Top Features
Our faces are often exposed and, unlike passwords or pin numbers, cannot be remade. Governments and businesses, often working in partnership, are increasingly using our faces to track our whereabouts, activities, and associations. This is why EFF recently submitted comments to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which is preparing a report on face recognition technology. Also, see how Electronic Frontier Alliance member Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) is leading the fight to "Ban the Scan" in New York.
New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill, whose book about Clearview AI’s rise and practices was published last fall, speaks with EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Jason Kelley about how face recognition technology’s rapid evolution may have outpaced ethics and regulations, and where we might go from here.
EFF Updates
The House of Representatives has passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a FISA reauthorization bill that greatly increases the scope of information the government can collect under Section 702, and lets the government use this unaccountable and out-of-control mass surveillance authority to spy on hopeful immigrants and asylum seekers. Help us tell the Senate to kill this awful bill!
There’s an easy way to make sure that WOPR, Skynet, or Ultron can’t trigger the apocalypse: Don’t. Give. Them. The. Nukes.
In a landmark ruling for fundamental freedoms in Colombia, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that for over two decades the state government harassed, surveilled, and persecuted members of a lawyer’s group that defends human rights defenders, activists, and indigenous people, putting the attorneys’ lives at risk. EFF had filed an amicus brief in the case.
EFF is concerned that a new federal bill would freeze consumer data privacy protections in place, by preempting existing state laws and preventing states from creating stronger protections in the future. Federal law should be the floor on which states can build, not a ceiling.
The Federal Communications Commission has released draft rules to reinstate net neutrality, with a vote on adopting the rules to come April 25. But the FCC needs to close some loopholes in the draft rules before then - and you can help us clean this up!
Here’s an audio version of EFFector. We hope you enjoy it!
Announcements
EFF is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world, championing user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. Our mission is to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people of the world. But what does that mean to you? We’d love to know what you think of EFF: Why do you support us, how do you see our mission, what’s the issue you’re most glad that we’re addressing? Drop us a line at testimonials@eff.org and let us know!
Join us for EFF's 8th annual Tech Trivia Night — the ULTIMATE technology quiz! — from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 9 at Public Works, 161 Erie Street, San Francisco. Explore the obscure minutiae of digital security, online rights, and internet culture while competing for the coveted 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies and EFF swag! It’s a great opportunity to connect with peers in the tech community, and to celebrate the movement for civil liberties and human rights online. It’s $55 per person but only $45 for Current EFF members, and with dinner and drinks included, this is sure to be a great night! Teams may have 3 to 8 people, so bring your friends (or make a few new ones)! Don't have a team? No problem, we'll help form cool and competitive teams!
EFF is excited to be at HOPE XV, July 12-14 at St. John’s University in New York City! Register now for in-person or virtual attendance to show your support for EFF: Until April 30, HOPE is donating 10 percent of all ticket sales to EFF!
Will we see you at Black Hat USA, August 3-8 in Las Vegas? If you're an EFF supporter interested in attending, be sure to use code "EFF2024" to get $200 off your ticket when registering online.
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MiniLinks
Elon Musk is wading into a war with Brazil over orders from the country's supreme court to ban certain X accounts that helped spread election misinformation. While the country deals with a debate about balancing free speech with significant threats to its democracy, Musk's outsize voice — which is emboldening an antidemocratic wing of the far-right — isn't helping, EFF’s Veridiana Alimonti said.
Nearly 200 mobile devices of people who visited Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious “pedophile island” in the years prior to his death left an invisible trail of data pointing back to their own homes and offices.
A shadowy figure spent years ingratiating themself to a developer, then injected a backdoor that could have taken over millions of computers.
“Technology like this is really just a high-tech way of gathering intelligence on people exercising their First Amendment rights under the pretext of public safety: it snoops on everyone, regardless of any connection to a crime,” EFF’s Dave Maass said.
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