< 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…
Category: Deeplinks
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,…
Four Actions You Can Take To Protect Digital Rights this International Women’s Day
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> This International Women’s Day, defend free speech, fight surveillance, and support innovation by calling on our elected politicians and private companies to uphold our most fundamental rights—both online and offline. 1. Pass…
Four Voices You Should Hear this International Women’s Day
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Around the globe, freedom of expression varies wildly in definition, scope, and level of access. The impact of the digital age on perceptions and censorship of speech has been felt across…
The Atlas of Surveillance Removes Ring, Adds Third-Party Investigative Platforms
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Running the Atlas of Surveillance, our project to map and inventory police surveillance across the United States, means experiencing emotional extremes. Whenever we announce that we’ve added new data points to…
Victory! EFF Helps Resist Unlawful Warrant and Gag Order Issued to Independent News Outlet
< 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 past month, the independent news outlet Indybay has quietly fought off an unlawful search warrant and gag order served by the San Francisco Police Department.…
Should Caddy and Traefik Replace Certbot?
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Can free and open source software projects like Caddy and Traefik eventually replace EFF’s Certbot? Although Certbot continues to be developed, we think tools like these help…
Privacy First and Competition
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> “Privacy First” is a simple, powerful idea: seeing as so many of today’s technological problems are also privacy problems, why don’t we fix privacy first? Whether you’re…
European Court of Human Rights Confirms: Weakening Encryption Violates Fundamental Rights
< 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 milestone judgment – Podchasov v. Russia – the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that weakening of encryption can lead to general and indiscriminate…
Voting No on Prop E Is Easy and Important for San Francisco
< 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’s ballot initiative Proposition E is a dangerous and deceptive measure that threatens our privacy, safety, and democratic ideals. It would give the police more power…
Privacy Isn’t Dead. Far From It. | EFFector 36.3
As we continue the journey of fighting for digital freedoms, it can be hard to keep up on the latest happenings. Thankfully, EFF has a guide to keep you in the loop! EFFector 36.3 is out now and covers the…
Celebrating 15 Years of Surveillance Self-Defense
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> On March 3rd, 2009, we launched Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD). At the time, we pitched it as, “an online how-to guide for protecting your private data against government…
A Virtual Reality Tour of Surveillance Tech at the Border: A Conversation with Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> This interview is crossposted from The Markup, a nonprofit news organization that investigates technology and its impact on society. By: Monique O. Madan, Investigative Reporter at The Markup After reading my…
Ghana’s President Must Refuse to Sign the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> After three years of political discussions, MPs in Ghana’s Parliament voted to pass the country’s draconian Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill…
We Flew a Plane Over San Francisco to Fight Proposition E. Here’s Why.
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Proposition E, which San Franciscans will be asked to vote on in the March 5 election, is so dangerous that last weekend we chartered a plane to…
Sen. Wyden Exposes Data Brokers Selling Location Data to Anti-Abortion Groups That Target Abortion Seekers
< 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 written by Jack Beck, an EFF legal intern In a recent letter to the FTC and SEC, Sen. Ron Wyden (OR) details new information…
EFF to D.C. Circuit: The U.S. Government’s Forced Disclosure of Visa Applicants’ Social Media Identifiers Harms Free Speech and Privacy
< 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 legal intern Alissa Johnson, who was the lead author of this post. EFF recently filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals…
Podcast Episode: Open Source Beats Authoritarianism
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> What if we thought about democracy as a kind of open-source social technology, in which everyone can see the how and why of policy making, and everyone’s concerns and preferences are…
EFF Statement on Nevada’s Attack on End-to-End Encryption
EFF learned last week that the state of Nevada is seeking an emergency order prohibiting Meta from rolling out end-to-end encryption in Facebook Messenger for all users in the state under the age of 18. The motion for a temporary…
EFF Urges Ninth Circuit to Reinstate X’s Legal Challenge to Unconstitutional California Content Moderation Law
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged a federal appeals court to reinstate X’s lawsuit challenging a California law that forces social media companies to file reports to…
EFF Opposes California Initiative That Would Cause Mass Censorship
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> In recent years, lots of proposed laws purport to reduce “harmful” content on the internet, especially for kids. Some have good intentions. But the fact is, we…
As India Prepares for Elections, Government Silences Critics on X with Executive Order
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> It is troubling to see that the Indian government has issued new demands to X (formerly Twitter) to remove accounts and posts critical of the government and…
Is the Justice Department Even Following Its Own Policy in Cybercrime Prosecution of a Journalist?
