EFFecting Change: The Human Cost of Online Age Verification
Age verification mandates are spreading fast, and they’re ushering in a new age of online surveillance, censorship, and exclusion for everyone—not just young people. Age-gating laws generally require websites and apps to collect sensitive data from every user, often through invasive tools like ID checks, biometric scans, or other dubious...
EU's New Digital Package Proposal Promises Red Tape Cuts but Guts GDPR Privacy Rights
The European Commission (EC) is considering a “Digital Omnibus” package that would substantially rewrite EU privacy law, particularly the landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It’s not a done deal, and it shouldn’t be.The GDPR is the most comprehensive model for privacy legislation around the world. While it is far...
Axon Tests Face Recognition on Body-Worn Cameras
Axon Enterprise Inc. is working with a Canadian police department to test the addition of face recognition technology (FRT) to its body-worn cameras (BWCs). This is an alarming development in government surveillance that should put communities everywhere on alert. As many as 50 officers from the Edmonton Police...
After Years of Controversy, the EU’s Chat Control Nears Its Final Hurdle: What to Know
EFF Tells Patent Office: Don’t Cut the Public Out of Patent Review
EFF has submitted its formal comment to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) opposing a set of proposed rules that would sharply restrict the public’s ability to challenge wrongly granted patents. These rules would make inter partes review (IPR)—the main tool Congress created to fix improperly granted...
AI Chatbot Companies Should Protect Your Conversations From Bulk Surveillance
How to Identify Automated License Plate Readers at the U.S.-Mexico Border
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and scores of state and local law enforcement agencies have installed a massive dragnet of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in the US-Mexico borderlands. In many cases, the agencies have gone out of their way to disguise the cameras...
We’re Doubling Down on Digital Rights. You Can, Too.
The UK Has It Wrong on Digital ID. Here’s Why.
In late September, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government’s plans to introduce a new digital ID scheme in the country to take effect before the end of the Parliament (no later than August 2029). The scheme will, according to the Prime Minister, “cut the...
