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FEATURED UPDATE
The Supreme Court struck a blow today [ PDF ] for your right to own the things you buy, reversing a lower court decision that had given patent owners the power to sue customers who paid in full for a patented item but then used it in a way the patent owner didn't care for. The Court's reasoning will help us protect your rights from overbroad copyright and other restrictions, like the ones written into " end user license agreements...
FEATURED UPDATE
Law Enforcement Should Not Be Able to Bypass the Fourth Amendment to Search Your Devices Sending your computer to Best Buy for repairs shouldn’t require you to surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. But that’s apparently what’s been happening when customers send their computers to a Geek Squad repair facility in Kentucky. We think the FBI’s use of Best Buy Geek Squad employees to search people’s computers without a warrant threatens to circumvent people’s constitutional rights. That’s why we filed a...
FEATURED UPDATE
On Thursday, June 1, developers and technologists from across the Bay Area will gather for EFF's inaugural Tech Trivia Night! EFF's team of technology experts have already started crafting challenging trivia about the fascinating, obscure, and trivial aspects of digital security, online rights, and Internet culture. Competing teams will plumb the unfathomable depths of their knowledge, but only the champion hive mind will claim the First Place Tech Trivia Cup and EFF swag pack. The second and third place teams...
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Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the Data On Your Devices and In the Cloud
How to Opt Out of Twitter's New Privacy Settings
Since Wednesday night, Twitter users have been greeted by a pop-up notice about Twitter’s new privacy policy , which will come into effect June 18: Contrary to the inviting “Sounds good” button to accept the...
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Expansive Protections Against Police Abuses Win Approval in Providence
On Thursday night, the capital of the smallest state in the union adopted a wide-ranging police reform measure with national and historic implications. The Providence City Council voted 13-1 to adopt the Providence Community-Police Relations Act , which had generated controversy for the...
Hearing Tuesday: EFF Asks California Supreme Court To Allow the Public Access to License Plate Reader Data Collected By Los Angeles Police
Los Angeles—On Tuesday, June 6, at 9:30 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California will argue that license plate data, collected by police indiscriminately on millions of drivers each day, are not investigative records that police can shield from public scrutiny. Automated License Plate...
NLPC's False Report Diverts Attention from the Concerns of Real Net Neutrality Supporters
We learned this Wednesday of a report [PDF] by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) that claimed EFF submitted over 100,000 fake comments to the FCC's net neutrality docket , using fake names, email addresses, and physical addresses. Since we’ve started to get questions about NLPC’s...
Montana Protects Communications Privacy, But Allows Gag Orders
In May, Montana adopted a new statute that limits government access to the contents of electronic communications stored by service providers. EFF applauds this new privacy safeguard. We thank the Governor for cutting two flawed terms concerning the level of judicial review and records stored abroad, as we...
While EU Copyright Protests Mount, the Proposals Get Even Worse
This week, EFF joined Creative Commons, Wikimedia, Mozilla, EDRi, Open Rights Group, and sixty other organizations in signing an open letter [PDF] addressed to Members of the European Parliament expressing our concerns about two key proposals for a new European "Digital Single Market" Directive on copyright. These are...
Aadhaar: Ushering in a Commercialized Era of Surveillance in India
Since last year, Indian citizens have been required to submit their photograph, iris and fingerprint scans in order to access legal entitlements, benefits, compensation, scholarships, and even nutrition programs. Submitting biometric information is needed for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, the training and aid of disabled people, and...
Wikipedia Joins the Fight for Fair Use in Australia
Australia's ongoing debate over the introduction of a new fair use right took a turn last week when Wikipedia joined the fray. The world's largest online encyclopedia now displays a banner to its Australian users encouraging them to support a joint campaign of Australia's major...
Stupid Patent of the Month: Ford Patents a Windshield
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Impression Products v. Lexmark International was a big win for individuals’ right to repair and modify the products they own. While we’re delighted by this decision, we expect manufacturers to attempt other methods of controlling the market for resale and repair. That’s...
California Senate Passes Surveillance Transparency Bill
A bill to shine light on law enforcement surveillance technology has passed out of the California State Senate. Now the battle begins in the California Assembly. S.B. 21 would require all police surveillance technology purchases and policies to go through a public approval process. That means...
Why We're Suing the FBI for Records About Best Buy Geek Squad Informants
Law Enforcement Should Not Be Able to Bypass the Fourth Amendment to Search Your Devices Sending your computer to Best Buy for repairs shouldn’t require you to surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. But that’s apparently what’s been happening when customers send their computers to a Geek Squad repair facility in...
