10 Years After Snowden: Some Things Are Better, Some We’re Still Fighting For
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/10-years-after-snowden-some-things-are-better-some-were-still-fighting
May 19, 2023, 4:39 PM
On May 20, 2013, a young government contractor with an EFF sticker on his laptop disembarked a plane in Hong Kong carrying with him evidence confirming, among other things, that the United States government had been conducting mass surveillance on a global scale. What came next were weeks of disclosures—and official declassifications—as Edward Snowden worked with some of the world’s top news organizations to reveal critical facts about the National Security Agency vacuuming up people’s o...
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States Should Not Skirt Federal Rules on Fiber Infrastructure
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/states-should-not-skirt-federal-rules-fiber-infrastructure
May 19, 2023, 3:40 PM
Across the country, states are designing broadband plans to begin spending billions of federal dollars made available by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and past COVID-19 rescue dollar investment programs. The Biden administration has consistently made clear that states are to build future-proof infrastructure to deliver broadband that will be useful for communities for decades. This is arguably one of the best changes in federal policy for broadband subsidies ever. Past federa...
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The Internet Dodges Censorship by the Supreme Court
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/internet-dodges-censorship-supreme-court
May 19, 2023, 12:26 AM
The Supreme Court today refused to weaken one of the key laws supporting free expression online, and recognized that digital platforms are not usually liable for their users’ illegal acts, ensuring that everyone can continue to use those services to speak and organize.
The decisions in Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh are great news for a free and vibrant internet, which inevitably depends on services that host our speech. The court in Gonzalez declined to address the scope of 47 U.S....
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Digital Privacy Legislation is Civil Rights Legislation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/digital-privacy-legislation-civil-rights-legislation
May 18, 2023, 10:57 PM
Our personal data and the ways private companies harvest and monetize it plays an increasingly powerful role in modern life. Corporate databases are vast, interconnected, and opaque. The movement and use of our data is difficult to understand, let alone trace. Yet companies use it to reach inferences about us, leading to lost employment, credit, and other opportunities. 
One unifying thread to this pervasive system is the collection of personal information from marginalized communities, and the...
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Support the "My Body, My Data" Act
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/eff-supports-my-body-my-data
May 18, 2023, 7:08 PM
EFF supports Rep. Sara Jacobs’ “My Body, My Data" Act, which will protect the privacy and safety of people seeking reproductive health care. The bill was reintroduced this week.
Privacy fears should never stand in the way of healthcare. That's why this common-sense bill will require businesses and non-governmental organizations to act responsibly with personal information concerning reproductive health care. Specifically, it restricts them from collecting, using, retaining, or disclosing rep...
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Victory! Apple and Google Collaborate on Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/victory-apple-and-google-collaborate-detecting-unwanted-location-trackers
May 18, 2023, 5:36 PM
Location trackers like Tiles and AirTags aren’t just a helpful way to find missing luggage or a misplaced wallet—they can also be easily slipped into a bag or car, allowing stalkers and abusers unprecedented access to a person’s location without their knowledge. That’s why we are enthusiastic about the effort between Apple and Google to release a draft specification on a detection protocol for these devices. We have been calling for an industry-wide standard for detection of this transie...
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How to Enable Advanced Data Protection on iOS, and Why You Should
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/how-enable-advanced-data-protection-ios-and-why-you-should
May 17, 2023, 10:01 PM
Apple has long used end-to-end encryption for some of the information on your iPhone, like passwords or health data, but the company neglected to offer a way to better protect other crucial data, including iCloud backups, until recently. This came after years of a hard fought battle pushing Apple to encrypt backups and drop its plans for client-side scanning. With Advanced Data Protection, that additional security is now an option, but you have to turn it on yourself. This is a big win for user ...
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Saving the News From Big Tech
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech
May 17, 2023, 7:05 PM
Media is in crisis: newsrooms all over the world are shuttering and the very profession of journalism is under sustained ideological and physical assault. Freedom of the press is a hollow doctrine if the only news media is written or published by independently wealthy individuals who don’t need to get paid for their labor.
Where did the media’s money go? It’s complicated.
