Jesse Franzblau

OTG Town Hall: Exposing secret government surveillance and combating threats to privacy, civil liberties and civil rights

Join us for an OpenTheGovernment town hall to discuss efforts to combat secrecy and build consensus around ways to address constitutional threats stemming from warrantless government surveillance programs. Experts will   Read Full

November 6, 2017

Delay in U.S. Government’s Open Government Partnership Plan: A Harbinger of Things to Come?

In its first nine months in office, the Trump Administration has shown its antipathy to open government and international agreements. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the administration has   Read Full

November 1, 2017

Coalition voices support for strong bipartisan Senate surveillance reform legislation

National Security Agency Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland.

OpenTheGovernment joined a letter of support today for bipartisan legislation to reform the warrantless surveillance law that gives the government sweeping authority to collect communications of people within and outside   Read Full

October 23, 2017

Social media monitoring poses new threats to privacy, freedom of expression, and the public’s right to know

OpenTheGovernment has joined a coalition of government accountability, privacy, and civil liberties organizations expressing concern over the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposal to collect and store social media information   Read Full

October 19, 2017

House bill needs stronger reforms to ensure transparency and accountability for government surveillance programs

Updated: October 13, 2017 – Today, OpenTheGovernment joined a coalition of government accountability, privacy, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, calling on Congress to strengthen the surveillance reform bill introduced by   Read Full

October 6, 2017

House bill threatens to expand reliance on secret databases in immigration enforcement

September 13, 2017 — Members of the House Judiciary Committee are fast-tracking legislation this week that risks expanding secretive immigration enforcement practices and increasing the government’s reliance on unreliable databases.   Read Full

September 13, 2017

Updated – Senators introduce legislation to increase transparency and oversight for law enforcement

Police in riot gear work to disperse a crowd of protesters in Ferguson, Mo., August 2014. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated, October 6, 2017 — Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) reintroduced the Stop Militarizing Our Law Enforcement Act (S. 1856) to establish limitations and create greater transparency on the federal transfer   Read Full

New report reveals growing government secrecy in immigration enforcement

A new report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is increasingly concealing information that was previously released to the public in accordance   Read Full

September 5, 2017

Coalition: Justice Department’s demand for protest website data raises privacy and civil liberty concerns

Today, a broad coalition of over 70 public interest organizations sent a letter to the Attorney General expressing concern over the Justice Department’s demand for information associated with a protest-organizing   Read Full

August 24, 2017

FBI’s limited restrictions on biometrics data sharing raises secrecy and privacy concerns

In the latest threat to individuals’ right to privacy, the FBI will no longer be required to inform you if your photographs, fingerprints, iris scans, and other records are being   Read Full

August 7, 2017