Reproductive Justice and Digital Rights: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/reproductive-justice-and-digital-rights-year-review
December 31, 2022, 5:03 PM
Reproductive justice and safe access to abortion, like so many other aspects of managing our healthcare, is fundamentally tied to our digital lives. And since it is part of our healthcare, we should have the ability to keep it private and access information about it, even when it’s on a digital device. Actually, especially then: our devices contain a vast amount of highly sensitive personal information. And we all now turn to our phones in order to find information and share our experiences. E...
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Schools and EdTech Need to Study Up On Student Privacy: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/schools-and-edtech-need-study-student-privacy-year-review-2022
December 31, 2022, 5:01 PM
In 2022, student privacy gets a solid “C” grade. The trend of schools engaging in student surveillance did not let up in 2022. There were, however, some small wins indicative of  a growing movement to push back against this encroachment. Unfortunately, more schools than ever are spying on students through EdTech software and other means. 
In an important decision by a federal judge, a remote proctoring “room scan” by a public university - Cleveland State University in Ohio -  was deem...
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Ending the Scourge of Redlining in Broadband Access: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/ending-scourge-redlining-broadband-access-2022-year-review
December 30, 2022, 4:33 PM
EFF’s first ask for the incoming Biden Administration on broadband policy was to ban digital redlining by regulating broadband as a public good instead of a private luxury. EFF has extensively researched the state of fiber broadband infrastructure in the United States for years.  We’ve identified a disturbing trend in low-income access: the systemic underinvestment in their networks. Major broadband providers have been segregating internet users into first-class fiber internet and second-cl...
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The Year We Got Serious about Tech Monopolies: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/year-we-got-serious-about-tech-monopolies
December 29, 2022, 7:18 PM
2022 has been a big year for enforcement of the antitrust laws against tech companies, with the five largest (Apple, Google, Meta/Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) all facing lawsuits or investigations in the US. Government scrutiny of tech company mergers is on the rise too: the Federal Trade Commission has challenged Meta’s acquisition of VR fitness company Within Unlimited and Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. Congress has debated a series of potential new laws to address the ha...
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Surveillance in San Francisco: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/surveillance-san-francisco-2022-review
December 29, 2022, 5:49 PM
We love San Francisco. It’s EFF’s home.  It’s often an example for other cities in regards to technology use and civil liberties. We helped make San Francisco the first city in the United States to ban government use of facial recognition, and one of the first to require community control of whether police can use surveillance technology.
Unfortunately, San Francisco took a wrong turn in 2022. Over objections of many community groups, the Board of Supervisors passed temporary legislation...
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Pushing for Strong Digital Rights in the States: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/pushing-strong-digital-rights-states-2022-year-review
December 28, 2022, 9:21 PM
EFF worked on bills in more than a dozen states this year, fighting for strong digital rights at the state level. Across the country, legislators focused on issues including medical privacy, biometric privacy, and the right to repair.
 In California, EFF was proud to support three bills—A.B. 2091, A.B. 1242, and S.B. 107– that passed into law and take crucial first steps to make California a data sanctuary state for anyone seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care. Authored by Assemblym...
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An Urgent Year for Interoperability: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/urgent-year-interoperability-2022-review
December 28, 2022, 7:27 PM
 
Walled gardens can be great: we all like it when Stuff Just Works because a single company oversees all its elements. 
Walled gardens can be terrible: when all of our data, our social relations and our educational, romantic, professional and family ties are trapped inside a company’s silo and the company does something we don’t like, the garden walls become prison walls. 
Leaving Facebook or Twitter or Amazon or Google means leaving behind many important, valuable things, from media to ...
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Users Worldwide Said "Stop Scanning Us": 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/year-users-worldwide-said-stop-scanning-us
December 27, 2022, 5:09 PM
The online conversations that bring us closer together can help build a world that’s more free, fair, and creative. But talking to each other only works when the people talking have their human rights respected, including their right to speak privately. The best tool to defend that right in the digital world is end-to-end encryption. 
In 2022, we fought back against large-scale attempts by governments to undermine secure and private online speech. The U.S. Senate introduced a new version of t...
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The State of Online Free Expression Worldwide: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/2022-year-review-state-online-free-expression-worldwide-2022
December 27, 2022, 5:05 PM
It’s been a tumultuous year for free expression globally. From internet shutdowns, crackdowns on expression and closed-door partnerships to attempts to restrict anonymity and end to end encryption, in many places, digital rights are under threat. And while the European Union has made regulatory strides, elsewhere in the world, efforts to regulate—particularly those undertaken by authoritarian countries—threaten to fracture the global internet. 
