March 24, 2022 - 9:00am PDT to March 26, 2022 - 12:00pm PDT
Washington, DC

EFF is thrilled to finally be back in-person at ShmooCon 2022! Stop by the EFF booth to chat with some of our team and learn about the latest developments in defending digital freedom for all. You can even pick up a special gift as a token of our thanks when you take advantage of our membership specials or donate!

As always, EFF is here to help support the community. If you have legal concerns regarding an upcoming talk or sensitive information security research that you are conducting, please email info@eff.org and we will do our best to get you the help that you need.

On Friday at 5 PM Eastern Time, come see Kurt Opsahl, EFF's Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel, speak on "Van Buren: Everything you need to know about the Supreme Court’s recent take on the CFAA

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Van Buren v United States is good news for security researchers, overturning a dangerous precedent on criminalizing access in violation of terms of service and EULAs, clarifying the notoriously ambiguous meaning of “exceeding authorized access” in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as endorsing the interpretation of the statute’s terms using their technical meaning.
The CFAA is the federal computer crime law that’s been misused to prosecute beneficial and important online activity, and one of the primary legal risks faced by security researched, for both criminal and civil liability. The presentation will explain the Van Buren decision in the context of the evolving CFAA law, what the new “gates up or down” approach to unauthorized access means for security researchers, how the Supreme Court’s opinion will guide future courts, and what the decision left unresolved in its mysterious Footnote 8.

More about ShmooCon:
ShmooCon is an annual east coast hacker convention hell-bent on offering three days of an interesting atmosphere for demonstrating technology exploitation, inventive software and hardware solutions, and open discussions of critical infosec issues.  The first day is a single track of speed talks called One Track Mind.  The next two days bring three tracks:  Build It, Belay It, and Bring It On.