How News Companies Shot Themselves in the Face
Let’s start with the news outlets themselves. Right around the time th...
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Don't Mess With Texas' Anti-SLAPP Law
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/texas-lawmakers-dont-weaken-your-states-strong-anti-slapp-law
May 17, 2023, 5:06 PM
Update 5/18/23: News reports indicate that this bill's language has also been added to a separate bill, Texas House Bill 3129. Texas lawmakers should vote no. 
Over the past few decades, we’ve seen the rise of civil lawsuits that are meant to harass and silence defendants, rather than resolve legitimate disputes. These lawsuits have become known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs. 
Some states’ legislatures, including California and Texas, have taken action to ...
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Podcast Episode: People With Disabilities Are The Original Hackers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/podcast-episode-people-disabilities-are-original-hackers
May 16, 2023, 7:01 AM
People with disabilities were the original hackers. The world can feel closed to them, so they often have had to be self-reliant in how they interact with society. And that creativity and ingenuity is an unappreciated resource.


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Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 35.6
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/digital-rights-updates-effector-356
May 15, 2023, 5:07 PM
Hey, look! The latest issue of our EFFector newsletter is out! Catch up on the latest digital civil liberties news, from our fights against dangerous anti-encryption and anti-speech bills, to some good news about fair use and security research tools. Click here to read the full newsletter, or you can listen to the audio version below!
Listen on YouTube
EFFector 35.6 - How to Control Speech and Break Encryption, In Three Acts
Make sure you never miss an issue by signing up by email to receive EFF...
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Eight Years Holding ISPs to Account in Latin America: A Comparative Outlook of Victories and Challenges for User Privacy
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/eight-years-holding-isps-account-latin-america-comparative-outlook-victories-and
May 12, 2023, 6:00 PM
Latin American and Spanish telecommunications companies have made important advances in their privacy policies and practices, but persistent gaps and worrying trends pose potential risks for internet and mobile phone users, according to a new consolidated report published today by EFF. The report is based on the analyses and assessment of industry practices by EFF partners over the last eight years to shed light on telecom and Internet service providers’ (ISPs) commitments to users’ privacy,...
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The Law Should Not Require Parental Consent for All Minors to Access Social Media
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/law-should-not-require-parental-consent-all-minors-access-social-media
May 12, 2023, 5:59 PM
Numerous state laws passed this year, and bills proposed in Congress, would set onerous new restrictions on what young people can do online, depriving teenagers of their First Amendment rights to express themselves, access protected speech, engage in anonymous speech, and participate in online communities. They also enforce a presumption that parents of minors do not want them accessing social media. These laws would require people under a certain age, usually 18, to obtain parental consent befo...
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The UK Online Safety Bill Must Not Violate Our Rights to Free Speech And Private Communication
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/uk-online-safety-bill-must-not-violate-our-rights-free-speech-and-private
May 12, 2023, 4:50 PM
As the UK’s Online Safety Bill moves through negotiations in the House of Lords, EFF, Open Rights Group, Wikimedia UK, and Index on Censorship have submitted a briefing urging the Lords to uphold the right to private messaging, and protect against prior restraint of lawful speech.
Clause 110 of the bill requires websites and apps to proactively prevent harmful content from appearing on messaging services. This will mandate the screening of all user content, all the time. It’s not compatible ...
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Dressed to Judge: EFF's 7th Annual Tech Trivia Night
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/dressed-judge-effs-7th-annual-tech-trivia-night
May 12, 2023, 7:00 AM
EFF intern Reema Moussa contributed to this blog post.
Every year the Cybertiger stalks his prey: pressing nerds everywhere with the most obscure, fascinating, minutiae of tech-related questions to quiz digital freedom supporters on their tech know-how. Who will come out on top, he wonders? Well, we found out last week, on Thursday, April 27 for EFF’s 7th Annual Tech Trivia Night!
Thankfully, this year, the Cybertiger (EFF’s one and only Cooper Quintin, Senior Staff Technologist) wasn’t th...
