The Reform Government Surveillance coalition has significant concerns with the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017, H.R. 4478, as currently drafted.  Unless changes are made to the bill, Reform Government Surveillance opposes this legislation. Reform Government Surveillance continues to advocate for common sense legislation to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.  While […]

Reform Government Surveillance commends Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member Conyers, and other leaders of the House Judiciary Committee for introducing the bipartisan USA Liberty Act, H.R. 3989.  The USA Liberty Act includes significant improvements to U.S. surveillance law, particularly Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, while preserving the ability of the intelligence community to […]

Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Minority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader Pelosi: The Reform Government Surveillance coalition (RGS) writes to share with you our priorities for this Congress with regard to reforming laws that govern when law enforcement and the intelligence community may access user data.  As you shape Congress’ agenda, we look forward to […]

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  The Email Privacy Act is crucial to modernizing our outdated laws – written when cell phones and email were rarely used – and making sure that […]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 […]