PUFPF has tools for lawmakers to safeguard free speech and civic engagement

The shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk has launched a national conversation about political violence and free speech in America. Many Americans are wondering how our country got to this point, how we can stop the violence, and how we can get back to a place where citizens have mutual respect for each other’s beliefs and opinions.

The hard truth is this problem has been getting worse for a long time. What began with efforts to get people fired from their jobs and exiled from polite society for their political views has escalated into full-blown violence. Americans are now being killed for attending political rallies, participating in protests, and for exercising their free speech rights on a college campus.

These appalling acts of violence send a chilling message to every American: Keep quiet or you may become the next target. We cannot allow extremists to win. Free speech must never be silenced through violence or our Republic will no longer be “of, by, and for the people.”

This crisis did not arise overnight. It is born from a toxic culture that dehumanizes political opponents, laws that expose our beliefs and personal information, and technology that empowers bad actors to track us down and harass us like never before. As our leaders seek solutions, policymakers must embrace practical reforms to protect citizens from violence when they participate in political and social debates.

We have been in this battle for years. People United for Privacy Foundation was founded in 2018 to address the rise of doxing and political harassment of Americans for their beliefs, speech, and donations. We sounded the alarm as politicians steadily eroded the privacy rights that make it safe for Americans to criticize the powerful without placing a target on their back. Restoring these rights is critical to defeating the threats of doxing, cancel culture, and political violence.

Our work to make America safe for free speech includes:

• The Personal Privacy Protection Act (PPPA). Our signature model policy has been adopted in 22 states covering over 100 million Americans. The PPPA ensures citizens can join, volunteer for, and donate to nonprofit causes they believe in without their personal information being exposed to biased bureaucrats or unhinged extremists. The PPPA prohibits government agencies from collecting and disclosing such sensitive information.
• Modernizing State Campaign Finance and Lobbying Laws for the Digital Age. State laws governing the collection and publication of information about Americans involved in the political process often predate today’s hyperconnected world and fail to protect against the risk of political violence. We help states clean up their antiquated laws, remove unconstitutional statutes, and ensure citizens are not unnecessarily put at risk for exercising core First Amendment rights.
• Home Address Redaction Policy. Under current federal campaign finance laws, Americans who give as little as $200 to a candidate, political party, or political committee must have their name, home address, occupation, and employer published in a public and searchable online database. Many state laws set an even lower threshold for these invasive disclosures. Exposing donors’ home street addresses puts Americans at risk of targeting, harassment, and violence while doing nothing to prevent corruption. We encourage Congress and the states to raise donor disclosure thresholds and pass redaction policies that ensure public transparency objectives are met while shielding donors’ street names and numbers and their employers from exposure.
• Preventing Political Weaponization of the IRS and Other Federal Agencies. Often, the biggest threats to free speech and citizen advocacy come from the government itself. For years, we have worked with Congress to secure language in annual budget bills reigning in the ability of non-expert agencies like the IRS or SEC to police political speech. These policies are essential to preventing a repeat of scandals like the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups during the Obama administration.

Privacy is not a luxury for civil society. It is essential to its very existence. To stop political violence and save free speech, Americans must be free to enter and exit the public square without their enemies following them home. As lawmakers, nonprofit leaders, and concerned citizens search for solutions to the rise of political violence, restoring our country’s long-eroded protections for privacy in association should be at the top of the list.