Content moderation and its effects remained at the forefront of the public imagination in 2019, with stories of takedowns from Sweden to Syria and everywhere in between gaining media attention. Inconsistent and unfair moderation from companies—often under great pressure from governments and other external actors—is still a serious...

While cities and municipalities made clear strides to limit the use of face surveillance technology throughout 2019, airlines and government agencies tasked with identifying travelers have spent much of the year trying to expand its use. But while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP),...

None of us signed up for an Internet composed of "a group of five websites, each consisting of screenshots of text from the other four", but here we are, watching as hyper-concentrated industries rack up catastrophic victories against net neutrality, right to repair, security auditing, and...

AI and algorithmic decision-making raised important civil liberties issues in 2019, with developments good, bad, and in-between.Starting off in the “disappointing” category, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in August that it was considering new rules that would insulate landlords, banks, and insurance companies that...

Almost every week, we hear about another corporate data breach or government attack on privacy. For anyone who wants real privacy online, encryption is the essential component.Governments around the world keep trying to break encryption, seeking to enhance the power of their law enforcement agencies. They’ve tried...

The global nature of the Internet means that police agencies all around the world facing challenges investigating crime when the data is stored in other countries. The pressure to make this process easier is mounting. To many governments, that means stripping away legal protections for privacy. Soon, police in other...

Earlier this year, EFF noted that the United States is facing a high-speed broadband access crisis. For the foreseeable future, it appears that a supermajority of Americans will not have access to fiber to the home. Instead, it is cable monopolies or nothing at all.Government data indicates that this...

The Internet’s decentralized nature has historically been its greatest super-power, granting it the ability to shrug off censors and spies and redistribute power away from corruptible gatekeepers out to the creators and innovators on its edges. But it’s only been in the last few years that the Net's own corporate...

Find EFF in Leipzig at the 36th year of one of the largest technology, security, and activism conferences in the world, Chaos Communication Congress. Learn how our team of lawyers, technologists, and activists are working to protect online rights, and connect with the larger international digital freedom community. We'll...

Growing dissatisfaction with political leadership. Social and economic constraints. Reprisals against austerity measures. Harassment against community and political leaders. All issues that in different combinations have led to massive protests and political upheaval in recent months in Latin America. They have left a mark in 2019 and, along with them,...