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Neighborhood Watch Out: Cops Are Incorporating Private Cameras Into Their Real-Time Surveillance Networks
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/neighborhood-watch-out-cops-are-incorporating-private-cameras-their-real-time
May 11, 2023, 9:00 AM
Police have their sights set on every surveillance camera in every business, on every porch, in all the cities and counties of the country. Grocery store trips, walks down the street, and otherwise minding your own business when outside your home could soon come under the ever-present eye of the government. In a quiet but rapid expansion of law enforcement surveillance, U.S. cities are buying and promoting products from Georgia-based company Fusus in order to access on-demand, live video from pu...
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The STOP CSAM Act: Improved But Still Problematic
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/stop-csam-act-improved-still-problematic
May 11, 2023, 2:02 AM
Last month, we expressed concerns about how the STOP CSAM Act threatens encrypted communications and free speech online. New amendments to the bill have some improvements, but our concerns remain. 
The STOP CSAM Act Should Not Use the EARN IT Act as a Template for How to Protect Encryption 
The amendments to the STOP CSAM Act make the bill similar to the EARN IT Act, which is to say, still highly dangerous for encryption. 
TAKE ACTION
TELL CONGRESS NOT TO OUTLAW ENCRYPTED APPS
In their curre...
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Android TV Boxes Sold on Amazon Come Pre-Loaded with Malware
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/android-tv-boxes-sold-amazon-come-pre-loaded-malware
May 10, 2023, 11:57 PM
Certain Android TV Box models from manufacturers AllWinner and RockChip, available for purchase on Amazon, come pre-loaded with malware from the BianLian family, a variant of which we investigated last year. The malware, discovered by security researcher Daniel Milisic, adds your smart set-top box to a botnet for initiating coordinated attacks. Affected models include the AllWinner T95, AllWinner T95Max, RockChip X12-Plus, and RockChip X88-Pro-10.
By looking at the traffic being sent by these d...
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Federal Appeals Court Gets It: Fair Use Protects Security Research Tools
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/federal-appeals-court-gets-it-fair-use-protects-security-research-tools
May 10, 2023, 10:47 PM
In a refreshingly direct opinion, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that creating and selling virtualization software for security research is a fair use. Along the way, it provides a kind of master class in applying copyright’s fair use doctrine to functional works like computer programs.
Here’s how the case came about: Corellium, the defendant, created a software platform that simulates an iPhone, allowing developers and researchers to test Apple’s iOS operating system for...
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Dangerous EARN IT Bill Advances Out of Committee, but Several Senators Offer Objections
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/dangerous-earn-it-bill-advances-out-committee-several-senators-offer-objections
May 10, 2023, 6:25 PM
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted, for a third time, to advance the dangerous EARN IT bill (S. 1207)—a law that could lead to suspicionless scans of every online message, photo, and hosted file.
In the name of fighting crime, the EARN IT Act treats all internet users like we should be in a permanent criminal lineup, under suspicion for child abuse. If enacted, EARN IT will put massive legal pressure on internet companies both large and small to stop using true end-to-end encrypti...
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Science Rebels Take on Major Publishers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/science-rebels-take-major-publishers
May 10, 2023, 6:00 PM
Over 40 leading scientists have resigned from the prestigious journal Neuroimage last month, protesting an inequitable publishing model built on gatekeeping and false scarcity.
Academic publishing is fundamental to the advancement of modern science. It facilitates expert collaboration and testing, ideally leading to new innovation, including life-saving medical research. Too often, however, cutting edge research is trapped behind paywalls, effectively inaccessible to the people and institutions ...
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Court Accepts EFF’s Amicus Brief on the Right to Publish Code in Tornado Cash Case
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/court-accepts-effs-amicus-brief-tornado-cash-case-right-publish-code
May 10, 2023, 5:32 PM
Protecting the First Amendment rights of coders to develop and publish code is a core EFF value. It’s also one where we’ve played a central role in developing the law. So, we were happy that the court in the Tornado Cash lawsuit dismissed a government objection and accepted our amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.The case, Van Loon v Department of Treasury, arises from the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to put Tornado Cash, an open-source project, on its specially designed natio...
