The ACCESS ACT Takes a Step Towards a More Interoperable Future
When it comes to online services, there are a few very large companies whose gravitational effects can alter the entire tech universe. Their size, power, and diverse levers of control mean that there is no single solution that will put right that which they’ve thrown out of balance. One thing...
1000 Californians Have Asked Their Representatives To Fix Our Broken Broadband System. Have You?
The California legislature has been handed what might be their easiest job this year, and they are refusing to do it. Californians far and wide have spent the pandemic either tethered to their high-speed broadband connections (if they’re lucky), or desperately trying to find ways to make their internet...
The GDPR, Privacy and Monopoly
In Privacy Without Monopoly: Data Protection and Interoperability, we took a thorough look at the privacy implications of various kinds of interoperability. We examined the potential privacy risks of interoperability mandates, such as those contemplated by 2020’s ACCESS Act (USA), the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act (EU),...
Victory! Dartmouth Ends Unfounded Cheating Investigation After Students, Rights Groups Speak Out
The Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine has ended its months-long dragnet investigation into supposed student cheating, dropping all charges against students and clearing all transcripts of any violations. This affirms what EFF, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), students, and many others...
Big Data Profits If We Deregulate HIPAA
This blog post was written by Kenny Gutierrez, EFF Bridge Fellow.Recently proposed modifications to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) would invade your most personal and intimate health data. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health...
15 Universities Have Formed A Company That Looks A Lot Like A Patent Troll
Imagine this: a limited liability company (LLC) is formed, for the sole purpose of acquiring patents, including what are likely to be low-quality patents of suspect validity. Patents in hand, the LLC starts approaching high-tech companies and demanding licensing fees. If they don’t get paid, the company will use contingency-fee...
Tracking Global Online Censorship: What EFF Is Doing Next
As the world stays home to slow the spread of COVID-19, communities are rapidly transitioning to digital meeting spaces. This highlights a trend EFF has tracked for years: discussions in virtual spaces shape and reflect societal freedoms, and censorship online replicates repression offline. As most of us spend increasing amounts...
EFF Files Amicus Brief Defending the Right to Repair in Massachusetts
This week, EFF joined with several prominent right-to-repair groups to file an amicus brief in the United States District Court of Massachusetts defending the state’s recent right-to-repair law. This law, which gives users and independent repair shops access to critical information about the cars they drive and service, passed...
EFF and FSFP to Court: When Flawed Electronic Voting Systems Disenfranchise Voters, They Should Be Able to Challenge That with Access to the Courts
Atlanta, Georgia—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Free Speech for People (FSPF) urged a federal appeals court today to hold that a group of Georgia voters and the organization that supports them have standing to sue the Georgia Secretary of State over the implementation of defective voting systems they...
A Year of Action in Support of the Black-Led Movement Against Police Violence and Racism
“Black lives matter on the streets. Black lives matter on the internet.” A year ago, EFF’s Executive Director, Cindy Cohn, shared these words in EFF's statement about the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Cindy spoke for all of us in committing EFF to redouble its efforts...
