The NDO Fairness Act Is an Important Step Towards Transparency
The First Amendment guarantees the right to speak your own involvement about court proceedings. Yet the Stored Communications Act currently allows the government to prevent electronic communications companies from notifying their users when they receive law enforcement orders for customer data. These gag orders can silence the companies for any...
2021 Year in Review
2021 ended up being a time where we dug into our new realities of distributed work and the ever-changing COVID news. At the same time, news continued to come fast and furious, with the events of one week often obliterating memories of the week before. So it’s helpful for all...
Digital Services Act: EU Parliament's Key Committee Rejects a Filternet But Concerns Remain
Fix What is Broken vs Break What Works: Oscillating Between Policy ChoicesThe European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) is a big deal. It's the most significant reform of Europe’s internet platform legislation in twenty years and the EU Commission has proposed multiple new rules to address the challenges brought...
EFF to Council of Europe: Cross Border Police Surveillance Treaty Must Have Ironclad Safeguards to Protect Individual Rights and Users’ Data
This is the third post in a series about recommendations EFF, EDRi, CIPPIC, Derechos Digitales, TEDIC, Karisma Foundation, and other civil society organizations have submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is currently reviewing the Protocol, to amend the text before its final approval...
FAQ: Why Brazil’s Plan to Mandate Traceability in Private Messaging Apps Will Break User’s Expectation of Privacy and Security
Despite widespread complaints about its effects on human rights, the Brazilian Senate has fast-tracked the approval of “PLS 2630/2020”, the so-called “Fake News” bill. The bill lacked the necessarily broad and intense social participation that characterized the development of the 2014 Brazilian Civil Rights...
Mexico's New Copyright Law Puts Human Rights in Jeopardy
Correction (Jul 27, 2020, 1700h Pacific): an earlier version of this article erroneously stated that Canada used the USMCA to update its rules on TPMs; while there were proposed rule changes, they were not adopted. We regret the error.Download all the posts in this series as a single PDF.Today,...
Bracelets, Beacons, Barcodes: Wearables in the Global Response to COVID-19
In their efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic, governments around the world are rolling out body-worn devices (“wearables”) to assist in fighting the virus. Some governments want a technological silver bullet to solve the public health crisis. But many of the tools aimed at solving problems come with...
Why the Patching Problem Makes us WannaCry
Over the weekend a cyber attack known as "WannaCry" infected hundreds of computers all over the world with ransomware (malware which encrypts your data until you pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoin). The attack takes advantage of an exploit for Windows...
Dismiss Church’s Trademark Lawsuit Against “Mormon Stories” Podcast, EFF Urges Court
Imagine if McDonald’s could use trademark law to control how you use the term “fast food.” Or if the Canadian government could stop you from using the word “Canada” in the title of a book about the country and its people. That wouldn’t just be absurd; it would be an...
Meta Must Stop Silencing Reproductive Health Information
Access to accurate information about reproductive and maternal health can be critical. But on Meta's platforms, simply talking about prescription medication, abortion care, or one's own medical experiences can be enough to trigger content removals and account restrictions.That's why EFF recently submitted a public comment to the Meta Oversight Board...
