Red alert! For the last six months, EFF, our supporters, and dozens of other groups have been sounding the alarm about several #BadInternetBills that have been put forward in Congress. We’ve made it clear that these bills are terrible ideas, but Congress is now considering packag … | Continue reading
The Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying (PRESS) Act is the long overdue federal shield law that would, at last, provide strong protections to journalists against government surveillance and forced disclosure of their confidential sources. EFF strongly supports this bi … | Continue reading
As users continue to experiment with generative AI tools, artists are increasingly concerned that use of the tools to mimic their respective “styles” will put them out of business. In addition to the now-infamous AI-generated song that seemed to feature Drake and The Weeknd, digi … | Continue reading
The summer is upon us and that means only one thing, the DEF CON hacking conference is almost here! We're thrilled to announce that security expert Tarah Wheeler will host EFF's second annual charity poker tournament at the Horseshoe Poker Room on Friday, August 11. Get ready for … | Continue reading
On January 31, the Swedish computer security expert and free software developer, Ola Bini, was found not guilty by a unanimous verdict from a three-judge tribunal in Ecuador. This marked the culmination of an unfounded criminal prosecution that has persisted for over four years. … | Continue reading
Intern Nicholas Wilson was the primary author of this post. U.S. government intelligence agencies are buying data about us. The danger to our civil liberties is so extreme that even the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said things have gone too far in a deta … | Continue reading
People around the world have been searching for ways to hold accountable companies that build tools for government repression. From massive surveillance systems to state-sponsored malware, governments around the world are increasingly using technology to locate, track, and engage … | Continue reading
Introduced in September 2022 by the European Commission as part of the “new push for European Union Democracy,” the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) seeks to promote media pluralism and independence across the EU. EMFA in a Nutshell The EMFA sets out rights and obligations for … | Continue reading
Patience is a virtue. And so is tenacity. We are elated to celebrate the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s 33rd anniversary today. EFF has officially been working toward internet freedom longer than many people have been online. I'm grateful to EFF's supporters for ensuring that d … | Continue reading
This post was co-authored with EFF legal intern Virginia Kennedy. EFF recently submitted comments to the Meta Oversight Board’s call for submissions last month about posts in the United States discussing abortion that were removed under the company’s violence and incitement polic … | Continue reading
Download the report Since at least a decade ago, human rights institutions have acknowledged the enabling potential of the internet to realize a range of human rights. Digital technologies have been incredibly transformative tools for allowing people to speak out against arbitrar … | Continue reading
Anxiety about generative AI is growing almost as fast as the use of the technology itself, fueled by dramatic rhetoric from prominent figures in tech, entertainment, and national security. Something, they suggest, must be done to stave off any number of catastrophes, from the dea … | Continue reading
Access to high-speed internet in our homes is an essential utility, not a luxury. Our local and regional governments have a responsibility to provide equitable, accessible, and affordable fast-internet service to every home and business- just like electricity, water, and waste re … | Continue reading
More than 14,000 people and organizations, including EFF, have sent public comments responding to a wrongheaded proposal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to change the rules about patent challenges in a way that would favor patent trolls. If implemented, the propo … | Continue reading
One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is get my hands dirty among sunkissed flowers, vegetables, and greenery in my garden. Just as plants thrive when cared for—turning from a small seed to something with roots, branches, and a canopy of leaves—EFF works to protect an … | Continue reading
A July 4 preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Louisiana limiting government contacts with social media platforms deals with government “jawboning”—urging private persons and entities to censor another’s speech—a serious issue deserving serious attention and judicia … | Continue reading
EFF and its partners in the Digital Services Act (DSA) Human Rights Alliance called on European Union (EU) regulators today to engage international civil society voices and forge a human rights centered approach in talks about the implementation and enforcement of the DSA, which … | Continue reading
What do you get when you gather a bunch of the sharpest legal minds in one room with delicious food and obscure tech law trivia? That's right, you get EFF's 15th Annual Cyberlaw Trivia night! On June 29th we had a full house—with eight teams from technology law firms and internet … | Continue reading
Officials Using Nominally Personal or Pre-existing Campaign Accounts Can’t Sidestep the First Amendment and Block People Washington, D.C. — EFF urged the Supreme Court today to send a loud and clear message to government officials around the country who use social media in furthe … | Continue reading
There's a lot happening in the digital rights movement, but don't worry, we've got you covered! Catch up on the latest news with our EFFector newsletter, featuring updates, upcoming events, and more. Our latest issue features updates from Reddit's moderator strike and mass exodus … | Continue reading
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in United States v. Hansen upholds a law that makes it a crime to “encourage” a person to remain in the country without authorization. The Court had two choices in this case: instruct Congress and all legislatures to use the words they actua … | Continue reading
A growing number of states have prohibited transgender youths from obtaining gender-affirming health care. Some of these states are also restricting access by transgender adults. Fortunately, other states have responded by enacting sanctuary laws to protect trans people who visit … | Continue reading
Globally, an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ intolerance is impacting individuals and communities both online and off. The digital rights community has observed an uptick in censorship of LGBTQ+ websites as well as troubling attempts by several countries to pass explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ bi … | Continue reading
In a major step for reigning in the unaccountable power of fusion centers, the Maine state House and Senate have passed HP 947, An Act to Increase the Transparency and Accountability of the Maine Information and Analysis Center. The bill creates an Auditor position within the Off … | Continue reading