EFF is deeply engaged in the global fight fo...
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Police Drones and Robots: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/police-drones-and-robots-2022-review
December 27, 2022, 12:08 AM
The rising tide of policing by robots and drones may seem relentless or even inevitable. But activism, legislative advocacy, and public outrage can do a lot to protect our safety and freedom from these technologies.
This year began with a report that elucidated what police are doing with drones. Answer? Not much for now. A law in Minnesota mandates police departments report  all of the times they deployed drones and for what reason. We’ve suspected that police have few clear uses, other than...
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The Battle For Online Speech Moved To U.S. Courts: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/2022-battle-online-speech-moved-us-courts
December 27, 2022, 12:03 AM
EFF and our supporters have fought off numerous wrongheaded attempts by Congress to regulate online speech, including several that we wrote about last December.
The bevy of bad internet regulation proposals coming out of Congress hasn’t stopped. In 2022, the EARN IT Act was re-introduced. This wrongheaded bill would have allowed states to strip away critical legal protections for any websites, apps, or platforms, as long as state lawmakers linked their proposals to child abuse. If passed, the ...
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Privacy Shouldn't Clock Out When You Clock In: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/privacy-doesnt-stop-when-you-clock-2022-review
December 26, 2022, 9:25 PM
EFF continued to expand our work on technology issues in the workplace in 2022. We first renewed our attention to worker privacy when the specter of “bossware”—tracking software on work devices—reared its ugly head at the start of the pandemic.
Since then, EFF has joined with those in the labor community to learn more about surveillance in the workplace and on work devices, and the effect it has on employees. Particularly as regulators start to pay more attention, and legislators include...
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The Adoption of the EU's Digital Services Act: A Landmark Year for Platform Regulation: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/adoption-eus-digital-services-act-landmark-year-platform-regulation-2022-year
December 26, 2022, 8:23 PM
2022 marked an important year for digital rights across the European Union as the landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force on 16 November seeking to foster a safer and more competitive digital space.
The DSA overhauls the EU’s core platform regulation, the e-Commerce Directive, and is intended to be an important tool in making the internet a fairer place by setting out new legal responsibilities for online platforms and educating users on why content is removed and what they can do...
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Hacking Governments and Government Hacking in Latin America: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/hacking-governments-and-government-hacking-latin-america-2022-year-review
December 25, 2022, 5:59 PM
In 2022, cyber-attacks on government databases and systems broke into headlines in several Latin American countries. These attacks have exposed government systems’ vulnerabilities—including sometimes basic ones, like failing to keep software updated with critical patches—and shown how attacks can affect government data, services, and infrastructure. On the other hand, they also served to shed light on arbitrary government surveillance practices concealed from proper oversight.
To give some...
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Raising A Glass with EFF Members: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/raising-glass-eff-members-2022-year-review
December 25, 2022, 2:03 PM
Over the past few years, just like the rest of the world, EFF has had to adapt to change and face new challenges. We’ve even had to relearn how we did things before most of the world shut down for over a year. Even through all this, EFF members have shown that the fight for digital freedoms is still strong. This year, we have come together to push back against dangerous police surveillance technology, defend the use of strong encryption, and protect the privacy and security of those seeking an...
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Pivotal Year for the Metaverse and Extended Reality: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/pivotal-year-metaverse-and-extended-reality
December 24, 2022, 5:34 PM
Neal Stephenson’s classic 1992 dystopian novel Snow Crash inspired today’s tech industry in many ways. Google Earth is said to have been inspired by the novel’s “Earth” software, which lets people interactively visualize the whole world. Snow Crash is also the origin of an immersive virtual world Stephenson called the “Metaverse,” which, of course, Mark Zuckerberg used last year to describe his ambition to create a virtual reality platform and a new generation of computer interface...
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EFF’s Threat Lab Sharpens Its Knives: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/threat-lab-2022-year-review
December 24, 2022, 5:34 PM
EFF’s Threat Lab is dedicated to deep-dive investigations that examine technology-enforced power imbalances in society. In 2022 we’ve sharpened our knives and honed our skills in an effort to bring down the stalkerware industry, taken aim at invasive surveillance by police, raised red flags around the security and privacy of daycare apps, developed new tools and techniques for reversing android malware, and taken part in coalitions to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Our crack tea...
