< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> It’s no fun when your friends ask you to take sides in their disputes. The plans for every dinner party, wedding, and even funeral arrive at a…
Tag: Deeplinks
NETMundial+10 Multistakeholder Statement Pushes for Greater Inclusiveness in Internet Governance Processes
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> A new statement about strengthening internet governance processes emerged from the NETMundial +10 meeting in Brazil last month, strongly reaffirming the value of and need for a…
Nominations Open for 2024 EFF Awards!
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Nominations are now open for the 2024 EFF Awards! The nomination window will be open until May 31st at 2:00 PM Pacific time. You could nominate the…
EFF Urges Supreme Court to Reject Texas’ Speech-Chilling Age Verification Law
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> A Texas age verification law will rob people of anonymity online, chill access to speech for privacy- and security-minded internet users, and entirely block some adults from accessing constitutionally protected online…
Speaking Freely: Ethan Zuckerman
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Ethan Zuckerman is a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he teaches Public Policy, Communication and Information. He is starting a new research center…
Podcast Episode: Chronicling Online Communities
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> From Napster to YouTube, some of the most important and controversial uses of the internet have been about building community: connecting people all over the world who…
Shots Fired: Congressional Letter Questions DHS Funding of ShotSpotter
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> There is a growing pile of evidence that cities should drop Shotspotter, the notorious surveillance system that purportedly uses acoustic sensors to detect gunshots, due to its…
Georgia Prosecutors Stoke Fears over Use of Encrypted Messengers and Tor
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> In an indictment against Defend the Atlanta Forest activists in Georgia, state prosecutors are citing use of encrypted communications to fearmonger. Alleging the defendants—which include journalists and…
Sunsetting Section 230 Will Hurt Internet Users, Not Big Tech
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> As Congress appears ready to gut one of the internet’s most important laws for protecting free speech, they are ignoring how that law protects and benefits millions…
EFF to Court: Electronic Ankle Monitoring Is Bad. Sharing That Data Is Even Worse.
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The government violates the privacy rights of individuals on pretrial release when it continuously tracks, retains, and shares their location, EFF explained in a friend-of-the-court brief filed…
EFF to Court: Electronic ankle monitoring is bad. Sharing that data is even worse.
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The government violates the privacy rights of individuals on pretrial release when it continuously tracks, retains, and shares their location, EFF explained in a friend-of-the-court brief filed…
EFF Urges Ninth Circuit to Hold Montana’s TikTok Ban Unconstitutional
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Montana’s TikTok ban violates the First Amendment, EFF and others told the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a friend-of-the-court brief and urged the court to affirm…
Fair Use Still Protects Histories and Documentaries—Even Tiger King
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Copyright’s fair use doctrine protects lots of important free expression against the threat of ruinous lawsuits. Fair use isn’t limited to political commentary or erudite works –…
The Cybertiger Strikes Again! EFF’s 8th Annual Tech Trivia Night
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Being well into spring, with the weather getting warmer, we knew it was only a matter of time till the Cybertiger awoke from his slumber. But we were prepared. Prepared to…
One (Busy) Day in the Life of EFF’s Activism Team
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> EFF is an organization of lawyers, technologists, policy professionals, and importantly–full-time activists–who fight to make sure that technology enhances rather than threatens civil liberties on a global…
Coalition to Calexico: Think Twice About Reapproving Border Surveillance Tower Next to a Public Park
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> On the southwest side of Calexico, a border town in California’s Imperial Valley, a surveillance tower casts a shadow over a baseball field and a residential neighborhood.…
Speaking Freely: Mohamed El Gohary
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Interviewer: Jillian York Mohamed El Gohary is an open-knowledge enthusiast. After majoring in Biomedical Engineering in October 2010, he switched careers to work as a Social Media…
Victory! FCC Closes Loopholes and Restores Net Neutrality
Thanks to weeks of the public speaking up and taking action the FCC has recognized the flaw in their proposed net neutrality rules. The FCC’s final adopted order on net neutrality restores bright line rules against all forms of throttling,…
Big Tech to EU: “Drop Dead”
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The European Union’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a complex, many-legged beast, but at root, it is a regulation that aims to make it easier for…
The FBI is Playing Politics with Your Privacy
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> A bombshell report from WIRED reveals that two days after the U.S. Congress renewed and expanded the mass-surveillance authority Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the deputy director of…
No Country Should be Making Speech Rules for the World
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> It’s a simple proposition: no single country should be able to restrict speech across the entire internet. Any other approach invites a swift relay race to the…
What Can Go Wrong When Police Use AI to Write Reports?