EFF and more than 24 civil society organizations have written to tech companies including Apple, Google, Meta, Twitter, and Spotify urging them to oppose the Hong Kong government’s application for an injunction to ban broadcasting and distribution of the 2019 protest song, “Glory … | Continue reading
We need your help telling Governor Newsom and the California Legislature to keep their promise on broadband infrastructure funding—giving it full funding without any cuts or delays. California’s broadband infrastructure fund created by S.B. 156 in 2021 creates several critical pr … | Continue reading
A year ago this Saturday, the Supreme Court's Dobbs abortion ruling overturned Roe v. Wade. This decision deprived millions of people of a fundamental right. As we wrote then, it also underscored the importance of fair and meaningful protections for data privacy. In the past year … | Continue reading
Cars today collect a lot more data than they used to, often leaving drivers' privacy unprotected. Car insurance is mainly regulated at the state level—there’s no federal privacy law for car data—but unsurprisingly there is an active government and private market for vehicle data, … | Continue reading
One of the more dangerous features of student monitoring tools like GoGuardian, Gaggle, and Bark is their “flagging” functionality. The tools can scan web pages, documents in students’ cloud drives, emails, video content, and more for keywords about topics like sex, drugs, and vi … | Continue reading
“Popular government without popular information is but the prologue to a farce or tragedy.” - James Madison The world lost an unmistakable voice this week, as Daniel Ellsberg passed away at 92. Dan will be remembered for many things, of course most prominently providing the P … | Continue reading
In a fight between the big tech companies and the internet provider giants, it can be very tempting to not care who wins and loses. However, in the case of the ISPs' "fair share" proposals, ISP victory would mean undermining one of the very foundations of the internet—net neutral … | Continue reading
After weeks of burning through users’ goodwill, Reddit is facing a moderator strike and an exodus of its most important users. It’s the latest example of a social media site making a critical mistake: users aren’t there for the services, they’re there for the community. Building … | Continue reading
Amazon’s surveillance doorbell company Ring has reached a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission which will require the company to pay $5.8 million over its inability to keep private footage and audio collected from users’ homes. This action stems from a collection of … | Continue reading
As California, the world's fifth-largest economy, navigates a changing landscape, including a budget deficit, it's important that the legislature not take shortcuts that rob the state of future-proof technology. Instead of backing down, the California legislature must continue on … | Continue reading
This is part five of an ongoing, five-part series. Part one, the introduction, is here. Part two, about breaking up ad-tech companies, is here. Part three, about banning surveillance ads, is here. Part four, about opening up app stores, is here. Once, news organizations enthusias … | Continue reading
The question of when you can use a trademark is one we see all the time—and one that is often misunderstood. Many of the world’s largest and most powerful companies are fanatical about their trademarks. But that means the public is often in the dark about how their First Amendme … | Continue reading
As the Chinese government cracked down on online free expression over the last decade, blocking access to information, filtering content, surveilling users for social control, and unleashing malware disproportionately against its own people, there was one steady, anonymous voice … | Continue reading
EFF, the ACLU, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers joined a coalition that sent two letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose S. 1080, the Cooper Davis Act. The letters point out the privacy, speech, and criminal justice problems with the bill. The bill … | Continue reading
In a victory for transparency in police use of facial recognition, a New Jersey appellate court today ruled that state prosecutors—who charged a man for armed robbery after the technology showed he was a “possible match” for the suspect—must turn over to the defendant detailed in … | Continue reading
This is part four of an ongoing, five-part series. Part one, the introduction, is here. Part two, about breaking up ad-tech companies, is here. Part three, about banning surveillance ads, is here. When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in 2010, he didn’t just usher in a new kind of co … | Continue reading
Catch up on the latest news in the digital rights movement with our EFFector newsletter! Our latest issue is out now, and it is jam packed with updates, from decisions made by the Supreme court on Section 230 and fair use cases, to EFF's investigation into California police agenc … | Continue reading
The U.S. Patent Office has proposed new rules about who can challenge wrongly granted patents. If the rules become official, they will offer new protections to patent trolls. Challenging patents will become far more onerous, and impossible for some. The new rules could stop organ … | Continue reading
The latest evidence that Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) must be ended or drastically reformed came last month in the form of a newly unsealed order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) detailing massive violations of Americans’ … | Continue reading
Last week, Minnesota governor Tim Walz signed an omnibus bill that includes a comprehensive right to repair law requiring manufacturers to make spare parts, repair information, and tools available to consumers and repair shops. This law builds on smaller, but still significant, w … | Continue reading
With United States v. Smith (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 2023), a district court judge in New York made history by being the first court to rule that a warrant is required for a cell phone search at the border, “absent exigent circumstances” (although other district courts have wanted to do … | Continue reading
The EU is in the middle of the amendments process for its proposed Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), a law intended to bolster Europe’s defenses against cyber-attacks and improve product security. This law targets a broad swath of products brought to market intended for European consum … | Continue reading
This is part three of an ongoing, five-part series. Part one, the introduction, is here. Part two, about breaking up ad-tech companies, is here. The ad-tech industry is incredibly profitable, raking in hundreds of billions of dollars every year by spying on us. These companies ha … | Continue reading
Writers sit watching a stranger’s search engine terms being typed in real time, a voyeuristic peek into that person’s most private thoughts. A woman lands a dream job at a powerful tech company but uncovers an agenda affecting the lives of all of humanity. An app developer keeps … | Continue reading