RGS Statement on The Email Privacy Act   Reform Government Surveillance applauds Reps. Yoder, Polis, Goodlatte, Conyers, and all of the original cosponsors for reintroducing the Email Privacy Act.  The Email Privacy Act is crucial to modernizing our outdated laws – written when cell phones and email were rarely used – and making sure that […]

Governments must avoid conflicts of laws to ensure people’s data is protected and avoid a race to the bottom for everyone’s rights; we are encouraged by discussions between the US and UK. A strengthened legal framework must value privacy and human rights while ensuring law enforcement can do its important work. We look forward to continuing discussions with […]

April 19, 2016 The Honorable Richard BurrChairmanSelect Committee on IntelligenceUnited States SenateWashington, DC 20515  The Honorable Dianne FeinsteinVice-ChairmanSelect Committee on IntelligenceUnited States SenateWashington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Burr and Vice-Chairman Feinstein: We write to express our deep concerns about well-intentioned but ultimately unworkable policies around encryption that would weaken the very defenses we need to […]

I. Defining Encryption and other Key Terms  Encryption is the conversion of readable data into a form that can only be understood be read by those who know how to decode it.   It can consist of a code that is as simple as scrambling letters in a routinized way or as complicated as sets of symbols […]

Reform Government Surveillance companies are supporting Apple in the current litigation. As technology companies, we want to keep people safe, we want to stop crime, and accordingly, we cooperate with law enforcement in ways that are consistent with the law.  But we do not believe that the law allows the government to demand that a […]

Reform Government Surveillance members believe that the National Commission on Security and Technology Challenges is an important option to consider in the debate about law enforcement access to encrypted content.  Given that there are no ‘backdoors’ into encrypted systems or devices that would also maintain the security of what’s on those systems and devices, we […]

Reform Government Surveillance companies believe it is extremely important to deter terrorists and criminals and to help law enforcement by processing legal orders for information in order to keep us all safe.  But technology companies should not be required to build in backdoors to the technologies that keep their users’ information secure. RGS companies remain committed […]

Reform Government Surveillance applauds Senate passage of the Judicial Redress Act, and urges the House to pass the amended bill as quickly as possible.  The Judicial Redress Act offers basic privacy protections for the data of citizens of countries that afford the same protections to US citizens.  Its final passage will insure that U.S. and […]

We applaud the Senate Judiciary Committee for moving forward with the Judicial Redress Act this morning.  This legislation was passed by the House of Representatives last October by unanimous consent, and it is vital to protecting law enforcement’s ability to share data with our European partners.  We are encouraged that members of the committee have […]

The Reform Government Surveillance coalition strongly supports the Judicial Redress Act (H.R.1428) and encourages all House members to support this much-needed piece of legislation when it is considered on Tuesday and strongly urges the U.S. Senate to take it up immediately upon passage.  The European Court of Justice’s decision to invalidate the U.S.-E.U. Safe Harbor […]