November 20 Rally and Forum on Net Neutrality at San Francisco City Hall
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is joining a broad coalition of local and national public interest groups for a rally and forum in support of strong net neutrality rules at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, November 20, at 5:30 pm.
"Bay Area Speaks: A People's...
Victory! Court Finally Throws Out Ultramercial’s Infamous Patent on Advertising on the Internet
Victory! Court Finally Throws Out Ultramercial’s Infamous Patent on Advertising on the Internet
On September 9, 2009, a patent troll called Ultramercial sued a bunch of Internet companies alleging infringement of U.S. Patent 7,346,545. This patent claims a method for allowing Internet users to view copyrighted material free of charge in exchange for watching certain advertisements. Yes, you read that correctly. Ultramercial...
AT&T Ditches Tracking Header Program; Verizon Still Refuses
Julia Angwin reported late Thursday that AT&T is dropping their tracking supercookie program. This comes in the wake of massive customer pressure over the discovery that AT&T and Verizon were quietly inserting unique tracking identifiers in their customers' web browsing and app data, by means of an HTTP...
Quality, Not Quantity (Unless You’re a Fusion Center, Spending Taxpayer Money)
Who pays for government surveillance? Taxpayers. And we should all heed the age-old message: buyer beware. Fusion centers are an excellent example of why. The point of fusion centers is to enable intelligence sharing between local, state, tribal, territorial, and federal agencies. But because they involve actors from various...
Unsealed Filing Shows DOJ Misled Appeals Court About National Security Letter Gag Orders
A court filing unsealed late Wednesday shows that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) made a highly misleading argument to an appeals court in October during a hearing on the constitutionality of National Security Letters (NSLs).
On October 8, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued before the United...
Senator Reid Moves Forward With NSA Reform Bill
We're pleased to see Sen. Harry Reid move toward a final vote on the Senate version of the USA FREEDOM Act, S. 2685. EFF has consistently urged the Senate to move forward on the bipartisan bill since it was first introduced in July.
The USA FREEDOM...
The Net Neutrality Battle Isn’t Over, and Californians Are Speaking Out
The San Francisco Bay Area has been most vocal in the fight for net neutrality, and there's a reason: Internet openness is crucial to the trailblazing new artists, technologies, and businesses that thrive in this state. And San Francisco’s own Mayor Ed Lee has been an outspoken supporter...
FBI's "Suicide Letter" to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dangers of Unchecked Surveillance
The New York Times has published an unredacted version of the famous “suicide letter” from the FBI to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter, recently discovered by historian and professor Beverly Gage, is a disturbing document. But it’s also something that everyone in the United States...
Americans Want More Privacy from Companies and Government
Pew released a report today detailing the extensive privacy concerns of Americans. The report, which surveyed a nationally representative sample, highlighted their skepticism towards both corporate and government data collection, Americans' enthusiasm for privacy, and Americans' need for more privacy protective tools. It's yet another reason why we...
