Petition to Restore Transparency, Accountability, and Constitutional Privacy in the Digital Age
To:

The President of the United States

Members of the United States Congress

The Senate Judiciary Committee

The House Judiciary Committee

 
Dear President and Members of Congress,

We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, respectfully petition our federal government to acknowledge and address the rapid expansion of mass surveillance technologies that now permeate everyday American life.

Over the past two decades—and particularly within the last decade—powerful surveillance systems have become embedded throughout our communities. These include automated license plate readers, facial recognition technologies, AI-assisted monitoring, expansive camera networks, commercial data collection, drone surveillance, and the widespread buying and selling of personal location and behavioral information by data brokers.

Many of these technologies were introduced gradually, often under the banners of public safety, convenience, or efficiency. While each individual technology may serve legitimate purposes, their cumulative effect has fundamentally altered the relationship between citizens, government, and private industry.

This transformation occurred without a comprehensive national conversation regarding the constitutional, ethical, and societal implications of persistent digital surveillance.

We recognize that modern technology has helped solve crimes, recover missing persons, improve emergency response, and increase public safety. We are not asking our nation to abandon technological innovation.

Rather, we ask that innovation remain consistent with the principles upon which our Republic was founded.

The Fourth Amendment guarantees Americans protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. While technology has advanced dramatically since those words were written, the principle they embody remains unchanged: government power must be limited, accountable, and subject to meaningful oversight.

We therefore respectfully request that Congress and the Executive Branch work together to enact comprehensive federal privacy protections that include, at minimum:

• National transparency requirements for government surveillance technologies.

• Public disclosure whenever surveillance technologies are acquired or deployed.

• Modern warrant requirements that reflect current digital realities.

• Strict limitations on the purchase or use of commercially obtained location and behavioral data by government agencies without appropriate judicial oversight.

• Clear limits on data retention for individuals not suspected of criminal activity.

• Meaningful opportunities for public input before widespread deployment of new surveillance systems.

• Strong legal protections against misuse, unauthorized access, discrimination, and mission creep.

• Independent audits of facial recognition and AI surveillance systems for accuracy, bias, and constitutional compliance.

• Comprehensive federal privacy legislation establishing citizens' rights regarding collection, storage, sharing, and deletion of personal data.

We further request that Congress establish a bipartisan national commission to evaluate the long-term constitutional implications of emerging surveillance technologies and recommend safeguards that preserve both public safety and individual liberty.

Our request is neither partisan nor ideological.

It is rooted in the enduring American belief that government derives its authority from the consent of the governed.

Consent requires knowledge.

Knowledge requires transparency.

Transparency requires accountability.

The American people deserve an open national conversation about how surveillance technologies are being used, what information is being collected, who has access to it, how long it is retained, and what legal protections exist to prevent abuse.

History has shown that extraordinary governmental powers, once created, rarely remain confined to their original purpose. Without clear legal boundaries, oversight, and public accountability, surveillance intended for exceptional circumstances can gradually become routine.

We believe that a free society should not normalize persistent monitoring without informed public consent.

We therefore respectfully urge our elected leaders to modernize America's privacy laws, strengthen constitutional safeguards, and ensure that technological advancement never outpaces the rights guaranteed to every citizen.

The freedoms protected by the Constitution should evolve with technology—not be diminished by it.

Respectfully,

The Undersigned Citizens of the United States