{"id":46641,"date":"2022-02-15T18:17:26","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology"},"modified":"2025-06-17T16:50:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:50:22","slug":"privacy-technology","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology","title":{"rendered":"Privacy & Technology"},"parent":0,"menu_order":160,"template":"","class_list":["post-46641","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210810,"intro":"The ACLU works to expand the right to privacy, increase the control individuals have over their personal information, and ensure civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by technological innovation.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"1986","description":"The federal law protecting your electronic information was passed in 1986, making it older than the World Wide Web."},{"highlighted":"Fourth Amendment","description":"The government argues that the Fourth Amendment protects information that you keep in your desk, but not information that you keep online, like old emails or pictures."},{"highlighted":"National Security Agency","description":"In order to carry out mass surveillance, the NSA has weakened the security of the communications systems that we all rely on."}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":null},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"\u201cThe fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u2014U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in Riley v. California <\/em>(2014)\r\n\r\nTechnological innovation has outpaced our privacy protections. As a result, our digital footprint can be tracked by the government and corporations in ways that were once unthinkable.\r\n\r\nThis digital footprint is constantly growing, containing more and more data about the most intimate aspects of our lives. This includes our communications, whereabouts, online searches, purchases, and even our bodies. When the government has easy access to this information, we lose more than just privacy and control over our information. Free speech, security, and equality suffer as well.\r\n\r\nThe ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project fights in the courts, lobbies on Capitol Hill, and works with technology companies to ensure that civil liberties are protected as technology advances. We are working to secure a warrant requirement for law enforcement access to electronic information, to chip away at the government\u2019s excessive secrecy surrounding its surveillance practices, to promote the proliferation of privacy-protective technologies, and more.\r\n\r\nAmericans should not have to choose between using new technologies and protecting their civil liberties. We work to ensure a future in which the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches extends to digital property and your data is your own."},"actions":"","drupal-id":98,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU works to expand the right to privacy, increase the control individuals have over their personal information, and ensure civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by technological innovation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Privacy & Technology | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU works to expand the right to privacy, increase the control individuals have over their personal information, and ensure civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by technological innovation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T20:50:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\",\"name\":\"Privacy & Technology | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:17:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T20:50:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU works to expand the right to privacy, increase the control individuals have over their personal information, and ensure civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by technological innovation.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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