In “are you serious?!” news, the that a new group, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), has been formed to “help shape standards around how companies collect, store and use consumer data for business and advertising.” Who makes up this illustrious group? Ah, well. Your usual suspects — lawyers, privacy scholars and (wait for it)…corporate officials.
and brings some much-needed skepticism to the Post’s take:
Corporations understand that stricter privacy regulations are coming, no matter what they do. So they're trying to get out in front, by funding an advocacy group that appears to put them on the right side of the issue, but will almost certainly work to ensure that whatever reforms are put in place won't be too onerous for internet companies.
TPM goes on to ask the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for their opinion on FPF. EFF’s response? “Um, who?”
If wasn’t consulted and we weren’t consulted and neither of us had even heard of the group until their coming out party yesterday, what does that say about the agenda of the Future of Privacy Forum? Not to toot our own horn, but come on. If privacy scholars are being lined up to work with this group we would’ve heard about it — we do dabble in privacy work of our own. Just because the privacy community values privacy doesn’t necessarily mean we keep secrets.
Remember the FISA fight? The idea that there is now a group called the FUTURE OF PRIVACY FORUM being funded and led by corporations who sold out their customers’ phone records and conversations (aka “consumer data”) to the government without warrants or oversight would be funny if it weren’t so unspeakably bleak. First you get immunity. Now you want to set policy? Dude. The future of privacy is screwed.
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Press ReleaseDec 2025
Immigrants' Rights
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Human Rights Groups Urge Ice To End Immigration Detention At Fort Bliss Military Base, Halt Abusive Third-country Deportations . Explore Press Release.Human Rights Groups Urge ICE to End Immigration Detention at Fort Bliss Military Base, Halt Abusive Third-Country Deportations
WASHINGTON — Human rights groups today sent a letter urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to end immigration detention at Camp East Montana, a massive tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. Advocates summarized in their letter accounts of horrific conditions, including beatings and sexual abuse by officers against detained immigrants, beatings and coercive threats to compel deportation to third countries, medical neglect, hunger and insufficient food, and denial of meaningful access to counsel, among other rights violations. The letter comes just weeks after Rep. Veronica Escobar warned that people detained at Ft. Bliss were given foul-tasting drinking water, rotten food, and inadequate healthcare. The letter follows months of interviews with more than 45 detained people at Ft. Bliss and is accompanied by 16 sworn declarations by immigrants detained at the facility. Numerous detained people told lawyers that officers have engaged in a widespread and unreasonable pattern and practice of excessive force, including the use of abusive sexual contact by officers when utilizing force. One detained teenager using the pseudonym “Samuel” told lawyers he was beaten by officers so severely he sustained injuries across his body, lost consciousness, and had to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance. The letter relays Samuel’s account that his right front tooth broke from the force of being slammed to the ground, and as Samuel attests, one officer “grabbed my testicles and firmly crushed them,” while another “forced his fingers deep into my ears.” Samuel went on to say that while he was feeling “dizzy” and was “fighting to remain conscious,” an officer laughed at Samuel for having a chipped tooth after being slammed to the ground and told Samuel he was “like a little girl.” Samuel said that weeks after the beating, damage to his left ear is so severe that he now has trouble hearing. In their letter, the groups also reiterate their calls to immediately halt deportations of people to third countries to which they have no genuine ties. Interviewees said that at Ft. Bliss, the prospect of such removals has taken on a particularly abusive character. People detained attested that officers at Ft. Bliss have beaten detained people and used the threat of violence, criminal charges, and imprisonment in attempts to coerce non-Mexican immigrants held at Ft. Bliss to cross the border into the Mexican desert. Isaac, a Cuban immigrant held at Ft. Bliss, attested in a sworn declaration that officers told him that he was going to be deported to Mexico. Isaac told lawyers that, “the guards hit my head” and “slammed it against the wall approximately ten times.” He also said that officers grabbed and crushed his testicles between their fingers, and that soon after, officers handcuffed Isaac and approximately 20 other people, placed them on a bus, and drove them to the border, where they were informed they could get off the bus and cross into Mexico. Isaac added that officers told them “If we don’t want to go to Mexico, then we would either be sent to a jail cell in El Salvador or Africa.” Isaac is also using a pseudonym to protect his identity. The letter – which was signed by the Ůҹ, ACLU of New Mexico, ACLU of Texas, Estrella del Paso, Human Rights Watch, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, and Texas Civil Rights Project – also follows widespread media coverage detailing abusive conditions. In September 2025, a Washington Post report noted that a leaked internal ICE inspection found the Ft. Bliss facility violated over 60 federal detention standards in the first 50 days of its opening. The Trump administration hastily opened the sprawling tent camp in August 2025, despite warnings from members of Congress and advocates that the facility would be a humanitarian disaster. The facility is located on the military base formerly used to intern people of Japanese descent during World War II and currently holds over 2,700 people, making it the country’s largest immigration detention center. The full letter to ICE is available here: /documents/ice-letter-re-fort-bliss The declarations are available here: /documents/fort-bliss-declarations-december-2025Affiliates: Texas, New Mexico -
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Privacy & Technology
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Press ReleaseNov 2025
National Security
Dozens Of Veterans Descend On Capitol Hill To Oppose Military Deployments To U.s. Cities. Explore Press Release.Dozens of Veterans Descend on Capitol Hill to Oppose Military Deployments to U.S. Cities
WASHINGTON — Forty-one veterans from across the country spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill, urging members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to defend the Constitution and make clear that troops do not belong on our streets. This day of action was organized by the Ůҹ, the Chamberlain Network, Common Defense, Veterans for American Ideals, and Veterans For Peace. Veterans met with 14 Republican and 27 Democratic members from the House and the Senate, including senior leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, as well as members who themselves served in the military. They spoke about their personal experiences in the military and why using the military for domestic law enforcement puts service members, communities, and our democracy at risk. 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Forcing troops to face off against their fellow Americans is bad for the public’s trust in the military, bad for our neighbors who want to exercise their rights, and bad for the men and women in uniform.” Courts have so far blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to federalize state National Guard troops and deploy them to Chicago and Portland over the objections of their governors, however he has sent troops to Memphis, with the Tennessee governor’s agreement, and is still threatening other cities, including New York City, Baltimore, and Charlotte. The government has also asked the Supreme Court to affirm its attempt to federalize and deploy troops to Chicago, claiming that troops can be deployed on the president’s say-so alone and courts have no role in reviewing his actions. The following are additional quotes from the organizers: “Deploying military forces to American cities absent a real emergency is a misuse of power. 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Our service members are not political props, and we are here to remind our legislators that our military must be used ethically, responsibly, and only in ways that reflect our democratic values.” “I’m here in DC because I am angered and deeply concerned about the government’s use of the National Guard and active-duty military to police our communities. Service members are trained for overwhelming force, not civilian law enforcement. Deploying them in our neighborhoods endangers both the troops and the public, increases the risk of civil-rights violations, and stokes fear in the very communities our government is supposed to protect. It undermines our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” said Michael McPhearson, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace. Photos of the day, taken by Will Martinez, can be found here. Other photos, including those of veterans on Capitol Hill, are available upon request. -
Ůҹ & CommentaryNov 2025
National Security
Veterans Demand Congress Pull Troops From American Cities. Explore Ůҹ & Commentary.Veterans Demand Congress Pull Troops from American Cities
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