The Federal Circuit Has Another Chance to Get it Right on Software Copyright
When it comes to software, it seems that no matter how many times a company loses on a clearly wrong copyright claim, it will soldier on—especially if it can find a path to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit is supposed to be almost...
Victory! Lawsuit Proceeds Against Clearview’s Face Surveillance
Face surveillance is a growing menace to racial justice, privacy, and free speech. So EFF supports laws that ban government use of this dangerous technology, and laws requiring corporations to get written opt-in consent from a person before collecting their faceprint.One of the worst offenders is...
EFF to Council of Europe: Flawed Cross Border Police Surveillance Treaty Needs Fixing—Here Are Our Recommendations to Strengthen Privacy and Data Protections Across the World
EFF has joined European Digital Rights (EDRi), the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), and other civil society organizations in recommending 20 solid, comprehensive steps to strengthen human rights protections in the new cross border surveillance draft treaty that is under review by the Parliamentary Assembly...
Apple’s Plan to Scan Photos in Messages Turns Young People Into Privacy Pawns
This month, Apple announced several new features under the auspices of expanding its protections for young people, at least two of which seriously walk back the company’s longstanding commitment to protecting user privacy. One of the plans—scanning photos sent to and from child accounts in Messages—breaks Apple’s promise to...
Facebook’s Secret War on Switching Costs
Update, October 1, 2021: The original version of this essay incorrectly stated that Metcalfe's Law dictated that the number of connections in a network doubled with each new user; that has been corrected, below.When the FTC filed its amended antitrust complaint against Facebook in mid-August, we read it with...
Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 33.5
Want the latest news on your digital rights? Then you're in luck! Version 33, issue 5 of EFFector, our monthly-ish email newsletter, is out now! Catch up on rising issues in online security, privacy, and free expression with EFF by reading our newsletter or listening to the new audio...
When It Comes to Antitrust, It’s All Connected
A knife was stuck in antitrust in the 1980s and it bled out for the next 40 years. By the 1990s, the orthodox view of antitrust went like this: horizontal monopolies are bad, but vertical monopolies are efficient. In other words, it was bad for consumers when one company...
Chicago Inspector General: Using ShotSpotter Does Not Justify Crime Fighting Utility
ˀThe Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released a highly critical report on the Chicago Police Department’s use of ShotSpotter, a surveillance technology that relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and human “acoustic experts” to purportedly identify and locate gunshots based on a network of...
OnlyFans Content Creators Are the Latest Victims of Financial Censorship
Update (8/26/21): Victory! OnlyFans has reversed course and suspended its plans to ban sexually explicit content, saying it has “secured assurances necessary” from banking partners and payout providers to enable it to continue to serve all creators. We hope that financial institutions will take note that it is unacceptable...
ACLU Advocate Reining in Government Use of Face Surveillance, Champion of Privacy Rights Research, and Data Security Trainer Protecting Black Communities Named Recipients of EFF’s Pioneer Award
San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is honored to announce that Kade Crockford, Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, Pam Dixon, executive director and founder of World Privacy Forum, and Matt Mitchell, founder of ...
