California’s Lawmakers Must Enact Privacy Rules to Advance COVID-19 Efforts
EFF strongly backs calls, including from California Senate Judiciary Chair Hannah-Beth Jackson, for Governor Gavin Newsom to ensure that his response to this crisis respects Californians’ constitutional right to privacy. We urge the California legislature and Governor Newsom to pass measures that would protect our privacy now, in the...
Courts Issue Rulings in Two Cases Challenging Law Enforcement Searches of License Plate Databases
This week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in United States v. Yang, a case challenging the search of an automated license plate reader database under the Fourth Amendment. Although the court, citing EFF’s amicus brief, recognized ALPRs capture massive amounts of data on Americans...
COVID-19 and Online Freedom for #GivingTuesdayNow
On May 5, EFF is joining forces with other nonprofit groups and individuals everywhere for a global day of support called #GivingTuesdayNow. It's a direct response to the unprecedented community and societal needs created by COVID-19. We have been fortunate to see heroic efforts by people coming together to...
Catch Up On "At Home with EFF," and Join Us For Giving Tuesday Now!
Back by popular demand, we're hosting a third At Home with EFF event tomorrow at 2 pm (PT)! In addition to our EFF all-stars, we'll be joined by special guests Şerife Wong, founder of Icarus Salon, and the magical Brad Barton (aka reality thief). As this event coincides with...
.ORG Domain Registry Sale to Ethos Capital Rejected in Stunning Victory for Public Interest Internet
San Francisco—In an important victory for thousands of public interest groups around the world, a proposal to sell the .ORG domain registry to private equity firm Ethos Capital and convert it to a for-profit entity was rejected late yesterday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).The...
Victory! ICANN Rejects .ORG Sale to Private Equity Firm Ethos Capital
In a stunning victory for nonprofits and NGOs around the world working in the public interest, ICANN today roundly rejected Ethos Capital’s plan to transform the .ORG domain registry into a heavily indebted for-profit entity. This is an important victory that recognizes the registry’s long legacy as a mission-based,...
COVID-19 and Technology: Commonly Used Terms
New technical proposals to track, contain, and fight COVID-19 are coming out nearly every day, and the distinction between public health strategies, technical approaches, and other terms can be confusing. On this page we attempt to define and disambiguate some of the most commonly used terms. Bookmark this glossary—we intend...
Frontier’s Bankruptcy Reveals Why Big ISPs Choose to Deny Fiber to So Much of America
Even before it announced that it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Frontier had a well-deserved reputation for mismanagement and abusive conduct. In an industry that routinely enrages its customers, Frontier was the literal poster-child for underinvestment and neglect, an industry leader in outages and poor quality of service,...
As Coronavirus Sweeps Through Jails and Prisons, Officials Crack Down on Inmate Speech
Jails and prisons now account for many of the largest clusters of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. Two prisons in Ohio now have more than 1,500 cases each; nearly a thousand cases are connected to the Cook County jail in Chicago; and a prison in Arkansas has...
The Constitution Does Not Allow Courts to Silence Criticism of Local Police Departments
EFF has filed an amicus brief urging the Tennessee Supreme Court to overturn a court order that would otherwise ban a victim from disclosing that she was subject to domestic violence or from speaking out about the police department’s handling of the investigation. The court order was issued under...