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Right to Repair Legislation and Advocacy: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/right-repair-legislation-and-advocacy-2022-year-review
December 23, 2022, 4:24 PM
Your right to repair matters. When you repair a device, you can keep using it, rather than needing to throw it away—creating waste—and purchasing a new one, which uses even more resources. A right to repair creates a market for independent repair shops, encouraging competition between manufacturers and independent businesses, which benefits consumers (like you!). It rewards curiosity and means more people have a greater understanding of the technology in their lives. A right to repair empowe...
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Lifting the Fog: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/lifting-fog-how-eff-unmasked-secretive-police-surveillance-company
December 23, 2022, 4:20 PM
Earlier this year, a cross-team group of EFF technologists, researchers, activists, and lawyers broke the story of Fog Data Science, a secretive data broker that sells cops access to huge quantities of people's precise location data. The data they use is harvested from our phone apps, sent to data brokers, and sold to the highest bidder – including, we learned, to state and local law enforcement. This violates the Fourth Amendment. While federal agencies have been notorious in recent years for...
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Fighting Tech-Enabled Abuse: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/fighting-tech-enabled-abuse-2022-year-review
December 23, 2022, 4:19 PM
No year that includes tech-enabled abuse can be said to be a good year. But 2022 has certainly been an eventful year for the technologies used as instruments of coercive control domestic abuse situations, ranging from stalkerware to physical trackers.
In February, EFF called for the FTC to investigate a class of stalkerware apps uncovered by TechCrunch journalist and security researcher Zack Whittaker. The network of consumer-grade spyware apps wasn’t just pernicious, it was insecure. Whittak...
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Every Supporter Counts in EFF's Year-End Challenge
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/2022-year-end-challenge
December 22, 2022, 5:19 PM
Social movements, businesses, and your own household depend on technology to succeed. That’s become a fact of modern life and it's why EFF has defended your online privacy, security, and free speech for over 30 years. Will you donate so EFF can keep on fighting?
Give Today
Every Supporter Counts!
Support EFF by December 31 and you’ll help unlock bonus grants! Every donation—no matter the size—helps EFF secure a series of seven challenge grants set by EFF’s board. These grants grow fr...
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Daycare and Early Childhood Education Apps: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/daycare-and-early-childhood-education-apps-2022-review
December 22, 2022, 5:15 PM
Last year, several parents at EFF enrolled kids into daycare and were instantly told to download an application for managing their children’s care. These applications frequently include notifications of feedings, diaper changes, pictures, activities, and who picked-up/dropped-off the child—potentially useful features for overcoming separation anxiety of newly enrolled children and their anxious parents. But working at a privacy-oriented organization, as we do, we had concerns about the secur...
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A Roller Coaster for Decentralization: 2022 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/2022-roller-coaster-decentralization
December 22, 2022, 5:11 PM
This year has been a roller coaster for the movement to decentralize the services and tools that we rely on every day. Decentralizing internet services may help remedy concerns ranging from traditional big business competition to online privacy.
In order to devote closer attention to these issues which impact user autonomy and competition online, this year EFF hired a Senior Fellow of Decentralization, Ross Schulman. Among other projects, Ross spearheaded EFF’s involvement in DWeb Camp and Unf...
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2022 Year in Review
https://www.eff.org/2022-year-in-review
December 22, 2022, 4:59 PM
EFF believes we can create a future where our rights not only follow us online, but are enhanced by new technology. The activists, lawyers, and technologists on EFF’s staff fight for that better future and against the kinds of dystopias best left to speculative fiction. In courts, in legislatures, and in company offices we make sure that the needs of the users are heard. Sometimes we send letters. Sometimes, we send planes.
We’ve pushed hard this year and won many hard-fought battles. And in...
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California Courts Must Protect Data Privacy
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/california-courts-must-protect-data-privacy
December 21, 2022, 10:32 PM
If our legal rights to data privacy aren’t enforceable, they are just empty promises. One of the best ways to enforce them is to let people sue the companies that violate their data privacy. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has been chipping away at private enforcement by rewriting a legal doctrine called “standing,” which determines who has been harmed enough to deserve their day in court.
California’s standing rules are different, and far more protective. But a recent state appeal...
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Here's How Apple Could Open Its App Store Without Really Opening Its App Store
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/heres-how-apple-could-open-its-app-store-without-really-opening-its-app-store
December 20, 2022, 10:57 PM
And what we can do about it.
