{"id":46643,"date":"2022-02-15T18:17:36","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-and-surveillance"},"modified":"2025-06-17T16:40:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:40:28","slug":"privacy-and-surveillance","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/national-security\/privacy-and-surveillance","title":{"rendered":"Privacy and Surveillance"},"parent":46591,"menu_order":5,"template":"","class_list":["post-46643","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210791,"intro":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","what-you-need-to-know":null,"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":null},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"Privacy today faces growing threats from a growing surveillance apparatus that is often justified in the name of national security. Numerous government agencies\u2014including the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and state and local law enforcement agencies\u2014intrude upon the private communications of innocent citizens, amass vast databases of who we call and when, and catalog \u201csuspicious activities\u201d based on the vaguest standards.\r\n\r\nThe government\u2019s collection of this sensitive information is itself an invasion of privacy. But its use of this data is also rife with abuse. Innocuous data is fed into bloated watchlists, with severe consequences\u2014innocent individuals have found themselves unable to board planes, barred from certain types of jobs, shut out of their bank accounts, and repeatedly questioned by authorities. Once information is in the government\u2019s hands, it can be shared widely and retained for years, and the rules about access and use can be changed entirely in secret without the public ever knowing.\r\n\r\nOur Constitution and democratic system demand that the government be transparent and accountable to the people, not the other way around. History has shown that powerful, secret surveillance tools will almost certainly be abused for political ends and turned disproportionately on disfavored minorities.\r\n\r\nThe ACLU has been at the forefront of the struggle to prevent the entrenchment of a surveillance state by challenging the secrecy of the government\u2019s surveillance and watchlisting practices; its violations of our rights to privacy, free speech, due process, and association; and its stigmatization of minority communities and activists disproportionately targeted by surveillance."},"actions":"","drupal-id":142,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\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 and Surveillance | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/national-security\/privacy-and-surveillance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T20:40:28+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\/national-security\/privacy-and-surveillance\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/national-security\/privacy-and-surveillance\",\"name\":\"Privacy and Surveillance | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:17:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T20:40:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/national-security\/privacy-and-surveillance\"]}]},{\"@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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