How California’s Broadband Infrastructure Law Promotes Local Choice
No, Tech Monopolies Don’t Serve National Security
What’s Up with WhatsApp Encrypted Backups
WhatsApp is rolling out an option for users to encrypt their message backups, and that is a big win for user privacy and security. The new feature is expected to be available for both iOS and Android “in the coming weeks.” EFF has pointed out unencrypted backups as...
The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Patents Aren't Products (Yet)
In EFF’s Catalog of Carceral Surveillance, we explore patents filed by or awarded to prison communication technology companies Securus and Global Tel*Link in the past five years. The dystopian technology the patents describe are exploitative and dehumanizing. And if the companies transformed their patents into real products, the technology would...
The Federal Government Just Can’t Get Enough of Your Face
There are more federal facial recognition technology (FRT) systems than there are federal agencies using them, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Its latest report on current and planned use of FRT by federal agencies reveals that, among the 24 agencies surveyed, there are 27 federal FRT...
Texas’ Social Media Law is Not the Solution to Censorship
The big-name social media companies have all done a rather atrocious job of moderating user speech on their platforms. However, much like Florida's similarly unconstitutional attempt to address the issue (S.B. 7072), Texas' recently enacted H.B. 20 would make the matter worse for Texans and everyone...
Lessons From History: Afghanistan and the Dangerous Afterlives of Identifying Data
As the United States pulled its troops out of Afghanistan after a 20-year occupation, byproducts of the prolonged deployment took on new meaning and represented a new chapter of danger for the Afghan people. For two decades, the United States spearheaded the collection of information on the people of Afghanistan,...
Surveillance Self-Defense Guides Now Available in Burmese
As part of our goal to expand the impact of our digital security guide, Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD), we recently translated the majority of its contents into Burmese. This repository of resources on circumventing surveillance across a variety of different platforms, devices, and threat models is now available in English,...
EFF and Allies Urge Council of Europe to Add Strong Human Rights Safeguards Before Final Adoption of Flawed Cross Border Surveillance Treaty
EFF, European Digital Rights (EDRi), the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), and other civil society organizations have worked closely on recommendations to strengthen human rights protections in a flawed international cross border police surveillance treaty drafted by the Council of Europe (CoE). At a virtual hearing...
Protestors Nationwide Rally to Tell Apple: "Don't Break Your Promise!"
Yesterday in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New York, and other cities across the U.S activists rallied in front of Apple stores demanding that the company fully cancel its plan to introduce surveillance software into its devices. In addition to protests at stores organized by EFF and Fight for the...