With this year’s passage of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), very large online platforms - those with EU revenues of  €75 billion or more and at least 45 million EU users  - will have to open up their devices to rival app stores. 
While this has implications for game consoles, the main attraction is the mobile market, specifically Apple’s iOS-based mobile devices: iPhones, iPads, iPods and Apple Watches. These devices are locked to Apple’s official Ap...
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User Generated Content and the Fediverse: A Legal Primer
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/user-generated-content-and-fediverse-legal-primer
December 20, 2022, 9:35 PM
A growing number of people are experimenting with federated alternatives to social media like Mastodon, either by joining an “instance” hosted by someone else or creating their own instance by running the free, open-source software on a server they control. (See more about this movement and joining the fediverse here).
The fediverse isn’t a single, gigantic social media platform like Facebook or Youtube. It’s an expanding ecosystem of interconnected sites and services that let people int...
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VICTORY! There Is No Link Tax in the End-of-Year Bills
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/victory-there-no-link-tax-end-year-bills
December 20, 2022, 9:33 PM
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) was a bad bill to begin with and somehow just got worse and worse with each iteration. Its best chance was being slipped into unrelated legislation that no one in Congress could afford to block.
Earlier this month, it seemed like that might happen.  Proponents added this controversial, unconstitutional, poorly-conceived piece of legislation to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a routine but “must-pass” military budget bill....
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We Need to Talk About Infrastructure
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/we-need-talk-about-infrastructure
December 20, 2022, 6:33 PM
Essential internet infrastructure should be content-neutral.  These services should not make editorial decisions that remove content beyond the scope of the law.  This is in part because history shows that any new censorship methods will eventually be abused and that those abuses often end up hurting the least powerful.
That’s the easy part. The hard part is defining what exactly "essential internet infrastructure," is, and to which users. We also need to recognize that this designation can...
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EFF Receives $250k Grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies 
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/eff-receives-250k-grant-craig-newmark-philanthropies
December 19, 2022, 5:48 PM
EFF has received a $250,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to support its programs to teach and protect journalists, advocate against abusive “stalkerware” technology, and maintain its cybersecurity Threat Lab.
This generous support will help EFF educate journalists about, and protect them from, digital and legal threats. It also will help us do public education, build coalitions, and conduct research into the disciplinary technologies that corporations, schools, and individuals us...
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No Nudity Allowed: Censoring Naked Yoga
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/no-nudity-allowed-censoring-naked-yoga
December 19, 2022, 3:23 PM
Most nude content is legal, and engaging with such material online provides individuals with a safe and open framework to explore their identities, build communities, and discover new interests. However, social networks and payment processors are intervening to become the arbiters of how people create and engage with nudity and sexuality—both offline and in the digital space. As a result of this flawed system, a crucial form of engagement for all kinds of users has been removed and the voic...
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Looking Forward and Back at the California State Legislature
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/looking-forward-and-back-california-state-legislature
December 16, 2022, 8:59 PM
California’s legislators took their oaths of office for a fresh two-year session last week. As we prepared for a new session, it’s worth looking back at the past session—in which, with your help, EFF was able to advocate successfully for digital rights victories. California is often seen as a leader in recognizing the importance of privacy, innovation, and free expression. This year, EFF was proud to support legislation that again put the state at the forefront of privacy protections for t...
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Federal Agencies Keep Rejecting FOIA Requests for Their Procedures for Handling FOIA Requests
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/federal-agencies-keep-rejecting-foia-requests-their-procedures-handling-foia
December 16, 2022, 5:30 PM
The majority of federal agencies — including law enforcement agencies like Customs and Border Protection — are refusing to release some of the most basic guidance materials used by their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) offices: procedures for how they do their jobs.
Government Attic, a website that regularly files FOIA requests and posts the provided records, estimates that at least 60 percent of federal agencies, when faced with filling requests for FOIA standard operating procedures (...
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Dangerous "Kids Online Safety Act" Does Not Belong in Must-Pass Legislation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/dangerous-kids-online-safety-act-does-not-belong-must-pass-legislation
December 15, 2022, 10:31 PM
Every year, Congress must follow through on an enormous and complicated task: agreeing on how to fund the government for the following year. The wrangling over spending often comes down to the wire, and this year, some Senators are considering shoehorning a controversial and unconstitutional bill, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), into the must-pass legislation. Make no mistake: KOSA is bad enough on its own, but putting KOSA into the “omnibus package” is a terrible idea. 
