Friend, Another law enforcement officer has been caught abusing surveillance technology to track “people he had personal relationships with and their spouses.” According to Motherboard, Deputy U.S. Marshal Adrian O. Pena has been charged with using Securus Technology’s controversial phone-tracking system to keep tabs on the physical location of people he had personal relationships with—including an ex-girlfriend. This isn’t an isolated incident either—there a long history of officials abusing their access to surveillance technology, inlcuding NSA officers wielding the agency’s enormous and unchecked powers to spy on love interests. Once again, companies driven by a profit motive have given tools to unscrupulous law enforcement officers to track people they have personal relationships with. It’s time to put an end to this. At Restore The Fourth, we, like most reasonable and freedom-loving Americans, believe this is an enormous violation of our privacy rights—we believe that law enforcement should not be written a blank check to spy on Americans and that the companies that enable them are just as guilty as those that abuse this technology. That’s why we’re fighting back—from telling Google that it’s time to stop collecting sensitive location data to urging local governments to pass, protect, and strengthen their surveillance oversight initiatives. But we need help from privacy advocates like you. |