The 118th U.S. Congress is being urged to defend privacy in a new campaign that was launched on Wednesday by 60 organisations working on human rights, free software, cryptocurrencies, open-source, and open-source initiatives, as well as programmes that protect privacy. The organisations, which include Fight for the Future, Electric Coin Co., and the Tor Project, maintain that Congress must pass laws protecting privacy.
Campaign Urges Lawmakers to Take Bold Stance on Pro-Privacy Policies
60 organisations have started a new campaign with the tagline “Tell Congress to defend privacy.” The organisations are requesting that the US federal government’s lawmakers defend privacy both offline and online. Fight for the Future, the Blockchain Association, Proton, the Tor Project, Mobilecoin, Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, Electric Coin Co., the Defi Education Fund, and Tutanota are a few of the organisations that support this cause. The initiative is in response to Fight for the Future’s open letter to Congress, in which the group argued that the right to privacy is a basic human right.
The letter states that “protecting the privacy of ordinary people is essential to ensuring safety, self-determination, press freedom, and other liberties that are the heart of democracy.” “We commend the renewed attention in enacting strong federal data privacy laws to protect these rights. Equally crucial are the technology and software solutions that we develop to protect user privacy by design. Like technologies assist users in protecting themselves from a wide range of risks, such as abuse from authoritarian governments and prejudice.
People can contact Congress through the campaign’s website and voice their support for privacy and the technologies that improve it. The website urges users to “contact Congress right away to demand they preserve our right to privacy.” The website also includes a comprehensive list of the groups taking part in the campaign. According to Isabela Fernandes, executive director of the Tor Project, “The Tor Project’s objective is to promote human rights through the design and deployment of free and open-source anonymity and privacy technology.” We are supporting this campaign because we think that privacy must be protected by everyone, even political officials.
Electric Coin Co. has fully embraced this global call for incoming U.S. lawmakers to safeguard privacy, according to Paul Brigner, head of U.S. policy and strategic advocacy. The creators and firm behind the cryptographic project Zcash, which focuses on privacy, is Electric Coin Co. “We enjoin lawmakers to strongly support pro-privacy policies, such as end-to-end encryption, and to reject any efforts to obstruct the usage or advancement of privacy-preserving tools. The only way we can hope to create a society that is truly democratic and free is by protecting everyone’s right to privacy.