Details of Justice Department Efforts To Break Encryption of Facebook Messenger Must Be Made Public, EFF Tells Court

San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation, ACLU and Stanford cybersecurity scholar Riana Pfefferkorn asked a federal appeals court today to make public a ruling that reportedly forbade the Justice Department from forcing Facebook to break the encryption of a communications service for users.Media widely reported last fall that a...

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Social Media Platforms Increase Transparency About Content Removal Requests, But Many Keep Users in the Dark When Their Speech Is Censored, EFF Report Shows

San Francisco and Tunis, Tunisia—While social media platforms are increasingly giving users the opportunity to appeal decisions to censor their posts, very few platforms comprehensively commit to notifying users that their content has been removed in the first place, raising questions about their accountability and transparency, the Electronic...

Hearing Tuesday: EFF Will Voice Support For California Bill Reining In Law Enforcement Use of Facial Recognition

Sacramento, California—On Tuesday, June 11, at 8:30 am, EFF Grassroots Advocacy Organizer Nathan Sheard will testify before the California Senate Public Safety Committee in support of a measure to prohibit law enforcement from using facial recognition in body cams.Following San Francisco’s historic ban on police use of the...

Hearing Today: EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss Will Testify About Proposed Changes to Patent Law That Will Benefit Trolls, Foster Bad Patents

Washington D.C.—EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss will tell U.S. lawmakers today that proposed changes to Section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act—the section that defines, and limits, what can get a patent—will upend years of case law that ensures only true inventions, not basic practices or rudimentary ideas, should...

Caught in the Net: The Impact of ‘Extremist’ Speech Regulations on Human Rights Content

San Francisco – Social media companies have long struggled with what to do about extremist content that advocates for or celebrates terrorism and violence. But the dominant current approach, which features overbroad and vague policies and practices for removing content, is already decimating human rights content online, according to a...

EFF Project Shows How People Are Unfairly “TOSsed Out” By Platforms’ Absurd Enforcement of Content Rules

San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today launched TOSsed Out, a project to highlight the vast spectrum of people silenced by social media platforms that inconsistently and erroneously apply terms of service (TOS) rules.TOSsed Out will track and publicize the ways in which TOS and other speech moderation rules...

Hearing Wednesday: Can Criminal Defendants Review DNA Analysis Software Used to Prosecute Them?

Fresno – On Wednesday, May 22, at 9 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will argue that criminal defendants have a right to review and evaluate the source code of forensic DNA analysis software programs used to create evidence against them. The case, California v. Johnson, is on appeal...

YouTube User Fights Unfair Takedown Campaign from UFC

San Francisco – The creator of popular post-fight commentary videos on YouTube is demanding an end to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)’s unfair practice of sending takedown notices based on bogus copyright claims. The creator, John MacKay, is represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).MacKay operates the “Boxing Now”...

New Documents Reveal DHS Asserting Broad, Unconstitutional Authority to Search Travelers’ Phones and Laptops

BOSTON — The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU today asked a federal court to rule without trial that the Department of Homeland Security violates the First and Fourth Amendments by searching travelers’ smartphones and laptops at airports and other U.S. ports of entry without a warrant.The request...

Media Alert: Court Hearing Wednesday on Law Enforcement Retention of DNA Profiles from Innocent Californians

Update: the time for this hearing has changed. It now begins at 1:30pm.San Francisco – At 1:30 pm on Wednesday, May 1, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Law Office of Michael T. Risher will argue against the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging law enforcement retention of...

Media Alert: EFF Argues Against Forced Unlocking of Phone in Indiana Supreme Court

Wabash, IN—At 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 18, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will argue to the Indiana Supreme Court that police cannot force a criminal suspect to turn over a passcode or otherwise decrypt her cell phone. The case is Katelin Seo v. State of Indiana.The Fifth Amendment of...

Five Civil Society Organizations Remind Congress: Look to the Supreme Court, Not Silicon Valley CEOs, For Guidance Before Regulating Online Speech

New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.—As policymakers around the U. S. contemplate regulations to protect and/or restrict online speech, a group of public interest organizations dedicated to free expression are publishing a set of legal guideposts that must inform any legislative or regulatory discussion. The document, entitled “Online...

Hearing Friday in Jewel NSA Spying Lawsuit: EFF Asks Court to Let Case Proceed to Determine Constitutionality of Mass Surveillance

Oakland, California—On Friday, March 29, at 9:00 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will tell a federal court that its clients should be allowed to proceed with their case challenging the constitutionality of NSA spying. The government’s latest attempts to prevent the court from evaluating the legality of surveilling millions...

