The Government Has All of the Powers It Needs to Find and Prosecute Those Responsible for the Crimes on Capitol Hill This Week
Perpetrators of the horrific events that took place at the Capitol on January 6 had a clear goal: to undermine the legitimate operations of government, to disrupt the peaceful transition of power, and to intimidate, hurt, and possibly kill those political leaders that disagree with their worldview. These are all...
YouTube, Facebook and TikTok Put Human Rights In Jeopardy in Turkey
UPDATE: Facebook has joined YouTube and TikTok to appoint a legal entity in Turkey to comply with Turkish draconian social media law. Twitter, Periscope, and Pinterest stayed strong against the requirements of the Law. Now, the Turkish regulator (BTK) has sanctioned them by ...
California City’s Effort to Punish Journalists For Publishing Documents Widely Available Online is Dangerous and Chilling, EFF Brief Argues
As part of their jobs, journalists routinely dig through government websites to find newsworthy documents and share them with the broader public. Journalists and Internet users understand that publicly available information on government websites is not secret and that, if government officials want to protect information from being disclosed online,...
ACLU, EFF, and Tarver Law Offices Urge Supreme Court to Protect Against Forced Disclosure of Phone Passwords to Law Enforcement
Washington, D.C. - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with New Jersey-based Tarver Law Offices, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination extends to the digital age by prohibiting law enforcement from forcing individuals to...
EFF's Response to Social Media Companies' Decisions to Block President Trump’s Accounts
Like most people in the United States and around the world, EFF is shocked and disgusted by Wednesday’s violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. We support all those who are working to defend the Constitution and the rule of law, and we are grateful for the service of policymakers, staffers,...
Police Robots Are Not a Selfie Opportunity, They’re a Privacy Disaster Waiting to Happen
The arrival of government-operated autonomous police robots does not look like predictions in science fiction movies. An army of robots with gun arms is not kicking down your door to arrest you. Instead, a robot snitch that looks like a rolling trash can is programmed to decide whether a person...
Oakland Privacy and the People of Vallejo Prevail in the Fight For Surveillance Accountability
Just as the 2020 holiday season was beginning in earnest, Solano Superior Court Judge Bradley Nelson upheld the gift of surveillance accountability that the California State legislature had provided state residents when they passed 2015's Senate Bill 741 (Cal. Govt. Code § 53166). Judge Bradley's order brought positive...
COVID-19 and Surveillance Tech: Year in Review 2020
Location tracking apps. Spyware to enforce quarantine. Immunity passports. Throughout 2020, governments around the world deployed invasive surveillance technologies to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.But heavy-handed tactics like these undercut public trust in government, precisely when trust is needed most. They also invade our privacy and...
EFF to FinCEN: Stop Pushing For More Financial Surveillance
Today, EFF submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) opposing the agency’s proposal for new regulations of cryptocurrency transactions. As we explain in our comments, financial records can be deeply personal and revealing, containing a trove of sensitive information about people’s personal lives,...
EFF Statement on British Court’s Rejection of Trump Administration’s Extradition Request for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange
Today, a British judge denied the Trump Administration’s extradition request for Wikileaks Editor Julian Assange, who is facing charges in the United States under the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The judge largely confirmed the charges against him, but ultimately determined that the United...









