Christopher Calabrese, Legislative Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), released the following statement today in response to reports that the Obama administration is considering requesting an expansion of federal wiretapping programs:
“Under the guise of a technical fix, the government looks to be taking one more step toward conducting easy dragnet collection of Americans’ most private communications. Mandating that all communications software be accessible to the government is a huge privacy invasion. With concern over cybersecurity at an all-time high, this proposal will create even more security risks by mandating that our communications have a ‘backdoor’ for government use and will make our online interactions even more vulnerable.”
“Congress must reject the Obama administration’s proposal to make the Internet wiretap ready.”