SIIA today joined tech companies and civil rights groups including Google, Apple, Twitter and the ACLU in support of legislation that would improve transparency around government surveillance of the Internet.
In a letter to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, SIIA joined dozens of tech companies and civil rights and technology groups in support of Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-CA)Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013. The bills would clarify that companies have the right to publish basic statistics about government demands for user data that they receive.
The letter states:
“Such transparency is important not only for the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of that surveillance, but also for international users of U.S.-based service providers who are concerned about privacy and security.”
David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.