillance, Access releases an infographic measuring how the leading four reform proposals stack up against the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.

Yesterday, the Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, Access, Center for Democracy & Technology, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch, ahead of the April 10th hearing “Should The Department Of Commerce Relinquish Direct Oversight Over ICANN?”, sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee restating their support of the NTIA’s decision to transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multi-stakeholder community and the organizations’ concerns regarding the DOTCOM Act. The DOTCOM Act is a piece of legislation that was introduced this past March that would require a Government Accountability Office review and report prior to the NTIA transition, a process that could take up to a year.

Today, Access and our partners sent a letter demanding an immediate investigation into what appears to be U.S. government complicity in silencing political speech in Mexico.

Access calls on the White House to bolster data protection standards, promote data security, and continue to foster a robust discussion on best practices.

Today marks the first in what is likely to be a series of congressional hearings called in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) historic announcement of its intent to transition key Internet domain name functions (DNS) to the global multistakeholder community. In advance of today’s hearing, Access, along with the Center for Democracy & Technology, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, The Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation, and Public Knowledge have sent a letter to Congress expressing our support for the proposed transition.