Word Games: What the NSA Means by “Targeted” Surveillance Under Section 702
Word Games: What the NSA Means by “Targeted” Surveillance Under Section 702
We all know that the NSA uses word games to hide and downplay its activities. Words like "collect," "conversations," "communications," and even "surveillance" have suffered tortured definitions that create confusion rather than clarity.
There’s another one to watch: "targeted" v. "mass" surveillance.
Since 2008, the NSA has...
CloudFlare Protects Internet Users By Insisting On Lawful Orders Before Blocking Customers
This month, the online service provider CloudFlare stood up for its website-owner customers, and for all users of those websites, by telling a court that CloudFlare shouldn’t be forced to block sites without proper legal procedure. Copyright law limits the kinds of orders that a court can impose on...
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Wants to Know Who You Are on Twitter—But It’s a Flawed Plan
UPDATE: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved CBP's proposal to collect the social media handles of visitors from Visa Waiver Countries in December 2016. The question is on the online ESTA form and looks like this:U.S. border control agents want to gather Facebook and Twitter identities...
Legislation to Reclaim University Invention from the Trolls
EFF recently launched Reclaim Invention, a project to encourage universities to manage their patent portfolios in a way that maximizes the public benefit. Specifically, we’ve urged universities to sign a Public Interest Patent Pledge not to sell or exclusively license patents to patent assertion entities,...
An Update on Patent Troll Shipping & Transit, LLC
The Global Ambitions of Pakistan's New Cyber-Crime Act
Despite near universal condemnation from Pakistan's tech experts; despite the efforts of a determined coalition of activists, and despite numerous attempts by alarmed politicians to patch its many flaws, Pakistan's Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB) last week passed into law. Its passage ends an eighteen month...
California Lawmaker Pulls Digital Currency Bill After EFF Opposition
For the second year in a row, EFF and a coalition of virtual currency and consumer protection organizations have beaten back a California bill that would have created untenable burdens for the emerging cryptocurrency community.
This week, the author of A.B. 1326, Assemblymember Matt Dababneh withdrew the bill...
Civil Rights Coalition files FCC Complaint Against Baltimore Police Department for Illegally Using Stingrays to Disrupt Cellular Communications
Civil Rights Groups Urge FCC to Issue Enforcement Action Prohibiting Law Enforcement Agencies From Illegally Using Stingrays
This week the Center for Media Justice, ColorOfChange.org, and New America’s Open Technology...
