• Liberty At Risk

    Liberty at Risk: Pre-trial Risk Assessment Tools in the U.S.

    Federal, state, and local governments use Risk Assessment Tools to make key decisions about defendants in criminal cases, depriving accused individuals of their liberty based on subjective assessments of the likelihood that they will flee or commit crimes in the future. Many of these tools are opaque and not subject to independent review. "Liberty at Risk: Pre-trial Risk Assessment Tools in the U.S." provides an overview of Risk Assessment Tools that practitioners and scholars can use to understand the nature of these systems, understand the broader context in which they are used, and help focus their evaluations of the fairness of these systems.

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  • Privacy and the Pandemic

    Privacy and the Pandemic

    EPIC is working to ensure that private and public sector responses to COVID-19 safeguard the privacy and civil liberties of all people. Through advocacy, oversight, and litigation, EPIC is ensuring that the coronavirus pandemic does not lead to erosion of individual rights. Visit epic.org/covid to see EPIC's resources on these issues.

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  • Court Rules for EPIC in Mueller Case

    Court Rules for EPIC in Mueller Case.

    A federal judge has agreed to conduct an independent assessment in EPIC's case for the release of the complete Mueller Report. Judge Walton called the Attorney General's conduct in the case EPIC v. DOJ "distorted" and "misleading." EPIC has published a book about the case EPIC v. Department of Justice: The Mueller Report", available for sale at the EPIC Bookstore.

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  • Defend Privacy. Support EPIC.

    Defend Privacy. Support EPIC.

    EPIC is on the front lines of the major privacy and civil liberties debates. In 2020, EPIC has worked to protect democratic institutions, promote algorithmic transparency, and defend the right to privacy. We need your support. And EPIC is a top-rated non-profit - Charity Navigator (Four Star) and Guidestar (Gold). Please donate to EPIC today.

    Defend Privacy. Support EPIC. »

  • EPIC Word Cloud 2021

    EPIC 2020

    EPIC is on the front lines of the major privacy and civil liberties debates. In 2021, EPIC has important work to do on artificial intelligence, face surveillance, data protection, and algorithmic fairness, among many other issues. Please donate to EPIC today to help us continue this important work.

    Defend Privacy. Support EPIC. »

  • Gillibrand DPA press conference photo

    EPIC Launches Campaign For a Data Protection Agency

    EPIC Advisory Board Member Professor Ari Waldman and EPIC Policy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for introduction of Data Protection Act to establish a data protection agency in the United States.

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  • Alan Butler on CBS

    EPIC Files Complaint with FTC about Employment Screening Firm HireVue

    EPIC General Counsel Alan Butler discussing EPIC's case about the use of AI for employment screening on CBS News.

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  • Jeramie Scott on CBS

    EPIC's Jeramie Scott: Ban Face Surveillance

    EPIC Senior Counsel Jeramie Scott on CBS News discussing the dangers of face surveillance.

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  • EPIC - Ban Face Surveillance

    EPIC Launches Campaign to Ban Face Surveillance

    EPIC has launched a campaign to ban face surveillance. EPIC will publish information on face surveillance laws, reports, and protests worldwide.

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Top News

Surveillance Court Finds FBI Repeatedly Misused FISA Program to Conduct Unlawful Surveillance of Americans

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) recently disclosed an opinion revealing that the FBI has repeatedly misused Section 702 of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to gather information in domestic investigations. Section 702 (sometimes referred to as the "PRISM" program) authorizes certain programs of surveillance of private communications for foreign intelligence purposes, without prior court approval, where the surveillance targets non-US persons located abroad. The law has been widely criticized, in part, because of the "backdoor search" loophole that allows domestic law enforcement officials to access Americans' communications without a warrant. The surveillance court previously found that the FBI's procedures for obtaining information through backdoor searches violated the Fourth Amendment. The newly published opinion demonstrates how the FBI has failed to reform these unlawful practices. An audit revealed that the agency searched FISA information 40 times last year while investigating a wide range of purely domestic crimes, including health-care fraud, gang violence, domestic terrorism by "racially motivated violent extremists," and public corruption. Again, the FISC expressed "concern[] about the [FBI's] apparent widespread [Section 702] violations." EPIC has long tracked FISA court orders and advocated for FISA reform. More recently, EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking disclosure of a report concerning FBI use of Section 702 authority for domestic criminal investigations and participated as amicus to address the scope of U.S. surveillance authorities in the Court of Justice of the European Union.


EPIC, Coalition Urge End to DC-Area Facial Recognition System

In a letter to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, an EPIC-led coalition of privacy, civil liberties, and good government groups urged the Council to end the National Capital Region Facial Recognition System (NCR-FRILS) project and disclose all documents associated with it. In a Washington Post article covering the coalition letter, EPIC Senior Counsel, Jeramie Scott, argued that "facial recognition is a particularly invasive surveillance technology that undermines democracy and First Amendment rights." NCR-FRILS is a facial recognition system used by police departments and government agencies in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. The system runs comparisons against a database of 1.4 million local mug shots. The project was never publicly announced and was only revealed during the prosecution of a Black Lives Matter protester last fall. EPIC previously submitted a series of open government requests to police departments in the DC-area seeking more information on the system.


Poll: Vast Majority of Americans Support Online Data Protection Legislation

A new poll from Morning Consult found that 83% of voters say that Congress should pass national data privacy legislation this year. Democrats (86%) and Republicans (81%) expressed bipartisan support for Congress to prioritize a federal privacy bill. The poll also found that voters place similar amounts of responsibility on both federal and state lawmakers, as well as federal regulators, to regulate data privacy. With respect to regulating how companies collect, store, and share personal information, 72% of voters said Congress is either “very responsible” or “somewhat responsible” while 79% said the same for federal agencies and 75% for state governments. Nearly 9 in 10 adults said it was either “very” or “somewhat” important to protect their most sensitive identifiable information under a privacy law, including Social Security number (89%), banking information (89%), biometric data (88%), and driver’s license number (88%). EPIC has called for comprehensive baseline federal legislation and the creation of a U.S. data protection agency, and has advocated for strong state privacy laws.


EPIC to Court: Don't Undermine 2020 Census Privacy Protections »

Supreme Court Limits FTC Authority to Recover Ill-Gotten Gains »

European Commission Proposes Risk-Based AI Regulation, Banning 'Unacceptable' Uses »

Florida House of Representatives Passes Florida Privacy Protection Act »

Department of Education Investigating School District's Disclosure of Personal Data for Predictive Policing Program »

In EPIC Suit, DOJ Identifies 75 Location Data Requests in the Virgin Islands from 2016-2019 »

EPIC news Archive »

EPIC's Work

Open Government image

Open Government »

EPIC v. DOJ: Seeking the final report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller concerning Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Appellate Advocacy image

Appellate Advocacy »

Department of Commerce v. New York: Whether the Department of Commerce and Census Bureau violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

US Capitol

EPIC Policy Project »

EPIC provides expertise to shape strong privacy and open government laws at both the state and federal level.

US Needs a Data Protection Agency

Privacy Campaigns »

EPIC recently launched a campaign to promote the creation of a Data Protection Agency in the U.S.