The rapid pace of technology is not, as the government argues, making it
more difficult to conduct national security surveillance.
Instead, technology is inadvertently making it easier for the government to
spy on its citizens, and the laws designed to protect privacy rights are not
keeping up, according to a new report issued today by the Center for
Democracy and Technology (CDT).
“The fact is that digital technology has vastly augmented the government’s
powers, even without legal changes like those in the Patriot Act,” CDT
Policy Director Jim Dempsey said at a Washington press conference. “The
capacity of Internet technology to collect and store data increases every
day, as does the volume of personal information we willingly surrender as we
take advantage of new services.”
The CDT report claims two popular technologies — Web-based e-mail and location
awareness — give the government “unprecedented access” to Americans’
personal data.
Meanwhile, the report notes, the laws preventing the government from
unfairly accessing personal information haven’t changed in two decades.
“The gap between law and technology is widening every day, and privacy is
eroding. What makes this even more troubling is that most users of these new
technologies don’t realize they are putting their privacy in jeopardy,”
Dempsey added.
Web-based e-mail allows users to store gigabytes of mail, photos and
documents on the providers’ servers. The distinction between storing e-mail
on a server and the user’s own computer is legally significant, according to
the CDT.
“While the government needs a judicial warrant to search a person’s
computer, it may be able to access that person’s Webmail account with only a
subpoena, issued without judicial review; without any specific suspicion of
wrongdoing on the part of the user; and often without notice to the person
whose data is being disclosed,” states the CDT report.
Cell phones, the CDT contends, serve as “essentially a tracking device” for
potential government snooping.
“While a cell phone is turned on, whether or not it is making a call, it is
regularly seeking out the nearest antenna and sending to it its
identification numbers,” the report points out.
The CDT report says there are no existing laws that explicitly set standards
for government location tracking, but rather only a patchwork of laws of court
precedents.
“Unfortunately the legal standards regulating the government’s ability to
use that constant stream of new data haven’t kept pace with the
technological reality,” the report states.
The report discusses proposals for updating U.S. privacy laws to permit
government surveillance where appropriate but also ensuring innocent people
do not lose their privacy simply because existing law did not anticipate
technological advances.
“We agree that it is time for a broad-based dialogue about the ways in which
technology is undermining traditional privacy expectations,” the report
says.
“Technology companies should be aware of the issues so they can design
products and services in ways that promote privacy and user control. The
courts should reexamine the assumptions on which Fourth Amendment
interpretations have been based and should be more careful in approving
government surveillance requests.”
In addition, the CDT claims, Congress should ensure that new government
surveillance technologies are subject to appropriate privacy standards.
