President's Review Board Says Protect Thy Neighbor’s Privacy

Today’s report from the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies–”Liberty And Security In A Changing World”—is impressive in a number of ways.  Importantly, it pushes consideration of the privacy and civil liberties rights of non-U.S. persons into the policy debate. Old-school national security wonks commonly express distain for the idea that the U.S. should respect the rights of non-citizens.  And until today, even valuable proposals to reform FISA have not hit hard enough at overseas collection and mass surveillance of foreigners. However, surveillance of foreigners is bad for American privacy, bad for American business, and bad for American interests overseas.  So, the Review Board’s recommendations on protecting the civil liberties of non-US persons—a relatively new aspect of the policy discussion—is incredibly welcome. Read More.

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