When legislators give companies an excuse to write untouchable code, it’s a disaster for everyone. This time, 3D printers are being targeted. Even if you’ve never used one, you’ve benefited from the open commons these devices have created. We need to roundly reject these onerous restraints on creation.

In late 2024, we urged Google and Amazon to honor their human rights commitments. Since then, a stream of additional reporting has reinforced that our concerns were well-founded. Yet despite mounting evidence of serious risk, both companies have refused to take action.

Governments around the world are adopting new laws and policies aimed at addressing online harms, including laws intended to curb cybercrime and disinformation, and ostensibly protect user safety. Framed as necessary responses to legitimate concerns, they are increasingly being used in ways that restrict fundamental rights.

Jacob Mchangama is a Danish lawyer, human-rights advocate, and public commentator. He is the founder and director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank focusing on human rights, freedom of speech, and the rule of law.

Sixty-six percent of internet users live where political or social sites are blocked, and 78% live in countries where people have been arrested for online posts. This is the second installment of a blog series reflecting on the global digital legacy of the 2011 Arab uprisings.

Thanks for visiting! Learn more about EFF, Cindy Cohn, and her new book, Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance. EFF's lawyers, activists, and technologists have been thinking about the next big thing in tech before anyone else—whether that’s age verification, AI, or Palantir. Whatever causes you fight for...

EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn will be on The Daily Show tonight, Monday March 30, at 11 pm ET and PT, speaking with host Jon Stewart. Cindy will discuss her long history of fighting for privacy online and her new book, Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance (MIT Press).

The UK is moving forward with its efforts to ban social media for young people. Ahead of this week’s House of Lords debate on the topic, we’re getting you situated with a primer on what’s been happening and what it all means.