{"id":6707,"date":"2019-10-29T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/?p=6707"},"modified":"2019-10-29T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T19:14:09","slug":"surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Headlines in recent weeks serve as reminders that the long-standing problem of government surveillance of civil society has not gone away. Instead it is growing into a threat to the privacy of communications of civil society groups that work across borders, advocate on the issues of the day or defend human rights. There is reason to be concerned and pay attention.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1z-i_XCoZub8ISKEe5DzjoMh0bPS5u1Xm\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Still Spying: The Enduring Problem of FBI First Amendment\u00a0<\/em>Abuse,<\/a>\u00a0a report released by Defending Rights and Dissent on Oct. 22, chronicles FBI surveillance of political activity for the last decade, provides useful historical background and makes concrete recommendations to protect Constitutional rights.\u00a0 As<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/10\/22\/terrorism-fbi-political-dissent\/?eType=EmailBlastContent&amp;eId=23fbca23-4976-47fa-a7d9-477c169dd781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0Intercept reporter Glenn Greenwald observed<\/a>\u00a0the day the report was released, the FBI has used \u201cits mandate to protect national security to target scores of individuals posing no threat but opposing government policies and practices.\u201d A good number of those individuals are associated with civil society groups. The report also points out the diversion of national security resources to this political surveillance, through of Joint Terrorism Task Forces, collaborations between the FBI, local law enforcement and federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not only advocacy groups that can be impacted by this collection of communications and data.\u00a0 Organizations that operate across borders, whether operating humanitarian, development, educational or other programs, may have communications with staff, allies and others based outside the U.S. collected and stored.\u00a0 The PATRIOT Act\u2019s Section 702 gives the government sweeping powers to collect the information of foreigners without a warrant, so that U.S. parties involved in those communications are also affected.\u00a0 The FBI uses these databases for warrantless searches.<\/p>\n<p>In mid-October the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that found the FBI\u2019s procedures for handling information on Americans violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Fourth Amendment. But according to Elizabeth Goitein\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/66605\/the-fisa-courts-section-702-opinions-part-ii-improper-queries-and-echoes-of-bulk-collection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis in Just Security<\/a>, the remedy is insufficient to address the problem.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, civil society staff and volunteers traveling across the U.S. border may have their electronic devices searched. According to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leahy.senate.gov\/press\/leahy-and-daines-reintroduce-legislation-to-protect-americans-privacy-at-the-border\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release<\/a>\u00a0from Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Daines (R-MT), \u201cGovernment searches of electronic devices at border crossings have nearly quadrupled since 2015, rising to 33,295 last year.\u201d The two Senators have introduced legislation that would require the government \u201cto have reasonable suspicion or probably cause to search or seize Americans\u2019 electronic devices at the border.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A report from the Surveillance Oversight Technology Project (STOP),\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/https\/\/www.stopspying.org\/searches\">Searches Without Borders<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>documents this problem and includes tips on how civil society actors can protect their devices. I will take their advice and protect my phone before my next trip!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Headlines in recent weeks serve as reminders that the long-standing problem of government surveillance of civil society has not gone away. Instead it is growing into a threat to the privacy of communications of civil [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,42],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem - Charity &amp; Security Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem - Charity &amp; Security Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Headlines in recent weeks serve as reminders that the long-standing problem of government surveillance of civil society has not gone away. Instead it is growing into a threat to the privacy of communications of civil [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Charity &amp; Security Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-29T19:14:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charity-and-Security\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charity-and-Security\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/\",\"name\":\"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem - Charity &amp; Security Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-29T19:14:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-29T19:14:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f65e45656d792d5ad09e802f05c0f881\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/\",\"name\":\"Charity &amp; Security Network\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f65e45656d792d5ad09e802f05c0f881\",\"name\":\"Charity-and-Security\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcd0bb7c03e07ce207a7a6553d14be04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcd0bb7c03e07ce207a7a6553d14be04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charity-and-Security\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/author\/charity-and-security\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem - Charity &amp; Security Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem - Charity &amp; Security Network","og_description":"Headlines in recent weeks serve as reminders that the long-standing problem of government surveillance of civil society has not gone away. Instead it is growing into a threat to the privacy of communications of civil [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/","og_site_name":"Charity &amp; Security Network","article_published_time":"2019-10-29T19:14:09+00:00","author":"Charity-and-Security","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charity-and-Security","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/","url":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/","name":"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem - Charity &amp; Security Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-10-29T19:14:09+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-29T19:14:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f65e45656d792d5ad09e802f05c0f881"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/blog\/surveillance-of-civil-society-is-a-growing-problem\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Surveillance of Civil Society is a Growing Problem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/","name":"Charity &amp; Security Network","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f65e45656d792d5ad09e802f05c0f881","name":"Charity-and-Security","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcd0bb7c03e07ce207a7a6553d14be04?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcd0bb7c03e07ce207a7a6553d14be04?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Charity-and-Security"},"url":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/author\/charity-and-security\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}