Bulk Collection ─ Systematic Government Access to Private-Sector Data

This book is the culmination of nearly six years of research initiated by Fred Cate and Jim Dempsey to examine national practices and laws regarding systematic government access to personal information held by private-sector companies. Leading an effort sponsored by The Privacy Projects, they commissioned a series of country reports, asking national experts to uncover what they could about government demands on telecommunications providers and other private-sector companies to disclose bulk information about their customers. Their initial research found disturbing indications of systematic access in countries around the world. These data collection programs, often undertaken in the name of national security, were cloaked in secrecy and largely immune from oversight, posing serious threats to personal privacy. After the Snowden leaks confirmed these initial findings, the project morphed into something more ambitious: an effort to explore what should be the rules for government access to private-sector data, and how companies should respond to government demands for access.

This book contains twelve updated country reports plus eleven analytic chapters that present descriptive and normative frameworks for assessing national surveillance laws, survey evolving international law and human rights principles applicable to government surveillance, and describe oversight mechanisms. It also explores the concept of accountability and the role of encryption in shaping the surveillance debate. Cate and Dempsey conclude by offering recommendations for both governments and industry.

Fred H. Cate is Vice President for Research, Distinguished Professor, and C. Ben Dutton Professor of Law at Indiana University. The author of more than 150 articles and books and a frequent advisor to government and industry on privacy and security issues, he serves as a senior policy advisor to the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Williams LLP and is one of the founding editors of the OUP journal, International Data Privacy Law.

James X. Dempsey is executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Previously, he was at the Center for Democracy & Technology, where he held a number of leadership positions, including Executive Director and head of CDT West. From 2012 to January 2017, he served as a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent federal agency charged with advising senior policymakers and overseeing US counterterrorism programs. He is coauthor (with David Cole) of Terrorism & the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security.