EFF Supporting California’s Privacy For All Bill, Which Puts People, Not Tech Companies, in Control of Personal Data

San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is standing with Californians demanding more control over their personal data by supporting the Privacy For All bill, which requires tech companies to get their permission to share and use private information.“All eyes are on California, which has taken the lead nationwide in passing...

Hearing Wednesday: EFF Asks Court to Unseal Phone Tap Order That Was Among Hundreds of Questionable Wiretaps Approved By California Court

Riverside, California—On Wednesday, February 13, at 10:00 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will ask a state court to unseal a wiretap order issued against individuals with no criminal records to learn why the phones were tapped and whether the warrant authorization process was legitimate.The order was among hundreds of...

Hearing Thursday: EFF Tells Court That Clicking on a URL Isn’t Enough Evidence to Justify A Search Warrant

Richmond, Virginia—On Thursday, January 31, at 8:30 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will ask a federal appeals court to find that the act of clicking on a URL or weblink isn’t sufficient evidence for law enforcement to get a warrant to search someone’s home.The hearing involves a child pornography...

Hearing Thursday: EFF Asks Court to Require FBI Disclosure of National Security Letter Recipients Who've Been Released From Gag Orders

San Francisco, California—On Thursday, December 20, at 10 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal judge to order the FBI to release the names of national security letter (NSLs) recipients that are no longer under a bureau gag order blocking them from speaking out.The hearing is...

Social Justice Organizations Challenge Retention of DNA Collected from Hundreds of Thousands of Innocent Californians

San Francisco - Two social justice organizations—the Center for Genetics and Society and the Equal Justice Society—and an individual plaintiff, Pete Shanks, have filed suit against the state of California for its collection and retention of genetic profiles from people arrested but never convicted of any crime. The Electronic Frontier...

EFF, Human Rights Watch, and Over 70 Civil Society Groups Ask Mark Zuckerberg to Provide All Users with Mechanism to Appeal Content Censorship on Facebook

Spanish version San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and more than 70 human and digital rights groups called on Mark Zuckerberg today to add real transparency and accountability to Facebook’s content removal process. Specifically, the groups demand that Facebook clearly explain how much content it removes, both rightly and...

EFF, Human Rights Watch y más de 70 grupos de la sociedad civil solicitan a Mark Zuckerberg que proporcione a todos los usuarios y usuarias un mecanismo para apelar ante la censura de contenidos en Facebook

English versionSan Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation y más de 70 grupos de derechos humanos y digitales pidieron hoy a Mark Zuckerberg que añadiera transparencia y responsabilidad real al proceso de eliminación de contenidos de Facebook. Específicamente, los grupos exigen que Facebook explique – claramente - cuánto contenido...

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EFF Unveils Virtual Reality Tool To Help People Spot Surveillance Devices in Their Communities

San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched a virtual reality (VR) experience on its website today that teaches people how to spot and understand the surveillance technologies police are increasingly using to spy on communities.“We are living in an age of surveillance, where hard-to-spot cameras capture our faces and...

Surveillance Targets Deserve Answers About Mysterious Wiretaps

Riverside, CA – Two individuals with no criminal record—one of whom is a retired California Highway Patrol officer—are asking a California Superior Court why their phones were tapped in 2015. These are just two targets of hundreds of questionable wiretaps authorized by a single judge, Helios J. Hernandez, in Riverside...

EFF Wins DMCA Exemption Petitions for Tinkering With Echos and Repairing Appliances, But New Circumvention Rules Still Too Narrow To Benefit Most Technology Users

Washington, D.C.—The Electronic Frontier Foundation won petitions submitted to the Library of Congress that will make it easier for people to legally remove or repair software in the Amazon Echo, in cars, and in personal digital devices, but the library refused to issue the kind of broad, simple and robust...

EFF Sues San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to Obtain Records About Use of Privacy Invasive Cell-Site Simulators

San Bernardino, California—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department today to gain access to records about search warrants where cell-site simulators, devices that allow police to locate and track people by tricking their cell phones into a connection, were authorized in criminal investigations.EFF...

Briefing Thursday: EFF’s Eva Galperin and Lookout Discuss, Demo Cybersecurity Attacks On Democracy

Washington, D.C.—On Thursday, Oct. 4, at 2 pm, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Director of Cybersecurity Eva Galperin will speak at a special session for congressional staffers and representatives about how malware and spyware targeted at mobile devices is being used against dissidents, activists, journalists, and others to disrupt democracy.Galperin’s...

EFF To Maine, Massachusetts Courts: Rule Requiring Warrants to Access Cell Phone Location Data Applies to Real-Time Searches

Portland, Maine—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU are urging the state’s highest courts in Massachusetts and Maine to rule that law enforcement agents need a warrant to access real-time location information from cell phones, a clear application of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling from June.EFF, in partnership...

