Letters

Groups Call for Closure of NSA's Backdoor to Internet User's Data

OpenTheGovernment.org joined the New America Foundation and 22 non-profit and technology groups to lend support to the Massie-Lofgren amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The amendment would shut the NSA's backdoor to search the private data of Internet users by prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for the warrantless searches. The amendment also keeps funds from being used to insert security vulnerabilities into prodcuts for surveillance purposes.

06/18/2014

Groups Support Schiff-Jones Drone Transparency Amendment

Today the House Rules Committee will decide which proposed amendments to the National Intelligence Authorization Act will be considered on the House floor. OpenTheGovernment.org and 18 other human rights, civil liberties and pro-transparency groups have written a letter to Congress in support of a bipartisan amendment by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) requiring annual reports on the number of militants and civilians killed in drone strikes.

05/29/2014

Groups Urge Restoration of USA Freedom Act Transparency Provisions

OpenTheGovernment.org and thirteen other organizations wrote to the House and Senate leadership yesterday, asking them to restore the USA FREEDOM Act’s government transparency provisions before final passage of the bill. The letter concludes, “[w]e recognize that some compromises were necessary to move any surveillance bill to the floor. But they increase the importance of restoring the transparency provisions of the original USA FREEDOM Act, to verify that the NSA actually ends bulk collection instead of finding new loopholes to exploit.

05/15/2014

Groups Call on Holder to Follow Court Order, be Open about Targeted Killing Program

Thirty organizations representing a broad range of interests have joined to urge Attorney General Holder to decline to appeal a recent federal court ruling that would provide the public with critical information about the legal analysis underpinning the targeted killing program.

05/13/2014

Groups Call for NIST to Strengthen Cryptography Standards—Transparently

In September 2013, The Guardian, New York Times, and ProPublica jointly revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) had exerted its influence to weaken the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) cryptographic standards.

04/29/2014

Joint Letter from Civil Society Organizations to Foreign Ministers of Freedom Online Coalition Member States

The following letter was written by Human Rights Watch.

Dear Minister,

04/28/2014

Twenty Open Government Groups Ask House Intelligence and Armed Service Committees to Support Targeted Killing Transparency

In an open letter to the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, OpenTheGovernment.Org and nineteen other pro-transparency organizations asked Congress to support H.R. 4372, the Targeted Lethal Force Transparency Act.

04/16/2014

Partners Submit Comment on FOIA Ombuds to Administrative Conference

Several partners, including OpenTheGovernment.org, joined the Center for Effective Government in comments submitted to the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS). The comments regarded ACUS’ draft recommendation on resolving FOIA disputes through alternative dispute resolution. The comments urged the conference to strengthen the recommendation by adding a pilot project to explore advisory opinions addressing individual cases, and more.

04/15/2014

Groups Support Ending Bulk Collection of Data About Individuals

Forty organizations joined the Center for Democracy and Technology in a letter to urge swift markup and passage of the USA FREEDOM Act (HR 3361). Among other things, the bill would prohibit bulk collection of all data under Section 215 and 214 and the National Security Letter statutes and preserve the requirement of prior court approval. Read the letter here.

04/15/2014

White House Review of Big Data Should Include Transparency, Oversight

In January, President Obama tasked the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology with reviewing the government’s use of big data and its impacts on privacy. John Podesta, a counselor to the President, described the aims of the review in a White House blog post.

04/01/2014

Press Room