What the Facebook Whistleblower Tells Us About Big Tech
Through her leaks and Congressional testimony, Frances Haugen, the “Facebook Whistleblower,” revealed a lot about Facebook's operation. Many of these revelations are things we've long suspected but now have proof of: Facebook focuses on growth—of users and time spent on its platforms—to the exclusion of everything else. For Facebook,...
Virtual Workshop Tuesday: EFF’s Mitch Stoltz Will Discuss Free Software Movement On Panel Examining Ethics and Open Source Software Licensing
San Francisco—On Tuesday, October 12, at 12 pm PT, EFF Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz will speak at an online workshop convened by the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy to explore the future of open source software. Registration for this free online event is here.The possibility that...
Livestream Panel Discussion Tuesday: EFF, Encryption Users Will Discuss Consequences of Apple’s Planned Scanning Tool, Suggest Changes
San Francisco—On Tuesday, October 12, at 8 am PT, EFF Senior Staff Technologist Erica Portnoy and representatives from more than 10 human, digital, and children’s rights organizations will hold a livestreamed panel discussion about the ramifications of Apple’s plans to add scanning tools to its devices on people...
Face Recognition Technology: Commonly Used Terms
As face recognition technology evolves at a dizzying speed, new uses and terminologies seem to develop daily. On this page, we attempt to define and disambiguate some of the most commonly used terms. For more information on government use of face recognition and how to end it in your...
Face Recognition Isn’t Just Face Identification and Verification: It’s Also Photo Clustering, Race Analysis, Real-time Tracking, and More
Governments and corporations are tracking how we go about our lives with a unique marker that most of us cannot hide or change: our own faces. Across the country, communities are pushing back with laws that restrain this dangerous technology. In response, some governments and corporations are claiming that...
Pioneer Awards Ceremony 2021 Recap: Privacy Defenders Unite
On September 16, EFF held the 30th Annual Pioneer Award Ceremony, a yearly celebration of our digital heroes. The Barlows this year went to a selection of individuals who have worked to protect privacy in unique, impressive, and successful ways, from the streets of Harlem and Boston to Mumbai. If...
Bring on the Publicity Trolls: Federal Appeal Court Ruling Drastically Undermines Online Speech
In a disastrous ruling for online expression, innovation and competition, a federal appeals court has held that internet intermediaries are on the hook for expensive litigation and potential damages for violating a person’s “right of publicity,” (i.e., the right to control the commercial use of your persona). All because...
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Public School Students’ Off-Campus Speech Rights
In a win for freedom of speech, the U.S. Supreme Court held that public high school officials violated a student’s First Amendment rights when they suspended her from cheerleading for posting a vulgar Snapchat selfie over the weekend and off school grounds. EFF filed an amicus brief in...
EFF Stands With #SaveAlaa, Calls for Release of Alaa Abdel Fattah, Activist and Friend
My conditions are but a drop in a dark sea of injustice. - Alaa Abdel Fattah, November 7, 2019, at State Security ProsecutionEFF is profoundly concerned about our friend, Egyptian blogger, coder, and activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has been jailed for more than two years at a...
FPF’s 2020 Student Privacy Pledge: New Pledge, Similar Problems
EFF legal intern Rob Ferrari was the lead author of this post.A new school year has started, the second one since the pandemic began. With our education system becoming increasingly reliant on the use of technology (“edtech”), especially for remote learning during the pandemic, protecting student privacy is...








