An article in the NYT today revealed Meta’s plan to take advantage of current political turmoil to sneak facial recognition into their smart glasses without enforcement bodies or privacy advocates noticing. But EPIC has noticed—and is ensuring that enforcers do, too. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

In January, EPIC published a report detailing the current health privacy crisis and what we can do about it. “Trust is so critical to health outcomes and health equities, and I believe that data privacy promotes that necessary trust," EPIC Senior Counsel Sara Geoghegan told a panel.

The FTC and state AGs need to act *now* to stop this. Last time Meta slipped facial rec into its products (face tagging), enforcers dawdled. Meta took 11 years to wind it back. We can't afford a decade of roving FRT-enabled surveillance cameras in every bathroom, clinic, classroom, and protest.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to collect years of email addresses and phone numbers from people applying to travel to America. That’s not just annoying and tedious; it’s also disturbingly intrusive.

This week, lawmakers in Georgia and Kansas introduced bills based on EPIC’s Model Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) legislation to protect users from online harm and promote safer platform design. EPIC applauds this critical step in the effort to protect children online.

EPIC joined @eff.org and more than 30 other organizations this week in urging California to revoke any permits allowing federal agencies such as U.S. Border Patrol to place and operate covert automatic license plate readers along state border highways.

EPIC is proud to endorse the ICE Out of Our Faces Act, a bill introduced by Senators Markey, Merkley, Wyden, and Jayapal that would ban any immigration officer, including ICE and CBP, from acquiring and using facial recognition and other biometric identification systems.

🎉 Maine just took a big step toward preventing data-driven harms when the state's House of Representatives voted to pass a bill today that would provide real privacy protections for Mainers. Read more about Maine's privacy bill: epic.org/maine-house-...

EPIC alum and @consumerfed.bsky.social Director of AI and Privacy @benwinters.bsky.social discusses our recent collaboration on a model People-First Chatbot Bill:

EPIC commends South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster for signing an Age-Appropriate Design Code into law last Thursday, the same day we released our model AADC to state legislatures nationwide. Read more about the model bill and S.C.’s new regulations:

We’re thrilled to introduce you to our latest model legislation: EPIC’s Age-Appropriate Design Code. This model protects kids online by prohibiting addictive design features for minors and giving them more control over their digital lives.

EPIC applauds the Virginia Senate’s unanimous passage of a vital bill, S.B. 338, banning the sale of precise geolocation data. We urge the state's House of Delegates to follow suit this session. Read EPIC Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald’s testimony in support of the bill here:

📫 EPIC rang in the new year by welcoming three new board members, publishing a major health data privacy report, and so much more. Find out what we’ve been up to in the latest edition of our monthly newsletter, The EPIC Alert, and don’t forget to subscribe!

EPIC around town: On Friday, Jeramie Scott, Senior Counsel and Director of EPIC’s Surveillance Oversight Program, spoke on a panel about AI and the surveillance state as part of the Georgetown Law Technology Review’s Symposium on Data, Power, and Authoritarianism.

EPIC is proud to support New Hampshire’s proposed Age-Appropriate Design Code, HB 1650. NH’s AADC mirrors Vermont’s version, which is the strongest kids’ online safety law enacted to date. Read more here:

📣 Yesterday, EPIC Deputy Director John Davisson urged Vermont legislators to restore a crucial mechanism in the state's Delete Act. The mechanism was designed to create a one-stop way to tell data brokers to delete your personal data, but the bill's latest draft relies on a much weaker system.

FISA 702 needs to be reformed. Here's how. Read the letter EPIC and other civil liberties organizations submitted for the record ahead of Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act:

Today is a holiday close to our hearts here at EPIC: Data Privacy Day 🔒 We believe that we all share a fundamental right to privacy, and protecting that right has never been more urgent. Evidence of the stakes is everywhere — this is what a week of news looks like in 2026:

EPIC hosted a virtual panel last week where experts discussed the current health privacy crisis, how it pushes people away from care, and what we can do about it. A recording of the conversation—and a new report EPIC authored on the topic—is available here:

Last week, EPIC joined a coalition of civil society groups led by @publicknowledge.bsky.social urging the FCC to safeguard the privacy of NextGen TV users. This new version of over-the-air antenna TV, also called ATSC 3.0, allows broadcasters to collect user data like streaming media services do.

EPIC is proud to support Wisconsin’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, which state legislators introduced last week. The bill adds momentum to the growing nationwide push to protect kids online. Read more here:

Data brokers have long fueled doxxing, and chatbots are making it even easier. EPIC Scholar-in-Residence @jshermcyber.bsky.social says it’s time for companies to bar their products from abetting doxxing and stop lobbying in support of public-records scraping.

On Wednesday, a coalition of plaintiffs including EPIC filed an amended complaint challenging the Trump admin’s unlawful overhaul of DHS’s SAVE system. The changes transformed the service into an unreliable national databank states are using to conduct citizenship checks and purge voter rolls.

More than 70 organizations have joined EPIC, @consumerfed.bsky.social, and @fairplayforkids.bsky.social to endorse our People-First Chatbot Bill, a crucial step forward in providing meaningful protections for all chatbot users.

NEW: Today, EPIC published a report detailing the health privacy crisis in which our data is collected and used to profile us, manipulate our behavior, and charge us more for care. Read “Beyond HIPAA: Reimagining How Privacy Laws Apply to Health Data to Maximize Equity in the Digital Age” here:

Huge, sweeping report from my colleague @sarageoghegan.bsky.social and the @epic.org team on how unregulated tech, mass surveillance, and yawning gaps in privacy law have created a health privacy crisis, as covered by WIRED’s @dell.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/survei...

