Surveillance Self-Defense: 2025 Year in Review
Congress's Crusade to Age Gate the Internet: 2025 in Review
In the name of 'protecting kids online,' Congress pushed forward legislation this year that could have severely undermined our privacy and stifled free speech. These bills would have mandated invasive age-verification checks for everyone online—adults and kids alike—handing unprecedented control to tech companies and government authorities.Lawmakers from both sides of...
States Tried to Censor Kids Online. Courts, and EFF, Mostly Stopped Them: 2025 in Review
Lawmakers in at least a dozen states believe that they can pass laws blocking young people from social media or require them to get their parents’ permission before logging on. Fortunately, nearly every trial court to review these laws has ruled that they are unconstitutional.It’s not just courts telling these...
Site Blocking Laws Will Always Be a Bad Idea: 2025 in Review
This year, we fought back against the return of a terrible idea that hasn’t improved with age: site blocking laws. More than a decade ago, Congress tried to pass SOPA and PIPA—two sweeping bills that would have allowed the government and copyright holders to quickly shut down entire websites based...
EFF's Investigations Expose Flock Safety's Surveillance Abuses: 2025 in Review
Throughout 2025, EFF conducted groundbreaking investigations into Flock Safety's automated license plate reader (ALPR) network, revealing a system designed to enable mass surveillance and susceptible to grave abuses. Our research sparked state and federal investigations, drove landmark litigation, and exposed dangerous expansion into always-listening voice detection technology. We documented...
Fighting Renewed Attempts to Make ISPs Copyright Cops: 2025 in Review
Operations Security (OPSEC) Trainings: 2025 in Review
It's no secret that digital surveillance and other tech-enabled oppressions are acute dangers for liberation movement workers. The rising tides of tech-fueled authoritarianism and hyper-surveillance are universal themes across the various threat models we consider. EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense project is a vital antidote to these threats, but it's not...

