The Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Ride Tracking Pilot is Out of Control
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is about to make a bad privacy situation worse, and it’s urgent that Los Angeles residents contact their city council representatives today to demand they put the brakes on LADOT’s irresponsible data collection. The agency plans to scoop up trip data on...
Platform Liability Doesn’t – And Shouldn’t - Depend on Content Moderation Practices
In April 2018, House Republicans held a hearing on the “Filtering Practices of Social Media Platforms” that focused on misguided claims that Internet platforms like Google, Twitter, and Facebook actively discriminate against conservative political viewpoints. Now, a year later, Senator Ted Cruz is poised to take the Senate...
Victory! Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Latest Threat to Section 230
Five Civil Society Organizations Remind Congress: Look to the Supreme Court, Not Silicon Valley CEOs, For Guidance Before Regulating Online Speech
New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.—As policymakers around the U. S. contemplate regulations to protect and/or restrict online speech, a group of public interest organizations dedicated to free expression are publishing a set of legal guideposts that must inform any legislative or regulatory discussion. The document, entitled “Online...
Facebook Got Caught Phishing For Friends
Once again, Facebook is in the news for bad security practices, dark design patterns, and secretly reappropriating sensitive data meant for “authentication” to its own ends. Incredibly, this time, the company managed to accomplish all three in one fell swoop.What happened?Last weekend, news broke that Facebook has been demanding...
EFF’s New ‘Threat Lab’ Dives Deep into Surveillance Technologies—And Their Use and Abuse
EFF is proud to announce its newest investigative team: the Threat Lab. Using a combination of research skills, the Threat Lab will take a deep dive into how surveillance technologies are used to target communities, activists, or individuals.The Threat Lab is a multidisciplinary unit that’s part of our Technology Projects...
Net Neutrality Bill Passes Crucial Committee Vote
Congress took a big step today toward protecting net neutrality, competition, and privacy for Internet users. The House Energy and Commerce Committee just voted 30-22 to approve an amended version of the Save the Internet Act of 2019 (H.R.1644). Please join us in urging your members of Congress...
Victory for Users: WhatsApp Fixes Privacy Problem in Group Messaging
San Francisco - In a victory for users, WhatsApp has fixed a long-standing privacy problem in group messaging, where users could be added to a group without their permission. The issue was one of the targets of “Fix It Already!,” a campaign from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)...
FIXED: WhatsApp Rolls Out Group Privacy Settings
Today, we’re happy to see WhatsApp fixing the long-standing group messaging problem that we called on them to address: allowing users to decide who can add them to groups without their express consent. This puts users in a better position to control their WhatsApp chats and personal phone number...
Your Fourth Amendment Rights Should Not be Limited by Terms of Service
Last week, we filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Wilson, a federal appellate case, in which we argued that email providers’ terms of service can’t limit your Fourth Amendment rights. This is the second brief we’ve filed in less than a year addressing this important...
