US Courts to Begin Publishing Government Spyware Usage Data in Landmark Transparency Move

In a significant victory for government transparency and digital privacy rights, the United States judiciary has announced it will begin publicly tracking and publishing data on how often federal authorities use spyware and hacking tools to conduct wiretaps. This new reporting category will be added to the annual Wiretap Reports starting with the 2028 data, which will be published in 2029.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts confirmed this change following communication with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who has advocated for such transparency measures since 2017. A spokesperson for the office explained that before the new data can appear in the annual report, reporting forms and procedures must be updated to accommodate the new categories.

The annual Wiretap Reports have been published for nearly two decades, detailing the number of authorized wiretaps broken down by federal versus state judges, locations, types of crimes investigated, and other relevant statistics. However, until now, there has been no public data counting how frequently the FBI and other federal agencies deploy network investigating techniques, commonly known as NITs, which include spyware and hacking methods.

Understanding What Will and Won’t Be Tracked

It is important to understand the specific scope of this new reporting requirement. The statistics will only reveal when authorities have used spyware to intercept real time communications, such as Signal and WhatsApp calls and messages. This falls under the legal definition of a wiretap, which requires law enforcement to present a high bar of evidence to a judge before authorization is granted.

The data will not cover instances where authorities use tools to remotely hack into a phone and extract data stored inside it, such as images, files, and location information. That type of activity is legally classified as a search, which involves an entirely different legal process and is not relevant to the wiretap reports.

Privacy Experts and Advocates Respond

The announcement has been met with widespread praise from privacy advocates and legal experts who have long called for greater transparency around government surveillance capabilities.

Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and an expert on government spyware, described the change as a huge win for transparency. She noted that until now, experts and the public could only guess at the scale of government spyware usage. Once these statistics become public, she explained, it will help hold the U.S. government accountable when there are abusive uses of spyware, as it will be harder for authorities to deny that the tools were used. Galperin added that being able to point to a report saying spyware was used a specific number of times will help with accountability, especially if that number turns out to be quite high. She emphasized that it becomes difficult to claim spyware is being used as a surgical tool when it has been deployed tens of thousands of times.

Brett Max Kaufman, a senior counsel in the American Civil Liberties Union’s Center for Democracy, called the change an important and long overdue step forward for transparency around government hacking that should lead to better informed policy and law on these issues going forward.

Senator Wyden celebrated the change while also calling for further action. He stated that the American people remain largely in the dark about the different ways the government is spying on them. While thankful that the federal courts agreed to collect and publish data about hacking, Wyden emphasized that Congress must go further and pass his Government Surveillance Transparency Act, a draft bill he and others reintroduced earlier this year.

A Step Toward International Standards

The United States is not the first country to take this step. Italy, for example, already publishes detailed data on spyware usage, with publicly available information showing that spyware was used against 4,321 targets in the country in 2023 alone. This new U.S. reporting requirement brings American surveillance transparency practices closer to international standards.

Historical Context and Future Implications

The FBI has been using hacking techniques and tools since at least 1998, but the lack of public data has made it impossible to assess the true scope of these surveillance activities. Wiretaps, while generally issued in far fewer numbers than search warrants due to the high legal bar required, can still sweep up a large amount of people’s communications. Years ago, for example, one wiretap enabled a massive surveillance operation that collected millions of text messages over the course of three months.

This new transparency measure represents a significant shift toward greater public awareness of government surveillance practices. When the first report containing spyware data is published in 2029, it will provide researchers, policymakers, and the public with crucial information about the scale of government hacking operations. This data will enable more informed debates about privacy, security, and the appropriate balance between law enforcement needs and civil liberties in the digital age.

The change also demonstrates the effectiveness of persistent advocacy by lawmakers and civil liberties organizations in pushing for greater government transparency. While the three year timeline to implement this change may seem lengthy, it reflects the need to update reporting forms and procedures across the entire federal judiciary system to ensure accurate and consistent data collection.

As digital communications continue to play an increasingly central role in daily life, the importance of understanding how and how often the government accesses these communications cannot be overstated. This new reporting requirement marks an important step toward demystifying government surveillance practices and ensuring that the use of powerful investigative tools remains subject to public scrutiny and accountability.

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