Rapidly advancing technology has provided the government with a vast and ever-expanding array of new tools to combat crime and terrorism.  These include a wide variety of surveillance techniques that provide access to numerous sources of data and immeasurable quantities of information. However, with these new tools comes the potential to infringe Americans' constitutional rights and civil liberties, including privacy, equal protection, and First Amendment rights.  Moreover, all too often the governmental entities and decision-makers fail to recognize the increased potential of technology to intrude upon individual rights, and therefore default to the lowest possible level of constitutional protection when formulating laws and policies that govern the use of these tools.  The Constitution Project provides policy recommendations for reforms and practical guidance to governmental entities to ensure that law enforcement uses these new technologies in ways that safeguard constitutional rights and civil liberties.

• Video Surveillance.  State and local governments are increasingly establishing public video surveillance systems in their communities.  Recent technological advances have ushered in more pervasive forms of public video surveillance that have unsettled the delicate balance between law enforcement needs and constitutional rights and values, as pervasive camera systems raise a host of constitutional concerns.  The Project's report, Guidelines for Public Video Surveillance, provides practical recommendations to jurisdictions on how they may establish video surveillance systems that protect residents' privacy rights and civil liberties.
• Digital Due Process Coalition.  The Constitution Project has joined the Digital Due Process Coalition (DDP), a group of like-minded privacy groups, think tanks, and major technology companies that advocate for responsible and comprehensive reform of the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA).  ECPA, initially drafted in 1986 and largely unchanged since, no longer provides sensible rules to govern how the government may obtain access to electronic communications.  DDP and the Constitution Project propose to simplify, clarify, and unify the ECPA standards to provide stronger privacy protections in response to new technologies and changed usage patterns while still preserving the tools law enforcement personnel need to response to criminal activity and emergency circumstances.
  
• Data Mining.  More and more, the government is utilizing data mining, the use of computing technology to examine large amounts of data to reveal relationships, classifications, or patterns, to combat crime and ensure national security.  While data mining is a valuable tool, it also raises free speech, privacy, and equal protection concerns.  Innocent people could incur reputational harm after being falsely identified as terrorists, or careless contractors could lose laptops with unencrypted data.  Largely unregulated up until this point, data mining should be regulated by procedures and rules that both allow the government to harness the vast sea of information for our collective benefit and simultaneously protect the delicate relationship our Constitution established between the government and the governed.

Recent work and news

To view publications on this issue click here.