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Axon—the makers of widely-used police body cameras and tasers (and that also keeps trying to arm drones)—has a new product: AI that will write police reports for…
Free Speech Around the World | EFFector 36.6
Let’s gather around the campfire and tell tales of the latest happenings in the fight for privacy and free expression online. Take care in roasting your marshmallows while we share ways to protect your data from political campaigns seeking to…
Speaking Freely : Nompilo Simanje
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Nompilo Simanje is a lawyer by profession and is the Africa Advocacy and Partnerships Lead at the International Press Institute. She leads the IPI Africa Program which…
Podcast Episode: Building a Tactile Internet
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Blind and low-vision people have experienced remarkable gains in information literacy because of digital technologies, like being able to access an online library offering more than 1.2…
Add Bluetooth to the Long List of Border Surveillance Technologies
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> A new report from news outlet NOTUS shows that at least two Texas counties along the U.S.-Mexico border have purchased a product that would allow law enforcement…
EFF Zine on Surveillance Tech at the Southern Border Shines Light on Ever-Growing Spy Network
Guide Features Border Tech Photos, Locations, and Explanation of Capabilities < div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> SAN FRANCISCO—Sensor towers controlled by AI, drones launched from truck-bed catapults, vehicle-tracking devices disguised as traffic cones—all…
CCTV Cambridge, Addressing Digital Equity in Massachusetts
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Here at EFF digital equity is something that we advocate for, and we are always thrilled when we hear a member of the Electronic Frontier Alliance is…
The U.S. House Version of KOSA: Still a Censorship Bill
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> A companion bill to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was introduced in the House last month. Despite minor changes, it suffers from the same fundamental flaws…
On World Press Freedom Day (and Every Day), We Fight for an Open Internet
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Today marks World Press Freedom Day, an annual celebration instituted by the United Nations in 1993 to raise awareness of press freedom and remind governments of their…
Biden Signed the TikTok Ban. What’s Next for TikTok Users?
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Over the last month, lawmakers moved swiftly to pass legislation that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States, eventually including it in a foreign aid package…
Speaking Freely: Rebecca MacKinnon
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> *This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Rebecca MacKinnon is Vice President, Global Advocacy at the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that hosts Wikipedia. Author of…
Congress Should Just Say No to NO FAKES
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> There is a lot of anxiety around the use of generative artificial intelligence, some of it justified. But it seems like Congress thinks the highest priority is…
Screen Printing 101: EFF’s Spring Speakeasy at Babylon Burning
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> At least twice each year, we invite current EFF members to gather with fellow internet freedom supporters and to meet the people behind your favorite digital civil liberties organization. For this…
Speaking Freely: Obioma Okonkwo
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> This interview has been edited for clarity and length.* Obioma Okonkwo is a lawyer and human rights advocate. She is currently the Head of Legal at Media…
Podcast Episode: Right to Repair Catches the Car
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> If you buy something—a refrigerator, a car, a tractor, a wheelchair, or a phone—but you can’t have the information or parts to fix or modify it, is it really yours? The…
U.S. Senate and Biden Administration Shamefully Renew and Expand FISA Section 702, Ushering in a Two Year Expansion of Unconstitutional Mass Surveillance
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> One week after it was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate has passed what Senator Ron Wyden has called, “one of the most dramatic…
Internet Service Providers Plan to Subvert Net Neutrality. Don’t Let Them
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> In the absence of strong net neutrality protections, internet service providers (ISPs) have made all sorts of plans that would allow them to capitalize on something called…
EFF, Human Rights Organizations Call for Urgent Action in Case of Alaa Abd El Fattah
Following an urgent appeal filed to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) on behalf of blogger and activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, EFF has joined 26 free expression and human rights organizations calling for immediate action. The…
Congress: Don’t Let Anyone Own The Law
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> We should all have the freedom to read, share, and comment on the laws we must live by. But yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee voted 19-4 to move forward the PRO…
Two Years Post-Roe: A Better Understanding of Digital Threats
