We the undersigned consumer rights, human rights, technology, and civil liberties organizations, members of the EPIC Advisory Board, and members of the general public submit this Petition to the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) to urge the Agency to conduct a rulemaking to address the threat to privacy and civil liberties that will result from the deployment of aerial drones within United States. The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 provides a timely opportunity for you to address this critical question.

We the undersigned organizations urge you to vote ‘no’ on H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA). We are gravely concerned that this bill will allow companies that hold very sensitive and personal information to liberally share it with the government, which could then use the information without meaningful oversight for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity. We understand this bill is scheduled to be considered on the House floor during “Cybersecurity Week,” the week of April 23^rd.

We the undersigned organizations write in opposition to amendments that would strip privacy protections from Title VII, the information sharing title of S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. …we are in agreement that the current version of Title VII should be considered the privacy floor, and not the ceiling. To that end, we strongly oppose amendments that have been, or are expected to be offered that would substitute the information sharing provisions of SECURE IT or otherwise weaken privacy safeguards.

We, the undersigned companies and organizations, are writing to express our support for Chairman Leahy’s and Sen. Lee’s ECPA Amendments Act, S. 607, which the Committee will consider shortly. The bill would update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to provide stronger protection to sensitive personal and proprietary communications stored in “the cloud.” We urge all Members of the Committee to support the bill.

We write to urge you to ensure that any new cybersecurity information sharing bill considered in the Senate in 2013 at least maintains the privacy protections from Title VII, the information sharing title of S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. We agree that the protections in Title VII of S. 3414 last year should be considered the privacy floor, and not the ceiling for any cybersecurity legislation. To that end, we would strongly oppose any effort to bring to the Senate floor the information sharing provisions of last year’s SECURE IT bill, or otherwise weaken privacy safeguards.

NACDL respectfully submits the following comments to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in response to the Interim Study to address the privacy questions raised by the operation of unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones, in Oklahoma. ... NACDL applauds the House of Representatives for taking the first step in studying the privacy implications raised by the use of domestic surveillance drones, and we look forward to ongoing conversations about the privacy and civil liberties impact of this new technology as you move forward with the study.

We write today to urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to quickly complete an updated Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Next Generation Identification System (NGI) as part of a broader effort to examine the goals and impact of NGI. The previous PIA on NGI’s face recognition component dates back to 2008. Since that time the program has undergone a radical transformation—one that raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns.

NACDL undersigned a letter on July 8, 2013 to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. and Michael E. Horowitz to ask that the Department of Justice make public any findings by the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding the collection of Americans’ telephone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

NACDL undersigned a letter to the U.S. government on July 18, 2013 urging greater transparency around national security-related requests by the US government to Internet, telephone, and web-based service providers for information about their users and subscribers.

We, the undersigned privacy, civil liberties and open government groups, write in strong opposition to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 (“CISA”). Among other things, the bill threatens to create a gaping loophole in existing privacy law that would permit the government to approach private companies; ask for “voluntary” cooperation in sharing sensitive information, including communications content; and then use that information in various law enforcement investigations, including the investigation and prosecution of government whistleblowers under the Espionage Act.

Courts have long made it clear that agents can search the bags of people entering the country. For the past decade or so, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has applied that logic to digital devices. NACDL members are uniquely exposed to abuse in this context: digital devices store materials and information subject to the attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product doctrine, as well as information on overseas clients and witnesses, and other extremely sensitive materials that could be covered by Rule 1.6 of the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility.

NACDL's Fourth Amendment Advocacy Committee carefully and comprehensively studied issues concerning the current United States Postal Service Mail Covers regime following the revelations in The New York Times investigative report in connection with the 2014 U.S. Postal Service audit of the program. The concerns raised by this program and its operation fall squarely within NACDL's long history of advocating for the vitality of Americans' privacy and Fourth Amendment rights -- in the courts, in the legislatures, in executive agencies, and in the public arena. [Released April 2015]

NACDL adopts a report and recommendations to address flaws through reform to the mail cover program.

On behalf of a diverse group of public interest and other advocacy organizations, we strongly urge you to support amendments from S.1686, the Judiciously Using Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts (JUSTICE) Act, during tomorrow’s Patriot Act reauthorization mark if and when they are offered. We commend Chairman Leahy and Senators Cardin and Kaufman for introducing the USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization Act and recommend adding additional privacy protections during your scheduled markup.

NACDL adopts a report and recommendations on law enforcement searches of digital evidence.