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As Platforms Decay, Let’s Put Users First
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first
May 9, 2023, 4:47 PM
The net’s long decline into “five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four” isn’t a mystery. Nor was it by any means a forgone conclusion. Instead, we got here through a series of conscious actions by big businesses and lawmakers that put antitrust law into a 40-year coma. Well, now antitrust is rising from its slumber and we have work for it to do.
As regulators and lawmakers think about making the internet a better place for human beings,their top priority should ...
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Suit by Renowned Saudi Human Rights Activist Details Harms Caused by Export of U.S. Cybersurveillance Technology and Training to Repressive Regimes
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/suit-renowned-saudi-human-rights-activist-details-harms-caused-export-us
May 8, 2023, 11:15 PM
“Companies that employ spyware on behalf of oppressive governments must be held accountable for the resulting human rights abuses.”PORTLAND, OR — The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA), and Foley Hoag LLP on Monday filed an amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on behalf of renowned Saudi human rights activist Loujain Alhathloul against three former members of the U.S. national security establishment a...
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The Kids Online Safety Act is Still A Huge Danger to Our Rights Online
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/kids-online-safety-act-still-huge-danger-our-rights-online
May 2, 2023, 11:45 PM
Congress has resurrected the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that would increase surveillance and restrict access to information in the name of protecting children online. KOSA was introduced in 2022 but failed to gain traction, and today its authors, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), have reintroduced it with slight modifications. Though some of these changes were made in response to over 100 civil society organizations and LGBTQ+ rights groups’ criticisms of ...
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Why Is the U.S. Solicitor General Trying To Change The Law To Benefit Patent Trolls?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/why-us-solicitor-general-trying-change-law-benefit-patent-trolls
May 2, 2023, 8:05 PM
For more than two decades now, developers and users of software have been plagued by a flood of bad patents. Software patents that describe everyday practices like watching an ad online, publishing nutrition information, meeting people nearby, or teaching a language class continue to be issued, and low-quality patents get used in hundreds of lawsuits every year. 
Government officials should be working to reduce, not increase, the burden that low-quality patent lawsuits impose on innovators. So ...
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EFF to Congress: Oppose the EARN IT Act and the STOP CSAM Act
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/eff-letter-congress-oppose-earn-it-act-and-stop-csam-act
May 2, 2023, 6:45 PM
The Senate Judiciary Committee is about to debate multiple bills that will lead to peoples’ private messages being scanned and reported to the government. We oppose these bills, and  we have sent a letter urging the Committee to vote No. 
Take Action
Protect Our Privacy—Stop "EARN IT"
On Thursday, May 4, 2023, the committee will consider S. 1207, the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2023 (EARN IT Act), and S. 1199, the Strengthening Transparency an...
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Podcast Episode: Dr. Seuss Warned Us
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/podcast-episode-dr-seuss-warned-us
May 2, 2023, 7:01 AM
Dr. Seuss wrote a story about a Hawtch-Hawtcher Bee-Watcher whose job it is to watch his town’s one lazy bee, because “a bee that is watched will work harder, you see.” But that doesn’t seem to work, so another Hawtch-Hawtcher is assigned to watch the first, and then another to watch the second... until the whole town is watching each other watch a bee. 


%3Ciframe%20scrolling%3D%22no%22%20seamless%3D%22%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.simplecast.com%2F4264fe11-5fac-4bed...
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Stupid Patent of the Month: Trying to Get U.S. Patents On An AI Program
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/stupid-patent-month-trying-get-us-patents-ai-program
April 28, 2023, 10:42 PM
Only people can get patents. There’s a good reason for that, which is that the patent grant—a temporary monopoly granted by the government—is supposed to be given out only to “promote the progress of science and useful arts.” Just like monkeys can’t get a copyright on a photo,  because it doesn’t incentivize the monkey to take more photos, software can’t get patents, because it doesn’t respond to incentives. 
Stephen Thaler hasn’t gotten this memo, because he’s spent year...