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> It’s been a long two years since the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Between May 2022 when the Supreme Court accidentally leaked the draft memo…
Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act Passed the House, Now it Should Pass the Senate
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act, H.R.4639, originally introduced in the Senate by Senator Ron Wyden in 2021, has now made the important and historic…
About Face (Recognition) | EFFector 36.5
There are a lot of updates in the fight for our freedoms online, from a last-minute reauthorization bill to expand Section 702 (tell your senators to vote NO on the bill here!), a new federal consumer data privacy law (we…
Speaking Freely: Lynn Hamadallah
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Lynn Hamadallah is a Syrian-Palestinian-French Psychologist based in London. An outspoken voice for the Palestinian cause, Lynn is interested in the ways in which narratives, spoken and…
How Political Campaigns Use Your Data to Target You
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Data about potential voters—who they are, where they are, and how to reach them—is an extremely valuable commodity during an election year. And while the right to…
Americans Deserve More Than the Current American Privacy Rights Act
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> EFF is concerned that a new federal bill would freeze consumer data privacy protections in place, by preempting existing state laws and preventing states from creating stronger…
Tell the FCC It Must Clarify Its Rules to Prevent Loopholes That Will Swallow Net Neutrality Whole
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released draft rules to reinstate net neutrality, with a vote on adopting the rules to come on the 25th of April.…
S.T.O.P. is Working to ‘Ban The Scan’ in New York
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Facial recognition is a threat to privacy, racial justice, free expression, and information security. EFF supports strict restrictions on face recognition use by private companies, and total…
EFF Submits Comments on FRT to Commission on Civil Rights
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Because our faces are often exposed and, unlike passwords or pin numbers, cannot be remade, governments and businesses, often working in partnership, are increasingly using our faces to track our whereabouts,…
What Does EFF Mean to You?
We could go on for days talking about all the work EFF does to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people of the world. In fact, we DO go on for days talking about it —…
Bad Amendments to Section 702 Have Failed (For Now)—What Happens Next?
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted against considering a largely bad bill that would have unacceptably expanded the tentacles of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance…
Virtual Reality and the ‘Virtual Wall’
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> When EFF set out to map surveillance technology along the U.S.-Mexico border, we weren’t exactly sure how to do it. We started with public records—procurement documents, environmental…
The Motion Picture Association Doesn’t Get to Decide Who the First Amendment Protects
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Twelve years ago, internet users spoke up with one voice to reject a law that would build censorship into the internet at a fundamental level. This week,…
Speaking Freely: Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> This interview has been edited for length and clarity.* Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso is the executive director of FORUM-Asia. She has worked for many years in human rights…
Podcast Episode: Antitrust/Pro-Internet
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Imagine an internet in which economic power is more broadly distributed, so that more people can build and maintain small businesses online to make good livings. In…
“Infrastructures of Control”: Q&A with the Geographers Behind University of Arizona’s Border Surveillance Photo Exhibition
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Guided by EFF’s map of Customs & Border Protection surveillance towers, University of Arizona geographers Colter Thomas and Dugan Meyer have been methodologically traversing the U.S.-Mexico border and photographing the infrastructure…
Federal Court Dimisses X’s Anti-Speech Lawsuit Against Watchdog
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> This post was co-written by EFF legal intern Melda Gurakar. Researchers, journalists, and everyone else has a First Amendment right to criticize social media platforms and their…
The White House is Wrong: Section 702 Needs Drastic Change
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> With Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act set to expire later this month, the White House recently released a memo objecting to the SAFE Act—legislation…
In Historic Victory for Human Rights in Colombia, Inter-American Court Finds State Agencies Violated Human Rights of Lawyers Defending Activists
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> In a landmark ruling for fundamental freedoms in Colombia, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that for over two decades the state government harassed, surveilled, and persecuted members of a…
Speaking Freely: Emma Shapiro
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Emma Shapiro is an American artist, writer, and activist who is based in Valencia, Spain. She is the Editor-At-Large for the Don’t Delete Art campaign and the…
