Federal Court of Appeal Strikes Down Overbroad Permanent Injunction on Internet Speech
The United States Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit today struck down an overbroad permanent injunction against online speech issued by a lower court in a defamation case. The lower court had enjoined future speech that the jury had not specifically found to be defamatory, and the Seventh...
Government Succeeds in Stalling, Again—But Jewel v. NSA Goes On
We were disappointed today to learn that a federal appeals court in Pasadena declined to consider EFF’s appeal of a ruling in Jewel v. NSA, our long-running lawsuit battling unconstitutional mass surveillance of Internet and phone communications. While we are disappointed that government’s stall tactics prevailed here, the...
EFF's 2015 Holiday Wishlist
For the last four years, EFF has greeted the holiday season by publishing a list of things we'd like to see happen in the coming year. Sometimes these are actions we'd like to see taken by companies, and sometimes our wishes are aimed at governments, but we also include actions...
Changes to Facebook’s "Real Names" Policy Still Don’t Fix the Problem
In response to feedback from activist groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Facebook announced Tuesday that it would change some aspects of its real names policy. As it currently stands, the policy requires users to register what Facebook calls their “authentic identity,”—or how friends and family know them—in order to...
EFF to Court: Posting 3-D Design Files Online Is Free Speech
San Francisco - The government cannot require Americans to go through an export licensing scheme prior to posting and sharing 3-D printer design files online, because publishing technical information is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) told a federal appeals court Thursday.
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In 3-D Printing Case, "Code Is Speech" Faces New Challenges
EFF has filed a brief in Defense Distributed v. Department of State, a case that could push forward recognition for the hard fought principle that publishing computer files that communicate information, even in an esoteric format, is speech protected by the First Amendment. In our brief, we argue...
EFF Opposes Cybersecurity Bill Added to Congressional End of Year Budget Package
Today, House leadership released text of the 2016 "Omnibus package." The legislative package is supposed to deal exclusively with funding the federal government through 2016; however, leadership also managed to include a dangerous cybersecurity "information sharing" bill. The cybersecurity bill is a combination of three bad cybersecurity bills...
Meet Caroline Bokman, EFF's New Staff Accountant
EFF welcomes Caroline Bokman to the finance and HR team. Caroline moved to San Francisco in 1994 from New Jersey. Navigating the nightlife and tech booms since then, she has always worked between the two worlds, from QA contracts at Macromedia and PeoplePC to bookkeeping for entrepreneurs, nightclubs, and entertainment...
These Aren’t the Patent Remedies You’re Looking For (No, Really)
Today Public Knowledge, Engine, and EFF filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court about patent damages. This guest post is by former EFF apprentice legal intern Charles Duan, now the Director of Public Knowledge’s Patent Reform Project. It is cross-posted from Public Knowledge’s blog.
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