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At Congressional Hearing, PCLOB Members Suggest Bare Minimum of 702 Reforms
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/congressional-hearing-pclob-members-suggest-bare-minimum-702-reforms
April 28, 2023, 9:29 PM
Last week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held a hearing on “Fixing FISA: How a Law Designed to Protect Americans Has Been Weaponized Against Them,” ahead of the December 2023 expiration of the Section 702 surveillance authority. The three witnesses, Michael E. Horowitz (Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice), Sharon Bradford Franklin (Chair, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board), and Beth A. Williams (Board Member, U.S. Pri...
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Appeals Court Should Reconsider Letting The FBI Block Twitter’s Surveillance Transparency Report
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/appeals-court-should-reconsider-letting-fbi-block-twitters-surveillance
April 28, 2023, 9:24 PM
Today, EFF and ACLU filed a brief in support of Twitter’s effort to get an appeals court to reconsider its dangerous opinion enforcing a government gag order on Twitter’s 2013 transparency report.
In this long-running and important case, Twitter tried to publish a report bringing much-needed transparency to the government’s use of FISA orders and national security letters, including specifying whether it had received any of these types of requests. However, without going to a court, the FB...
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Maine Gets Another (Necessary) Opportunity to Defund Its Local Intelligence Fusion Center
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/maine-gets-another-necessary-opportunity-defund-its-local-intelligence-fusion
April 26, 2023, 8:02 PM
Maine State Senator Pinny Beebe-Center has introduced LD 1290 , or An Act to End the Maine Information and Analysis Center Program, a bill that would defund the Maine Information and Analysis Center (MIAC), also known as Maine’s only fusion center. EFF once again pleased to support this bill in hopes of defunding an unnecessary, intrusive, and often-harmful piece of the U.S. surveillance regime. You can read the full text of the bill here. A version of this bill managed to pass 88-54 out of th...
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Greenpeace Stands Up Against SLAPPs And Wins 
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/greenpeace-stands-against-slapps-and-wins
April 26, 2023, 8:01 PM
The U.S. litigation system is meant to resolve serious disputes. Unfortunately, the high cost of litigation can be weaponized as a means of harassment and censorship. That’s become all too common, and the last few decades have seen the rise of what’s known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP. 
At EFF, as more speech of all types has moved online, we’ve seen SLAPPs proliferate over digital speech. SLAPPs get filed against protesters who oppose oil pipelines, and r...
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EFF Now Has Tor Onions
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/eff-now-has-tor-onions
April 26, 2023, 4:29 PM
Today, we’re announcing .onion addresses for eff.org and two of its affiliated projects: Certbot, an EFF-developed tool for automatically obtaining and renewing TLS certificates for websites, and Surveillance Self-Defense, which provides resources and guidance for individuals and organizations to protect themselves from surveillance and other security threats.
We have been made aware of events that indicate censorship could be occurring on some of our resources. By accessing these websites thr...
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Texas Should Leave Its Anti-SLAPP Law Alone
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/texas-should-leave-its-anti-slapp-law-alone
April 25, 2023, 7:16 PM
The Texas Citizens Participation Act, or TCPA, has been one of the strongest laws in the nation protecting citizens against lawsuits intended to silence or punish individuals who speak up on public matters. But HB 2781, a bill making its way through the state's legislature right now, would needlessly undercut the protections Texans have enjoyed for more than a decade.
Sometimes lawsuits are filed to chill speech or harass people, rather than resolve legitimate legal disputes. These types of cens...
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Internal Documents Show How Little the FBI Did to Correct Misuse of Section 702 Databases
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/internal-documents-show-how-little-fbi-did-correct-misuse-section-702-databases
April 25, 2023, 4:58 PM
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released internal documents used to guide  agency personnel on how to search the massive databases of information collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including communications collected without a warrant under Section 702. Despite reassurances from the intelligence community about its “culture of compliance,” these documents depict almost no substantial consideration of privacy or civil liberties. They also suggest that in ...
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Your Messaging Service Should Not Be a DEA Informant
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/your-messaging-service-should-not-be-dea-informant
April 24, 2023, 10:01 PM
A new U.S. Senate bill would require private messaging services, social media companies, and even cloud providers to report their users to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) if they find out about certain illegal drug sales. This would lead to inaccurate reports and turn messaging services into government informants.