Ola Bini Faces Ecuadorian Prosecutors Seeking to Overturn Acquittal of Cybercrime Charge
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Ola Bini, the software developer acquitted last year of cybercrime charges in a unanimous verdict in Ecuador, was back in court last week in Quito as prosecutors,…
U.S. Supreme Court Does Not Go Far Enough in Determining When Government Officials Are Barred from Censoring Critics on Social Media
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> After several years of litigation across the federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court in a unanimous opinion has finally crafted a test that lower courts can…
Restricting Flipper is a Zero Accountability Approach to Security: Canadian Government Response to Car Hacking
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> On February 8, François-Philippe Champagne, the Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced Canada would ban devices used in keyless car theft. The only device mentioned…
EFF Asks Oregon Supreme Court Not to Limit Fourth Amendment Rights Based on Terms of Service
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> This post was drafted by EFF legal intern Alissa Johnson. EFF signed on to an amicus brief drafted by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers earlier…
Meta Oversight Board’s Latest Policy Opinion a Step in the Right Direction
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> EFF welcomes the latest and long-awaited policy advisory opinion from Meta’s Oversight Board calling on the company to end its blanket ban on the use of the…
Speaking Freely: Robert Ssempala
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> *This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Robert Ssempala is a longtime press freedom and social justice advocate. He serves as Executive Director at Human…
Podcast Episode: About Face (Recognition)
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Is your face truly your own, or is it a commodity to be sold, a weapon to be used against you? A company called Clearview AI has scraped the internet to…
No KOSA, No TikTok Ban | EFFector 36.4
Want to hear about the latest news in digital rights? Well, you’re in luck! EFFector 36.4 is out now and covers the latest topics, including our stance on the unconstitutional TikTok ban (spoiler: it’s bad), a victory helping Indybay resist…
Responding to ShotSpotter, Police Shoot at Child Lighting Fireworks
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> This post was written by Rachel Hochhauser, an EFF legal intern We’ve written multiple times about the inaccurate and dangerous “gunshot detection” tool, Shotspotter. A recent near-tragedy in Chicago adds to…
Cops Running DNA-Manufactured Faces Through Face Recognition is Tornado of Bad Ideas
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> In keeping with law enforcement’s grand tradition of taking antiquated, invasive, and oppressive technologies, making them digital, and then calling it innovation, police in the U.S. recently…
EFF and 34 Civil Society Organizations Call on Ghana’s President to Reject the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
MPs in Ghana’s Parliament voted to pass the country’s draconian ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill’ on February 28th. The bill now heads to Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo to be signed into law. EFF has…
Disinformation and Elections: EFF and ARTICLE 19 Submit Key Recommendations to EU Commission
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Global Elections and Platform Responsibility This year is a major one for elections around the world, with pivotal races in the U.S., the UK, the European Union,…
EFF Seeks Greater Public Access to Patent Lawsuit Filed in Texas
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> You’re not supposed to be able to litigate in secret in the U.S. That’s especially true in a patent case dealing with technology that most internet users…
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> There has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. The fretting has only gotten worse as a result…
Lucy Parsons Labs Takes Police Foundation to Court for Open Records Requests
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The University of Georgia (UGA) School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic has filed an Open Records Request lawsuit to demand public records from the private Atlanta Police…
Speaking Freely: Maryam Al-Khawaja
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> *This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Maryam Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini Woman Human Rights Defender who works as a consultant and trainer on Human…
Decoding the California DMV’s Mobile Driver’s License
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The State of California is currently rolling out a “mobile driver’s license” (mDL), a form of digital identification that raises significant privacy and equity concerns. This post…
EFF to California Appellate Court: Reject Trial Judge’s Ruling That Would Penalize Beneficial Features and Tools on Social Media
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> EFF legal intern Jack Beck contributed to this post. A California trial court recently departed from wide-ranging precedent and held that Snap, Inc., the maker of Snapchat,…
Lawmakers: Ban TikTok to Stop Election Misinformation! Same Lawmakers: Restrict How Government Addresses Election Misinformation!
