The Senate Judiciary Committee moved forward a bill, called the Cooper Davis Act, that would make tech companies report users suspected of criminal drug activity to the DEA. Surveillance litigation director Andrew Crocker of the Electronic Frontier Foundation laid out the group’s concerns (via Gizmodo):
“[The bill’s] vague requirements and criminal penalties would result in companies over-reporting users to the [DEA] for innocent, protected speech. And because the bill encourages companies to undermine encryption out of fear of liability, it could lead to dragnet scanning of private user communications. This bill contains no warrant requirement, no required notice, and limited user protections, and deserves to be defeated on the Senate floor.”
Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union also opposes it:
“The bill will expand law enforcement’s access to user data, undermine the protections of Constitutional statutory warrant requirements, and exacerbate existing racial disparities in criminal drug enforcement. Platforms are not equipped to be deputized as DEA informants, and this bill will likely cause more harm than it heals. We urge the full Senate to reject this approach.”
[congress.gov]