The bill, named the Cooper Davis Act, is likely to result in a host of inaccurate reports and in companies sweeping up innocent conversations, including discussions about pas...
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The DMCA Cannot Protect You From Your Own Words
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/dmca-cannot-save-you-your-own-words
April 24, 2023, 9:33 PM
There is a loud debate raging over what companies should and shouldn’t be doing about the things people say on their platforms. What people often seem to forget is that we already know the dangers of providing a quick way for people to remove criticism of themselves from the internet. Thanks to copyright law’s disastrous damages provisions, all but the largest social media companies risk financial ruin if they don’t promptly remove any content that’s been flagged as infringing. As a resu...
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California Bill to Stop Dragnet Surveillance of People Seeking Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care Passes Key Committees
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/california-bill-stop-dragnet-surveillance-people-seeking-reproductive-and-gender
April 24, 2023, 9:16 PM
A.B. 793, a bill authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta to protect people seeking abortion and gender-affirming care from dragnet-style digital surveillance, has passed two key committees in the California Assembly.
EFF is a proud co-sponsor of A.B. 793, along with ACLU California Action and If/When/How. The bill targets a type of dragnet surveillance that can compel tech companies to search their records and reveal the identities of people who have driven down a certain street or looked up parti...
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First Appellate Court Finds Geofence Warrant Unconstitutional
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/first-us-appellate-court-decide-finds-geofence-warrant-unconstitutional
April 24, 2023, 7:36 PM
The California Court of Appeal has held that a geofence warrant seeking information on all devices located within several densely-populated areas in Los Angeles violated the Fourth Amendment. This is the first time an appellate court in the United States has reviewed a geofence warrant. The case is People v. Meza, and EFF filed an amicus brief and jointly argued the case before the court.
Geofence warrants, which we have written about extensively before, are unlike typical warrants for electroni...
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EFF and ECNL's Comment to the Meta Oversight Board on the Term 'Shaheed'
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/eff-and-ecnls-comment-meta-oversight-board-term-shaheed
April 24, 2023, 2:37 PM
EFF Intern Reema Moussa authored this post.
EFF recently submitted comments in partnership with the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) in response to the Oversight Board’s request for input on the moderation of the Arabic word “shaheed.” The Oversight Board was created by Meta in 2020 as an appellate body and has 27 members from around the world who review contested content moderation decisions made by the platform. The Board opened public comment on the term after accepting Met...
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Stop This Dangerous Bill That Would Normalize Face Surveillance in California
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/stop-dangerous-bill-would-normalize-face-surveillance-california
April 22, 2023, 12:08 AM
Californians: It's time to speak out against government use of face surveillance. While several California cities have banned government use of face recognition technology, state lawmakers haven't taken the same approach. A new bill this session, A.B. 642—authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting—would normalize and incentivize police use of this technology across the state.
EFF opposes this bill, along with more than 50 organizations including ACLU California Action. Together, we have called on ...
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The STOP CSAM Act Would Put Security and Free Speech at Risk
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/stop-csam-act-would-put-security-and-free-speech-risk
April 21, 2023, 9:51 PM
A new U.S. Senate bill introduced this week threatens security and free speech on the internet. EFF urges Congress to reject the STOP CSAM Act of 2023, which would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption, and force internet companies to take down lawful user content.   
TAKE ACTION
TELL CONGRESS NOT TO OUTLAW ENCRYPTED APPS
The bill is aimed at removing from the internet child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as child pornography. Existing law already requires online ser...
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The EARN IT Bill Is Back, Seeking To Scan Our Messages and Photos
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/earn-it-bill-back-again-seeking-scan-our-messages-and-photos
April 20, 2023, 4:30 PM
In a free society, people should not have their private correspondence constantly examined. U.S. lawmakers, we would hope, understand that individuals have the right to a private conversation without the government looking over their shoulder. 
So it’s dismaying to see a group of U.S. Senators attempting for a third time to pass the EARN IT Act (S. 1207)—a law that could lead to suspicionless scans of every online message, photo, and hosted file. In the name of fighting crime, the EARN IT ...
