Demand Progress

Stop the sale of private data to law enforcement!

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    Stop the sale of private data to law enforcement!

    Petition to the FTC:
    We urge you to
    create comprehensive privacy rules that govern online data collection, usage, and sharing — all of which constitute unfair trade practices. The FTC should also specifically ban the sale of personal data to law enforcement, a secondary use of consumer data that violates the Fourth Amendment.

    Right now, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking a hard look at the privacy laws that corporations are currently abusing to sell our personal data to law enforcement. Cops can then use this data to violate our constitutional rights with impunity.

    The FTC is asking for public comments, and we need to make our voices heard: we demand the FTC stops corporations from selling our data to law enforcement!

    Sign the petition: Tell the FTC to stop the sale of our data to law enforcement!

    Currently, data brokers conspire with the federal government to violate our constitutional rights. The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable search and seizure, but law enforcement and federal agencies buy our private data from corporations all the time, even including where we go.

    Vice recently found the US military has purchased a mass internet monitoring tool and may now have access to your email data, browsing history, and other sensitive data.1 Government agencies could use this information to unconstitutionally prosecute Americans.

    That’s why the FTC must take advantage of this opportunity to adopt comprehensive privacy rules that will govern online data collection, usage, and sharing. Sales of personal data to law enforcement should be banned outright.

    Sign the petition: Tell the FTC to adopt comprehensive privacy rules protecting us from predatory data brokers — including a specific ban on the sale of data to law enforcement!

    Sources:

    Vice, “Revealed: US Military Bought Mass Monitoring Tool That Includes Internet Browsing, Email Data,” September 21, 2022.