TSA’s Roadmap for Airport Surveillance Moves in a Dangerous Direction
The Transportation Security Administration has set out an alarming vision of pervasive biometric surveillance at airports, which cuts against the right to privacy, the “right to travel,” and the right to anonymous association with others.The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which included language that we warned...
Facebook’s Sexual Solicitation Policy is a Honeypot for Trolls
Facebook just quietly adopted a policy that could push thousands of innocent people off of the platform. The new “sexual solicitation” rules forbid pornography and other explicit sexual content (which was already functionally banned under a different statute), but they don’t stop there: they also ban “implicit sexual...
In the New Fight for Online Privacy and Security, Australia Falls: What Happens Next?
With indecent speed, and after the barest nod to debate, the Australian Parliament has now passed the Assistance and Access Act, unopposed and unamended. The bill is a cousin to the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Act, passed in 2016. The two laws vary in their details, but both now...
New Documents Show That Facebook Has Never Deserved Your Trust
Another week, another set of reminders that, while Facebook likes to paint itself as an “optimistic” company that’s simply out to help users and connect the world, the reality is very different. This week, those reminders include a collection of newly released documents suggesting that the company adopted a host...
Securing The Institutions We Rely On: A Grassroots Case Study
Grassroots digital rights organizing has many faces, including that of hands-on hardware hacking in an Ivy League institution. Yale Privacy Lab is a member of the Electronic Frontier Alliance, a network of community and student groups advocating for digital rights in local...
Amendments to Mauritius' ICT Act Pose Risks for Freedom of Expression
Mauritius doesn’t get a whole lot of international attention. The island nation off the southeast coast of Africa, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is a diverse country that is highly ranked for democracy, and economic and political freedom. The Economist’s Intelligence Unit has named the country the only “full...
In a Letter To The EU, European Film Companies and Sports Leagues Disavow Article 13, Say It Will Make Big Tech Stronger
A coalition of some of Europe's largest film companies and sports leagues have published an open letter to the European Union officials negotiating the final stage of the new Copyright Directive; in their letter, the companies condemn "Article 13," the rule requiring all but the smallest online platforms...
Dear Tumblr: Banning "Adult Content" Won't Make Your Site Better But It Will Harm Sex-Positive Communities
Social media platform Tumblr has announced a ban on so-called “adult content,” a move made, it seems, in reaction to Tumblr’s app being removed from the Apple app store. But while making the app more available is in theory good for Tumblr users, in practice what’s about to happen...
Alameda and Contra Costa County Sheriffs Flew Drones Over Protests
Poland saved Europe from ACTA: can they save us from ACTA2?
Six years ago, Polish activists flooded the streets to oppose ACTA, an incredibly damaging, secretly negotiated Internet treaty hatched in the US to push both America and its European trading partners well beyond anything that could be democratically arrived at.Six years later, as the EU fumbles its...