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Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 35.5
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/digital-rights-updates-effector-355
April 18, 2023, 4:49 PM
Keeping up on the latest in digital freedoms can be quite a challenge, but we're here to help catch you up to speed! The latest issue of our EFFector newsletter is out now, and you can learn more about our position on the U.N Cybercrime Treaty, the RESTRICT Act, privacy issues regarding renters and smart locks, and much more. Click here to read the full newsletter or you can listen to the audio version below! 
Listen on YouTube
Effector 35.5 - Decoding the U.n. Cybercrime Treaty
Make sure you n...
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Podcast Episode: Safer Sex Work Makes a Safer Internet
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/podcast-episode-safer-sex-work-makes-safer-internet
April 18, 2023, 7:01 AM
An internet that is safe for sex workers is an internet that is safer for everyone. Though the effects of stigmatization and criminalization run deep, the sex worker community exemplifies how technology can help people reduce harm, share support, and offer experienced analysis to protect each other. But a 2018 federal law purportedly aimed at stopping sex trafficking, FOSTA-SESTA, led to shutdowns of online spaces where sex workers could talk, putting at increased risk some of the very people it...
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Comunicado de prensa para Latinoamérica: La propuesta de tratado de la ONU sobre ciberdelincuencia carece de suficientes salvaguardias de derechos humanos, lo que agrava las amenazas a la privacidad y las libertades civiles en Latinoamérica
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/comunicado-de-prensa-para-latinoamerica-la-propuesta-de-tratado-de-la-onu-sobre
April 14, 2023, 8:43 PM
VIENA-El martes 18 de abril, a las 10:00 am hora del Pacífico (1:00 pm hora del Este), expertos de Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) y tres aliados latinoamericanos de derechos digitales informarán a los reporteros sobre las amenazas únicas a la privacidad que plantea la propuesta de Tratado sobre Delitos Cibernéticos de la ONU, que podría autorizar el uso de programas espía que ya se están desplegando contra periodistas y defensores de los derechos humanos. El tratado, que ha sido ob...
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EFF, International Allies Warn That Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, Rather Than Making Us More Secure, Could Legitimize Intrusive Surveillance and Drag Down Global Privacy and Free Expression Standards
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/eff-international-allies-warn-proposed-un-cybercrime-treaty-rather-making-us-more
April 14, 2023, 7:48 PM
EFF and international allies Access Now, Article 19, Epicenter, and Global Partners Digital are in Vienna this week and next for the fifth round of negotiations on the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, along with the over 100 representatives of Member States hashing out a new draft text.While we have not yet been allowed to speak on the floor—or even sit in the same room as delegates—that has not stopped us from speaking out for users about the lack of human rights protections, the criminalizat...
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Latam Media Briefing: Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty Lacks Sufficient Human Rights Safeguards, Exacerbating Threats to Privacy and Civil Liberties in Latam
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/latam-media-briefing-proposed-un-cybercrime-treaty-lacks-sufficient-human-rights
April 14, 2023, 6:15 PM
Proposals for Broad Surveillance Powers Could Authorize Government Spyware, Which is Already Being Used to Target Human Rights Defenders, Journalists in the RegionVIENNA—On Tuesday, April 18, at 10:00 am Pacific Time (1:00 pm Eastern Time), experts from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and three Latin American digital rights allies will brief reporters about the unique threats to privacy posed by the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, which could authorize the use of spyware already being depl...
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Be Skeptical of FBI Warnings About Phone Chargers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/be-skeptical-fbi-warnings-about-phone-chargers-0
April 14, 2023, 4:48 AM
Every few years, an unsourced report circulates that “the FBI says plugging into public charging kiosks is dangerous.” Here’s why you should ignore the freakout and install software updates regularly. 
Your phone is designed to communicate safely with lots of things – chargers , web sites, Bluetooth devices such as earbuds or speakers, Wi-Fi, and even other phones, for instance when sending and receiving text messages. If doing any of these normal phone things can give your phone malwar...
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