Amendments Aren�...
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Only A Few More Weeks Left to Support EFF Through The CFC!
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/only-few-more-weeks-left-support-eff-through-cfc-0
December 15, 2022, 5:42 PM
The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the world's largest and most successful annual charity campaign for U.S. federal employees and retirees. The pledge period for this year's campaign ends on January 14, 2023, and you can donate to support EFF's mission in fighting for digital freedoms for every internet user.
Donating to EFF through the CFC is easy! Just follow these steps:
Go to GiveCFC.org or scan the QR code below.
Click the DONATE button to give via payroll deduction, credit/debit, or a...
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EFF Agrees With the NLRB: Workers Need Protection Against Bossware
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/eff-agrees-nlrb-workers-need-protection-against-bossware
December 14, 2022, 9:25 PM
The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an important memo that calls for regulators to protect workers against what she described as “unlawful electronic surveillance and automated management practices.” The NLRB is the independent federal agency charged with defending the collective bargaining rights of workers. In keeping with its mission, it described its plan to enforce currently existing law. It will urge that the board itself and relevant federal agencie...
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Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 34.6
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/digital-rights-updates-effector-346
December 14, 2022, 5:33 PM
Want the latest news on your digital rights? Well, you're in luck! Version 34, issue 6 of our EFFector newsletter is out now. Catch up on the latest EFF news by reading our newsletter or listening to the audio version below. This issue covers a collection of EFF's latest victories (seriously, there are a lot of them!) as well as our thoughts on the "fediverse" and the mess that is the Filter Mandate Bill.
LISTEN ON YouTube
EFFECTOR 34.6 - Victory!
Make sure you never miss an issue by signing up ...
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Letter to the UN Ad Hoc Committee
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/letter-un-ad-hoc-committee
December 14, 2022, 1:55 AM
H.E. Ms. Faouzia Boumaiza MebarkiChairperson
Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Criminal Purposes
Your Excellency: We, the undersigned organizations and academics, work to protect and advance human rights, online and offline. Our collective goal is to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are always prioritized when countering cybercrime, securing electronic evidence, facilita...
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EFF to Court: No Qualified Immunity for Wrongful Arrest of Independent Journalists
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/eff-court-no-qualified-immunity-wrongful-arrest-independent-journalists
December 13, 2022, 1:29 AM
Independent journalists increasingly gather newsworthy information and publish it on social media, often without the involvement of traditional news media. They make important contributions to public discourse and are often the first to report newsworthy events. Courts must scrupulously safeguard their First Amendment rights to gather and publish the news. (Sometimes they are called “citizen journalists,” but of course, many independent journalists are non-citizens.)
EFF this week filed an a...
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A Promising New GDPR Ruling Against Targeted Ads
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/promising-new-gdpr-ruling-against-targeted-ads
December 9, 2022, 10:18 PM
Targeted advertising’s days may be numbered. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters report that the European Data Protection Board has ruled that Meta cannot continue targeting ads based on user’s online activity without affirmative, opt-in consent. This ruling is based on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is a big step in the right direction: voluntary opt-in consent should be the baseline requirement for any data collection, retention, or use. And we shoul...
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eIDAS 2.0 Sets a Dangerous Precedent for Web Security
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/eidas-20-sets-dangerous-precedent-web-security
December 9, 2022, 7:35 PM
The Council of the European Union this week adopted new language for regulations governing internet systems that may put the security of your browser at greater risk.
The new language affects the EU’s electronic identification, authentication and trust services (eIDAS) rules, which are supposed to enable secure online transactions across countries in the EU. It contained a range of updates that raised privacy concerns for EU citizens about the European Digital Identity Wallet, a government app...
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VICTORY! Judge’s Critical Investigation of Patent Troll Companies Can Move Forward
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/victory-judges-critical-investigation-patent-troll-companies-can-move-forward
December 8, 2022, 11:55 PM
In recent months, Delaware-based U.S. District Court Judge Colm Connolly started an inquiry into some patent trolling companies that have filed dozens of lawsuits in his court. Last month, lawyers for the patent troll companies appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, seeking to shut down the investigation.
Those events led EFF to file an amicus brief, in which we stood up for the public’s “right … to know who is controlling and benefiting from litigation in publicly-...
