Surveillance

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA-48) introduced the Digital Asset Inventory and Audit Act of 2026, legislation to ensure the federal government identifies, secures, and accounts for cryptocurrency and other digital assets that come into its custody.

When police officers sweep up location data from cellphone users near crimes scenes, they must comply with the Fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled in a modest victory for privacy rights in the digital age. Such so-called geofence searches have become a popular tool for law enforcement, but critics say they put at risk the personal data of everyday Americans and violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizure. “An individual has a

A Chinese company has been trying to develop artificial intelligence-powered technology that would enable authoritarian governments to not just monitor dissidents but also potentially predict who could become one in the future.

Rep Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-5), Co-Chair of the Democratic AI Commission, announced the No Rigged Grocery Prices Act, new bipartisan legislation to protect consumers from AI-powered surveillance pricing at grocery stores and third-party grocery delivery platforms.

Police in Virginia used a technique called geofencing to tap into Google's databases to find out who was near the scene of a bank robbery in the town of Midlothian, where a robber pulled out a gun and subsequently fled with $195,000. Geofencing allows the government to draw a virtual fence around a geographic area where a crime was committed.

To better understand public sentiment and concerns around the government’s collection, sharing, and consolidation of personal data, the Center for Democracy & Technology conducted nationally representative polling of U.S. adults. CDT found that concern is consistent and high and that people across the United States want to hold government agencies accountable for protecting the privacy of their personal data. Specifically: 

Protecting the privacy and security of personal data held by the government: 

Infiltrating phone apps has become an increasingly common practice, both for propaganda and surveillance. Hacking a phone app can be more effective than trying to tap into a computer, according to Nicholas Reese, former director of emerging technology policy at the Department of Homeland Security. People generally store more personal information on their phones, often without realizing it. Accessing a computer typically requires infiltrating popular cloud services, which have sophisticated and standardized security protections.

A US telecommunications company trained an AI model on years of inmates’ phone and video calls and is now piloting that model to scan their calls, texts, and emails in the hope of predicting and preventing crimes. Securus Technologies president Kevin Elder said the company began building its AI tools in 2023, using its massive database of recorded calls to train AI models to detect criminal activity.

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) revealed which wireless carriers protect the privacy of their customers by notifying them about government surveillance requests for their information, in a letter he sent to his colleagues. He urged senators to choose a phone company that will notify them about government surveillance requests.