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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 so). EFF is thrilled about this decision, given that we have been advocating for a warrant for border searches of electronic devices in the courts and Congress for nearly...
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 organizations like EFF, which used this process to fight the Personal Audio “podcasting patent,” from filing patent challenges altogether. If you have a personal experience with patent troll attacks, please mention it. Comments are not anonymous...
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 information about the face scanning software used, including how it works, source code, and its error rate. Calling facial recognition “a novel and untested technology,” the court in State of New Jersey v. Francisco Arteaga...
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Surveillance Self-Defense
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Surveillance Self-Defense is EFF's online guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices.
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Privacy Badger
Description:
Privacy Badger is an install-and-forget browser add-on that stops advertisers and trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web.
