A Storm is Brewing Over Florida’s “Sunshine Law”
Update February 19, 2016: The Senate bill has been amended to preserve attorneys fees. The compromise allows a judge to withhold fees if the records request "was made primarily to harass the agency or cause a violation of this chapter." [.pdf] This is a significant improvement, but at this...
Laura Poitras’ FOIA Documents Part of New Surveillance Show at the Whitney Museum
Laura Poitras—the Academy and Pulitzer Prize Award-winning documentary filmmaker behind CITIZENFOUR—has a brand new show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. EFF is currently representing Poitras in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, and some of the documents disclosed in the...
EFF to Support Apple in Encryption Battle
We learned on Tuesday evening that a U.S. federal magistrate judge ordered Apple to backdoor an iPhone that was used by one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shootings in December. Apple is fighting the order which would compromise the security of all its users around the world.
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The Federal Circuit Sticks to Its Guns: Patent Owners Can Prevent You From Owning Anything
A “notice” slapped on the outside of a package saying “single use only” continues to ensure a manufacturer selling you the product can sue for patent infringement should someone dare reuse its goods. This is what the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Friday, reaffirming its previous...
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To Annoy or Not To Annoy: That Was The Question
Remembering One of the Original Constitutional Challenges to the CDA
Clinton Fein is South African born artist, writer, activist & social media strategist, best known for his Torture exhibition—photographic reenactments based on the notorious images from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq—and his First Amendment victories. Fein resides in San...
California Department of Justice Agrees to Stop Skirting Open Meeting Rules
The California Department of Justice (CADOJ) is ending its practice of holding meetings in ways that impede the public's ability to meaningfully participate in oversight of the state's sprawling network of police databases. The new reforms, announced in response to EFF advocacy, will allow greater opportunity for Californians to review...
White House Executive Order on Privacy Falls Short
MPAA May Like Donuts, but They Shouldn’t Be the (Copyright) Police
The companies and organizations that run the Internet’s domain name system shouldn’t be in the business of policing the contents of websites, or enforcing laws that can impinge on free speech. The staff of ICANN, the organization that oversees that system, agrees. That’s why it’s not surprising that the...
White House Executive Order on Privacy Falls Short
This morning, the White House announced an Executive Order establishing a federal interagency privacy council composed of senior privacy officials from two dozen federal agencies. While seeming to offer some promise, however, the council has a limited mandate, and ultimately represents an overdue nod to privacy principles the administration...





