Tag: US

The dangerous Burr/Feinstein anti-security bill appears to be dead — at least for this year.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has proposed rules to govern how Internet Service Providers handle consumer data. We support these rules, while identifying areas for improvement.

Forcing Apple to weaken its iPhone security would set dangerous legal precedent that runs contrary to international human rights law and would give oppressive regimes political cover to demand the same authority. Access Now supports Apple and opposes the U.S. government’s actions.

The White House has announced the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, a series of steps aimed at hardening U.S. government systems against security threats.

Much of the world’s digital economy relies on the free flow of data. So when a European court recently struck down an agreement known as “Safe Harbor,” which authorized data transfers between the United States and Europe, it sent shock waves across the Atlantic. Now companies and even governments are trying to figure out what to do.

Thanks to you, today we reached 100,000 signatures on our petition asking President Obama to stand up for strong encryption. Now the White House must respond.

Last week, Obama Administration officials revealed that they will not force technology companies to weaken encryption to give government officials special access to users’ data. However, this is only a partial win for advocates of smart digital security policy. As our U.S. policy manager Amie Stepanovich explains in a post at Just Security, ambiguity remains with regard to the administration’s stand on encryption.

Today Facebook announced several changes to Internet.org in response to growing international complaints about the program. While some of the changes are positive, Access’ core concerns remain.

Earlier this month, negotiators from the United States and the European Union reached a preliminary deal on the so-called Umbrella Agreement. The Umbrella agreement is a transatlantic deal that sets standards for protecting personal data when it is transferred for law enforcement purposes. Notably, these rules do not apply to the transfer of commercial or employee data by companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, or Verizon. These companies must abide by a separate set of rules, the data sharing agreement called the Safe Harbour principles (see our recent press release on the Safe Harbour).

Negotiators from the United States and the European Union recently reached a preliminary deal on the so-called Umbrella Agreement, a transatlantic deal that sets standards for protecting personal data when it is transferred for law enforcement purposes. However, one key hurdle remains before the agreement will get sign off: the U.S. must grant a right to remedy for E.U. citizens who suffer privacy violations. It remains to be seen whether the U.S. will follow through on providing that protection, and whether it will be meaningful enough to meet E.U. standards.