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> In a case being heard Monday at the Supreme Court, 45 Washington lawmakers have argued that government communications with social media sites about possible election interference misinformation…
The SAFE Act to Reauthorize Section 702 is Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is one of the most insidious and secretive mass surveillance authorities still in operation today. The Security and…
Analyzing KOSA’s Constitutional Problems In Depth
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Why EFF Does Not Think Recent Changes Ameliorate KOSA’s Censorship The latest version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) did not change our critical view of…
Thousands of Young People Told Us Why the Kids Online Safety Act Will Be Harmful to Minors
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> With KOSA passed, the information i can access as a minor will be limited and censored, under the guise of “protecting me”, which is the responsibility of…
5 Big Unanswered Questions About the TikTok Bill
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> With strong bipartisan support, the U.S. House voted 352 to 65 to pass HR 7521 this week, a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide if its Chinese…
San Diego City Council Breaks TRUST
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> In a stunning reversal against the popular Transparent & Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology (TRUST) ordinance, the San Diego city council voted earlier this year to cut…
Location Data Tracks Abortion Clinic Visits. Here’s What to Know
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Our concerns about the selling and misuse of location data for those seeking reproductive and gender healthcare are escalating amid a recent wave of cases and incidents…
How to Figure Out What Your Car Knows About You (and Opt Out of Sharing When You Can)
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Cars collect a lot of our personal data, and car companies disclose a lot of that data to third parties. It’s often unclear what’s being collected, and…
Making the Law Accessible in Europe and the USA
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> EFF Legal Intern Alissa Johnson contributed to the writing of this blog post. Earlier this month, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that harmonized standards are…
Why U.S. House Members Opposed the TikTok Ban Bill
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> What do House Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Barbara Lee have in common with House Republicans like Thomas Massie and Andy Biggs? Not a lot. But they…
SXSW Tried to Silence Critics with Bogus Trademark and Copyright Claims. EFF Fought Back.
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Special thanks to EFF legal intern Jack Beck, who was the lead author of this post. Amid heavy criticism for its ties to weapons manufacturers supplying Israel,…
Protect Yourself from Election Misinformation
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Welcome to your U.S. presidential election year, when all kinds of bad actors will flood the internet with election-related disinformation and misinformation aimed at swaying or suppressing…
Congress Should Give Up on Unconstitutional TikTok Bans
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Congress’ unfounded plan to ban TikTok under the guise of protecting our data is back, this time in the form of a new bill—the “Protecting Americans from…
Congress Must Stop Pushing Bills That Will Benefit Patent Trolls
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The U.S. Senate is moving forward with two bills that would enrich patent trolls, patent system insiders, and a few large companies that rely on flimsy patents,…
Reject Nevada’s Attack on Encrypted Messaging, EFF Tells Court
Nevada Makes Backward Argument That Insecure Communication Makes Children Safer < div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> LAS VEGAS — The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of partners urged a federal court…
Access to Internet Infrastructure is Essential, in Wartime and Peacetime
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> We’ve been saying it for 20 years, and it remains true now more than ever: the internet is an essential service. It enables people to build and…
Podcast Episode: ‘I Squared’ Governance
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Imagine a world in which the internet is first and foremost about empowering people, not big corporations and government. In that world, government does “after-action” analyses to…
EFF to Ninth Circuit: There’s No Software Exception to Traditional Copyright Limits
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Copyright’s reach is already far too broad, and courts have no business expanding it any further, particularly where that reframing will undermine adversarial interoperability. Unfortunately, a federal…
EFF’s Submission to Ofcom’s Consultation on Illegal Harms
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> More than four years after it was first introduced, the Online Safety Act (OSA) was passed by the U.K. Parliament in September 2023. The Act seeks to…
The Foilies 2024
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Recognizing the worst in government transparency. The Foilies are co-written by EFF and MuckRock and published in alternative newspapers around the country through a partnership with the…
Four Reasons to Protect the Internet this International Women’s Day
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Today is International Women’s Day, a day celebrating the achievements of women globally but also a day marking a call to action for accelerating equality and improving the lives of women…
Four Infosec Tools for Resistance this International Women’s Day
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> While online violence is alarmingly common globally, women are often more likely to be the target of mass online attacks, nonconsensual leaks of sensitive information and content,…