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Following an FBI raid of his home last year, the freelance journalist Tim Burke has been arrested and indicted in connection with an investigation into leaks of unaired footage from Fox…
NSA Spying Shirts Are Back Just In Time to Tell Congress to Reform Section 702
< 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 challenging the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance of ordinary people since we first became aware of it nearly twenty years ago. Since then, tens of…
Unregulated, Exploitative, and on the Rise: Vera Institute’s Report on Electronic Monitoring
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Incarceration rates in the United States have long been among the highest in the world, and in response to the systemic flaws and biases unveiled by the…
Defending Access to the Decentralized Web
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Decentralized web technologies have the potential to make the internet more robust and efficient, supporting a new wave of innovation. However, the fundamental technologies and services that…
Don’t Fall for the Latest Changes to the Dangerous Kids Online Safety Act
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The authors of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) unveiled an amended version this week, but it’s still an unconstitutional censorship bill that continues to empower…
EFF to Court: Strike Down Age Estimation in California But Not Consumer Privacy
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on the Ninth Circuit to rule that California’s Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC) violates the First Amendment, while not casting doubt…
Hip Hip Hooray For Hipster Antitrust
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Don’t believe the hype. The undeniable fact is that the FTC has racked up a long list of victories over corporate abuses, like busting a nationwide, decades-long…
Privacy Isn’t Dead. Far From It.
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Welcome! The fact that you’re reading this means that you probably care deeply about the issue of privacy, which warms our hearts. Unfortunately, even though you care…
Voting Against the Surveillance State | EFFector 36.2
EFF is here to keep you up-to-date with the latest news about your digital rights! EFFector 36.2 is out now and covers a ton of the latest news, including: a victory, as Amazon’s Ring will no longer facilitate warrantless footage…
EFF Helps News Organizations Push Back Against Legal Bullying from Cyber Mercenary Group
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Cyber mercenaries present a grave threat to human rights and freedom of expression. They have been implicated in surveillance, torture, and even murder of human rights defenders,…
Draft UN Cybercrime Treaty Could Make Security Research a Crime, Leading 124 Experts to Call on UN Delegates to Fix Flawed Provisions that Weaken Everyone’s Security
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> Security researchers’ work discovering and reporting vulnerabilities in software, firmware, networks, and devices protects people, businesses and governments around the world from malware, theft of critical data, and other cyberattacks. The…
Protect Good Faith Security Research Globally in Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> < div class=”page” title=”Page 1″> < div class=”layoutArea”> < div class=”column”> Statement to be submitted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, accredited under operative paragraph No. 9 of…
What is Proposition E and Why Should San Francisco Voters Oppose It?
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> If you live in San Francisco, there is an election on March 5, 2024 during which voters will decide a number of specific local ballot measures—including Proposition…
San Francisco Police’s Live Surveillance Yields Almost 200 Hours of Spying–Including of Music Festivals
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> A new report reveals that in just three months, from July 1 to September 30, 2023, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) racked up 193 hours and 19 minutes of live…
Worried About AI Voice Clone Scams? Create a Family Password
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> Your grandfather receives a call late at night from a person pretending to be you. The caller says that you are in jail or have been kidnapped…
What Apple’s Promise to Support RCS Means for Text Messaging
< div class=”field field–name-body field–type-text-with-summary field–label-hidden”> < div class=”field__items”> < div class=”field__item even”> You may have heard recently that Apple is planning to implement Rich Communication Services (RCS) on iPhones, once again igniting the green versus blue bubble debate. RCS…
Dozens of Rogue California Police Agencies Still Sharing Driver Locations with Anti-Abortion States
Civil Liberties Groups Urge Attorney General Bonta to Enforce California's Automated License Plate Reader Laws < 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—California Attorney General Rob Bonta should crack down on police agencies…