The Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched a campaign to shed light on the US government's electronic surveillance programmes
The EFF hopes to show the extent of government monitoring of electronic communications

Privacy group tackles US government on e-spying

Electronic Frontier Foundation aims to expose covert surveillance

Shaun Nichols in California

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched a campaign to shed light on the US government's electronic surveillance programmes. 

The EFF is using the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) as a springboard to introduce information requests and litigation that it hopes will show the extent of government monitoring of web, email and other electronic communications.

Advertisement

David Sobel, senior counsel on the FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government project, said that the investigations are at the early stages.

"The first step is initialising our very early requests and in the first month we might be filing some lawsuits based on lack of response," he told vnunet.com

The EFF aims to uncover surveillance, database and data mining activities by the US government in recent years.

Sobel claims to have already contacted the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Education

"It is a fairly wide variety, particularly in a post 9/11 world where the government is interested in collecting and analysing large amounts of information," said Sobel.

Passed by congress in 1966, the Freedom Of Information Act calls for the public availability of all records kept by government agencies.

The legislation allows for exemptions such as trade secrets, matters of national security and individuals' private information.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

Xperia X1

Video Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

First Looks Editor Ian Williams gets hands on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

iPhone

Video Review: iPhone 3GS

We put Apple's latest iPhone through its paces

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Poll: Summer smartphones

Poll: Summer smartphones

Which smartphone will you be taking to the beach this summer?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

a padlock

Microsoft to plug security holes

Microsoft has given advance warning of a number of security...

Nokia handset

Top 10 articles, 10 July 09

No Nokia Android phone, ActiveX attacks and Google enters into...

Can Google beat Microsoft at its own game?

Google's announcement this week that it plans to step into...

iPhone

Video Review: iPhone 3GS

We put Apple's latest iPhone through its paces

Primary Navigation