Tell Trump’s Patent Office Director: Don’t Make Permanent Rule Changes Now
In the final days of the administration, Andre Iancu, President Trump’s Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is trying to push through permanent rule changes that would destroy the post-grant review system. Iancu is going all out to weaken “inter partes review” proceedings (or IPRs), which are...
Podcast Episode: The Secret Court Approving Secret Surveillance
Episode 001 of EFF’s How to Fix the InternetJulian Sanchez joins EFF hosts Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien as they delve into the problems with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, also known as the FISC or the FISA Court. Sanchez explains how the FISA Court signs off on surveillance of...
Podcast Episode: Why Does My Internet Suck?
Episode 002 of EFF’s How to Fix the InternetGigi Sohn joins EFF hosts Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien as they discuss broadband access in the United States – or the lack thereof. Gigi explains the choices American policymakers and tech companies made that have caused millions to lack access to...
Asleep at the Wheel: Why Didn't Carmakers Prepare for Massachusetts' Right to Repair Law?
The people of Massachusetts demanded their right to repair this month, passing a ballot initiative to allow independent repair shops to access critical information about their cars by an overwhelming 74.9% majority. Now, automakers—whose scare tactics and false privacy and security claims did not fool Massachusetts voters—are expected...
Join Us for 2020's Virtual Aaron Swartz Day Hackathon
EFF is excited to participate this weekend in a virtual version of the annual Aaron Swartz Day and International Hackathon—a day dedicated to celebrating the continuing legacy of activist, programmer, and entrepreneur Aaron Swartz. Join EFF Senior Researcher Dave Maass and privacy advocate Madison Vialpando as they lead...
Introducing “How to Fix the Internet,” a New Podcast from EFF
Today EFF is launching How to Fix the Internet, a new podcast mini-series to examine potential solutions to six ills facing the modern digital landscape. Over the course of 6 episodes, we’ll consider how current tech policy isn’t working well for users and invite experts to join us in imagining...
Election Security: When to Worry, When to Not, and the Takeaway from Antrim County, Michigan
Everyone wants an election that is secure and reliable. With technology in the mix, making sure that the technology supports this is critical. EFF has long-warned against blindly adopting technologies that can be easily manipulated or fail without having systems in place to test, secure, and catch problems, including...
10 Years of HTTPS Everywhere
It’s been 10 years since the beta release of EFF’s HTTPS Everywhere web browser extension. It encrypts your communications with websites, making your browsing more secure. HTTPS has journeyed it’s way from an urgent recommendation to a main...
Clearview’s Faceprinting is Not Sheltered from Biometric Privacy Litigation by the First Amendment
Clearview AI extracts faceprints from billions of people, without their consent, and uses these faceprints to offer a service to law enforcement agencies seeking to identify suspects in photos. Following an exposé by the New York Times this past January, Clearview faces more than ten lawsuits, including ...
RIAA Abuses DMCA to Take Down Popular Tool for Downloading Online Videos
"youtube-dl" is a popular free software tool for downloading videos from YouTube and other user-uploaded video platforms. GitHub recently took down youtube-dl’s code repository at the behest of the Recording Industry Association of America, potentially stopping many thousands of users, and other programs and services, that rely on it.On...