Colin J. Zick writes: On November, 7, 2025, I spoke to the Massachusetts Health Information Management Association about the federal government’s sweeping updates to 42 CFR Part 2—the confidentiality rules governing substance use disorder (SUD) records—to better align with HIPAA while preserving Part 2’s core patient protections. Issued in April 2024 with a two-year runway, the…
Always watching: How ICE’s plan to monitor social media 24/7 threatens privacy and civic participation
ICE’s surveillance gaze is likely to sweep across millions of people’s social media posts. Westend61/Westend61 via Getty Images Nicole M. Bennett, Indiana University When most people think about immigration enforcement, they picture border crossings and airport checkpoints. But the new front line may be your social media feed. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has published…
Who’s watching the watchers? This Mozilla fellow, and her Surveillance Watch map
Jessica Lyons reports: INTERVIEW: Digital rights activist Esra’a Al Shafei found FinFisher spyware on her device more than a decade ago. Now she’s made it her mission to surveil the companies providing surveillanceware, their customers, and their funders. “You cannot resist what you do not know, and the more you know, the better you can…
EPIC Publishes New Whitepaper Detailing Privacy Risks of Government Data Mining Programs
From EPIC.org on November 6, 2025: WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) published Closing the Data Mines: Repairing Oversight, Preserving Rights, a whitepaper authored by EPIC Law Fellow Abigail Kunkler. The whitepaper examines the systemic flaws in data mining practices, including persistent problems of data accuracy and human bias, and highlights the downstream consequences…