government surveillance

To the many who view themselves as netizens, citizens of the Internet, the loss of Aaron Swartz was a devastating moment in history. One year after his death, the memory of the 26-year-old activist is galvanizing the efforts of organizers who share his passion for the freedom of information. Read More »

One of the most troubling things about the politicians and pundits who are calling for Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald’s prosecution, calling him an accomplice to Edward Snowden’s leaks, is that just a month ago we saw the same language coming out of the Justice Department itself. [...] Read More »

A District Court decision that the NSA's sweeping data collection program is unconstitutional paves the way for a Supreme Court review of the counterterrorism program, and creates a major headache for the Obama administration in the process. Read More »

Apple's latest smartphone, the iPhone 5S, contains a sensor for unlocking the device with a tap of the finger, including those belonging to a growing number of federal employees. The Defense Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are just a couple of the agencies that issue personnel iPhones for work. Read More »

Thanks to whistleblower Edward Snowden, we now know that an army of private contractors can monitor anyone’s phone calls and e-mails. Read More »

I was invited to moderate a panel at the World Health Summit in Berlin this week. [...]Within the first three hours of the summit, two other sessions had acknowledged that global health governance needed a shake-up and should move away from top-down, supply-driven models. Could social media, with their emphasis on dialogue and inherent transparency, be the solution? Read More »

One of the key themes that has come out from the revelations concerning NSA surveillance is a bunch of defenders of the program claiming "it's just metadata." This is wrong on multiple levels. Read More »