EFF Tells Congress: Don’t Throw Out Good Patent Laws
At a Senate hearing today, EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss gave formal testimony [PDF] about how to make sure our patent laws promote innovation, not abusive litigation.Moss described how Section 101 of the U.S. patent laws serves a crucial role in protecting the public. She urged the Senate IP...
Hearing Today: EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss Will Testify About Proposed Changes to Patent Law That Will Benefit Trolls, Foster Bad Patents
Washington D.C.—EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss will tell U.S. lawmakers today that proposed changes to Section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act—the section that defines, and limits, what can get a patent—will upend years of case law that ensures only true inventions, not basic practices or rudimentary ideas, should...
Caught in the Net: The Impact of ‘Extremist’ Speech Regulations on Human Rights Content
San Francisco – Social media companies have long struggled with what to do about extremist content that advocates for or celebrates terrorism and violence. But the dominant current approach, which features overbroad and vague policies and practices for removing content, is already decimating human rights content online, according to a...
Research Shows Publishers Benefit Little From Tracking Ads
Advertising industry lobbyists have long argued that tracking users is necessary to power a publishing industry that makes its content available to users for “free”— despite a heavy privacy cost. Right now, a majority of publishers make money by working with advertisers that collect personal information about users as they...
The Impact of "Extremist" Speech Regulations on Human Rights Content
AT&T Sues California to Prevent Oversight Over IP Based 911 Calls Using State Law AT&T Supported and Wants Renewed
The California legislature in 2011 passed a law to remove state and local authority over the broadband access market to “ensure a vibrant and competitive open Internet that allows California's technology businesses to continue to flourish and contribute to economic development throughout the state.” Sounds good, right?But that never happened....
A Terrible Patent Bill is On the Way
Recently, we reported on the problems with a proposal from Senators Coons and Tillis to rewrite Section 101 of the Patent Act. Now, those senators have released a draft bill of changes they want to make. It’s not any better.Section 101 prevents monopolies on basic research tools that...
EFF Receives $300,000 Donation from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to Support Threat Lab
Great news for EFF’s Threat Lab: Craig Newmark Philanthropies has donated $300,000 to support its work to protect journalists, sources, and others against targeted malware attacks.EFF identifies and tracks the rise of malware attacks, which primarily affect journalists and their sources globally. We have collaborated with groups like...
Fines Aren’t Enough: Here’s How the FTC Can Make Facebook Better
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to announce that Facebook’s many violations of users’ privacy in recent years also violated its consent decree with the commission. In its financial filings, Facebook has indicated that it expects to be fined between $3 and $5 billion by the FTC. But...
EFF Asks San Bernardino Court to Review Cell-Site Simulator and Digital Search Warrants That Are Likely Improperly Sealed
Since the California legislature passed a 2015 law requiring cops to get a search warrant before probing our devices, rifling through our online accounts, or tracking our phones, EFF has been on a quest to examine court filings to determine whether law enforcement agencies are following the new rules....