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VICTORY! Apple Commits to Encrypting iCloud, Drops Phone-Scanning Plans
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/victory-apple-commits-encrypting-icloud-and-drops-phone-scanning-plans
December 8, 2022, 3:38 AM
Today Apple announced it will provide fully encrypted iCloud backups, meeting a longstanding demand by EFF and other privacy-focused organizations. 
We applaud Apple for listening to experts, child advocates, and users who want to protect their most sensitive data. Encryption is one of the most important tools we have for maintaining privacy and security online. That’s why we included the demand that Apple let users encrypt iCloud backups in the Fix It Already campaign that we launched in 201...
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VICTORY! The Safe Connections Act is Now Law
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/victory-safe-connections-act-now-law
December 8, 2022, 1:27 AM
In the 21st century, it is difficult to lead a life without a cell phone. It is also difficult to change your number—you’ve given it to all your friends, family, doctors, children’s schools, and so on. It’s especially difficult if you are trying to leave an abusive relationship where your abuser is in control of your family’s phone plan and therefore has access to your phone records. 
Thankfully, a bill to change that just became law.
The Safe Connections Act (S. 120) was introduced i...
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DC Circuit Evades Important Questions in Disappointing Ruling on Section 1201 of the DMCA
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/dc-circuit-evades-important-questions-disappointing-ruling-section-1201-dmca
December 7, 2022, 10:31 PM
The Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has issued a disappointing ruling in the case of Green v. DOJ. The ruling left intact a law that has stifled speech and innovation for decades and forced researchers, advocates, teachers, and tinkerers to beg for government permission to do their work. The silver lining: it left many issues in the case to be determined another day.
We partnered with law firm Wilson Sonsini to file this case in 2016 because Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright ...
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VICTORY! San Francisco Bans Killer Robots…For Now
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/victory-san-francisco-bans-killer-robotsfor-now
December 7, 2022, 6:57 PM
In a stunning 8-to-3 vote yesterday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the SFPD from using deadly force with remote-controlled robots. The Board also sent the killer robot policy back to its Rules Committee for revisions and more public comment. This is a big reversal: just one week ago, the Board voted 8-3 to authorize the SFPD to use these killer robots. 
In one week, San Francisco and the greater Bay Area rallied to tell the Board that this policy was unacceptable. That rallying ...
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Network Usage Fees Will Harm European Consumers and Businesses
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/network-usage-fees-will-harm-european-consumers-and-businesses
December 6, 2022, 11:51 PM
Network usage fees, the idea that certain types of companies should pay internet service providers (ISPs) for the ability to deliver their content to consumers, both hurts consumers and breaks the status quo that has facilitated the rapid spread of the global internet. ISPs claim these fees are necessary because the cost for delivering internet services have increased unfairly for them. That is false. Fundamentally network usage fees are a ploy by the largest ISPs to extract monopolistic rents, ...
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The Supreme Court Must Protect Internet Users’ Rights to Access Controversial Information Online
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/supreme-court-must-protect-internet-users-rights-access-controversial-information
December 6, 2022, 11:33 PM
Lawsuits claiming that online services aid terrorist organizations just by hosting their content or having users who espouse the organizations’ views potentially could censor a vast amount of protected expression online, EFF and a coalition of other civil society groups argued in a brief filed this week.
In Twitter v. Taamneh, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that online services can be civilly liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) based on claims that the platform ha...
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44 Local Organizations Stand Against SFPD’s Killer Robots
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/40-local-organizations-stand-against-sfpds-killer-robots
December 5, 2022, 9:17 PM
EFF is announcing a letter signed by 44 community groups who stand united in opposition to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors authorizing the San Francisco Police Department to deploy deadly force with remote-control robots. The signers include racial justice groups, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, LGBTQ organizations, and labor unions.
You can read the entire letter here.
From the letter:
“SFPD’s proposal, if approved, threatens the privacy and safety of city residents...
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This Judge’s Investigation Of Patent Trolls Must Be Allowed to Move Forward
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/judges-investigation-patent-trolls-must-be-allowed-move-forward
December 2, 2022, 7:44 PM
If you get sued, you should be able to figure out who sued you. Remarkably, though, people and companies who are accused of patent infringement in federal court often have no idea who is truly behind the lawsuit. Patent trolls, companies whose main business is extorting others over patents, often hide behind limited liability companies (LLCs) that serve to keep secret the names of those who profit from their activities.
This shouldn’t be the case. Earlier this week, EFF filed a brief seeking ...
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