| Friend,
The Fourth Amendment protects us all against unwarranted search and seizure of ourselves and our property, including our personal data. Or at least, it should.
But law enforcement and government agencies can exploit our lack of comprehensive federal privacy protections to acquire sensitive information, like geolocation tracking and search history, from third-party data brokers — companies you’ve probably never heard of or interacted with directly — without a warrant. Thanks to these shadowy intermediaries, the government can simply spend your taxpayer dollars to buy your data instead of seeking a warrant.
Fortunately, there is a bipartisan solution to this shocking disregard for our constitutional rights: The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FAINFSA) would close this data-broker loophole. Making this legislation into law would be a decisive and long-overdue action against government misuse of this clandestine business sector that traffics in our personal data for profit.
The House already passed this legislation in April.1We’re gathering signatures to show senators that the will of the people is overwhelmingly in favor of privacy rights and data protections. Law enforcement should never be able to purchase our data, but this becomes an even more disturbing trend as protest movements spread across college campuses and activists are targeted with violence and arrests.
In a rare display of aligned priorities, the public and members of Congress all agree that something needs to be done to rein in tech companies and protect our privacy. The Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act has bipartisan support — and passed the House in April — but the Senate has not yet taken it up.
Please sign our petition today to urge the Senate to pass FAINFSA and reject dystopian violations of our privacy rights.
Thank you for acting publicly to protect our privacy,
Jenna and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
1. "Free Press Action Praises House Passage of Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, Which Would Limit Authorities from Buying Away Americans' Privacy Rights," Free Press Action, April 17, 2024  |
