In a FOIA lawsuit, EPIC has obtained more documents from the Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The records include internal correspondence and an unattributed report about China's social scoring, facial recognition tools, and AI-based surveillance. The internal report highlights the "draconian" consequences of China's AI use but states that "Mass surveillance is a killer application" for AI and that "having streets carpeted with cameras is good infrastructure for smart cities[.]" The Commission's disclosure to EPIC follows a ruling in EPIC v. AI Commission that the Commission is subject to the FOIA. The AI Commission held over 200 secret meetings with tech firms and defense contractors. EPIC is also litigating to enforce the Commission's obligation to hold open meetings. The case is EPIC v. National Security Commission on AI, No. 19-2906 (D.D.C.).
President Trump has removed Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson from his post. The President cited Atkinson's referral to Congress of a whistleblower complaint concerning Trump's efforts to have Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. Atkinson was required by law to transmit the report to Congress. EPIC has long fought for stronger oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies, and has pursued FOIA lawsuits against the CIA, the FBI, the ODNI, and the NSA. In EPIC v. Department of Justice, EPIC is currently seeking release of the complete Mueller Report, which details foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election. The DOJ recently submitted the full Mueller Report to a federal judge, who will determine what additional material must be released to the public.
EPIC has filed a detailed FOIA request with the Department of Justice for information about Predictive Policing and Risk Assessment programs, funded by the federal government. The programs are described in a 2014 Justice Department report that EPIC obtained in the lawsuit, EPIC v. DOJ. The 2014 DOJ report warned that "individual liberty is at stake" with predictive policing, but many of these systems have gone forward nonetheless. EPIC maintains a comprehensive resource on risk assessments systems in the Criminal Justice System.