Last chance to register for EPIC's health privacy panel taking place tomorrow, January 21 at 2 p.m. EST! Register now: lnkd.in/etvyHtik

📣Yesterday, EPIC Counsel Kara Williams testified in support of the New York AI Act (S1169A), which would prohibit algorithmic discrimination in housing, employment, and healthcare by requiring companies to disclose when they’re using AI to make sensitive decisions about consumers’ lives. Read more:

REMINDER: EPIC's Health Privacy Panel is one week away—make sure to register now! epic.org/beyond-hipaa-event

EPIC recently joined two comments as part of an ongoing call on the FTC to renew its click-to-cancel rulemaking. The click-to-cancel rule—vacated in 2025 for so-called procedural defects—was a popular initiative that stopped companies from trapping people in subscriptions. epic.org/epic-joins-c...

How we talk about AI matters, and describing AI as if it has human-like abilities is dangerous. EPIC’s new blog post explains why anthropomorphizing AI is inaccurate, obscures the real-life harms, and plays into the Big Tech narrative. epic.org/a-new-years-...

EPIC recently submitted comments to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services pushing back on a proposed rule that would dangerously expand the government’s collection and use of biometric data. EPIC has long highlighted concerns over increasing use of biometric data. epic.org/epic-opposes...

EPIC added another action to our long history of fighting against robocalls this week by joining a comment to the FCC. EPIC joined @nclc4consumers.bsky.social and @consumeradvocates.bsky.social in urging the FCC to adopt measures to better protect people from unwanted calls. epic.org/epic-joins-c...

Join EPIC on Wednesday, January 21 at 2 pm ET for a discussion on how surveillance and weak privacy laws threaten health equity and what we can do to build a more privacy-protective future. Register now: epic.org/beyond-hipaa-event

EPIC commends the FTC for making clear that companies cannot make misrepresentations about their data security practices. In comments about the FTC's proposed consent order to Illuminate Education, EPIC urged the agency to strengthen the order's data minimization provisions. epic.org/epic-urges-f...

We're thrilled to welcome three new privacy experts to our Board of Directors: @dbrody.bsky.social, @rcalo.bsky.social, and Katherine Strandburg! We're looking forward to their guidance as we continue fighting to protect the fundamental right to privacy in 2026. epic.org/press-releas...

Tax-deductible donations accepted through TONIGHT. In 2025, EPIC challenged illegal databases, advised state legislators, investigated surveillance, and held corporations accountable. Help us start 2026 strong: epic.org/donate

Here is what EPIC's Platform Accountability & Governance team wants to see more & less of in 2026! Your support will help us advocate for that protect the speech, privacy, anti-discrimination, and safety rights of internet users. Donate now: epic.org/donate

As more state lawmakers are navigating tech-related privacy, transparency, and accountability issues, EPIC has become a go-to expert for legislators. This year, we helped advance safeguards in CA, VT, OR, MA, and beyond. Your donations make this important work possible. Donate today! Epic.org/donate

Here are some ways you can support EPIC's work in 2026! Find more information at epic.org

Here is what EPIC's Consumer Privacy team wants to see more & less of in 2026! EPIC’s Consumer Privacy team seeks to protect individuals from data abuses and strengthen privacy standards online. Your support will help us carry on this work in 2026!  Donate now: epic.org/donate.

NEW: EPIC published “Data Broker Harms to Public Officials,” a one-pager outlining how data brokers inadvertently provide tools to locate and track public officials, creating severe safety threats. Read about current protections and policy recommendations here: epic.org/updated-epic...

Federal agencies are attempting to gut laws meant to protect consumers from discriminatory lending practices. This week, EPIC filed comments opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s proposed rules on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), or Regulation B. epic.org/epic-urges-c...

NEW: EPIC and Just Futures Law published “How Data Brokers Harm Immigrants,” a one-pager detailing how the data broker industry sells sensitive information which can be used to target immigrants for deportation, marketing for predatory products, or criminalization. Read more here: buff.ly/a2ozsIx

Holiday gift prices seeming a little higher than normal this year? One factor could be something called surveillance pricing that companies are suing to keep consumers in the dark about. In this blog post, EPIC staff explains the legal and policy problems with this anti-consumer move.

Companies increasingly use digital labor platforms to decide who gets to work, when they work, and how much they get paid—all without paying fair wages, providing benefits, or maintaining accountability.

NEW: EPIC partnered with the National Network to End Domestic Violence to publish a one-pager about how the data broker industry presents alarming consequences for domestic violence survivors. Read our policy recommendations here: buff.ly/a2ozsIx

Looks like the Selective Service is planning to disclose (or already disclosing) personal data to unspecified agencies regarding 'potential violation[s]' of law—which in the present context may well include sending immigrants' records to DHS/ICE: public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-23111.pdf

NEW: EPIC published updates to a series of one-pagers about threats posed by data brokers—an industry of shadowy companies that trade in personal data—to provide concise, high-level summaries of key issues and current protections across specific communities. epic.org/updated-epic...

In a key win for consumer privacy, the FTC has upheld a 2021 consent decree against Scott Zuckerman, CEO of the stalkerware app SpyFone. Zuckerman had petitioned to reduce his obligations, which include a permanent ban on selling surveillance products. epic.org/ftc-denies-s...