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Fair-Use Champion Stephanie Lenz, European Digital Rights Leader Joe McNamee, and Groundbreaking Content-Moderation Researcher Sarah T. Roberts Win EFF’s Pioneer Awards

San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is honored to announce the winners of its 2018 Pioneer Awards: fair use champion Stephanie Lenz, European digital rights leader Joe McNamee, and groundbreaking content moderation researcher Sarah T. Roberts. The ceremony will be held September 27th in San Francisco.This year’s Pioneer...

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Win for Public Right to Know: Court Vacates Injunction Against Publishing the Law

San Francisco – A federal appeals court today ruled that industry groups cannot control publication of binding laws and standards. This decision protects the work of Public.Resource.org (PRO), a nonprofit organization that works to improve access to government documents. PRO is represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the law...

Hearing Thursday: EFF Asks Court to Block Enforcement of FOSTA While Lawsuit Proceeds

Washington, D.C.—On Thursday, July 19, at 4 pm, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal judge to put enforcement of FOSTA on hold during the pendency of its lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal law. The hold is needed, in part, to allow plaintiff Woodhull Freedom Foundation...

New Lawsuit Challenges FOSTA – The Federal Law Sparking Website Shutdowns

San Francisco – Two human rights organizations, a digital library, an activist for sex workers, and a certified massage therapist have filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to block enforcement of FOSTA, the new federal law that silences online speech by forcing speakers to self-censor and requiring platforms to...

Stephanie Lenz and Universal Music Publishing Group Settle 'Dancing Baby' Case

SAN FRANCISCO - Stephanie Lenz and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) today announced they have amicably resolved Lenz v. Universal, the widely followed litigation sometimes referred to as the “Dancing Baby” case. Lenz filed her complaint in 2007, after UMPG requested the removal of a video in which Lenz’s then-toddler...

Victory: California Overhauls Police Database Oversight Procedures in Wake of EFF Investigations

San Francisco - Responding to years of investigations and pressure from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the California Attorney General's Office has overhauled and improved its oversight of law enforcement access to a computer network containing the sensitive personal data of millions of state residents, which police abused 143 times...

Facebook, Instagram Lack Transparency on Government-Ordered Content Removal Amid Unprecedented Demands to Censor User Speech, EFF's Annual Who Has Your Back Report Shows

San Francisco, California—Facing increased demands from governments to remove user content, purportedly in the name of combating hate speech and extremism, a handful of social media and app store platforms—including the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and YouTube—have emerged as leaders in transparency, publicly disclosing how often and why...

Press Conference Tuesday: EFF and Open Internet Advocates Will Urge California Lawmakers to Defend Net Neutrality for Californians

Sacramento, California—On Tuesday, May 29, at 11:30 am, EFF Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon will urge state senators to pass a bill that would protect net neutrality in California.A coalition of lawmakers, small businesses, consumer and social justice groups, and open internet advocates are holding a press conference to voice support...

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Victory For The First Amendment: Court Rules That Government Officials Who Tweet to the Public Can't Block Users Who They Disagree With

New York, New York—President Donald Trump's blocking of people on Twitter because they criticize him violates the First Amendment, a federal judge in New York ruled today in a resounding victory for freedom of speech and the public’s right to communicate opposing political views directly to elected officials and...

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EFF Sues Texas A&M University For Violating PETA's Free Speech Rights By Blocking Group From Its Facebook Page

Houston, Texas—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued Texas A&M University on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for blocking comments on its official Facebook page that mention PETA by name or use certain words to criticize the university’s use of dogs in muscular dystrophy experiments.The school,...

Hearing Monday: EFF Asks Appeals Court To Rule Copyright Can't Be Used To Control the Public's Access to Our Laws

Washington, D.C.-On Monday, May 14, at 9:30 am, EFF Legal Director Corynne McSherry will argue in court that the public has a right to access, copy, and share the law—and industry groups that helped develop certain legal rules can't inhibit that right by claiming ownership in those rules.

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EFF and ACLU Can Proceed With Legal Challenge Against Warrantless Searches of Travelers' Smartphones, Laptops

Boston, Massachusetts—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the ACLU of Massachusetts won a court ruling today allowing their groundbreaking lawsuit challenging unconstitutional searches of electronic devices at the U.S. border to proceed—a victory for the digital rights of all international travelers.EFF and ACLU ...

EFF and Coalition Partners Push Tech Companies To Be More Transparent and Accountable About Censoring User Content

Washington, D.C.—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on Facebook, Google, and other social media companies today to publicly report how many user posts they take down, provide users with detailed explanations about takedowns, and implement appeals policies to boost accountability.EFF, ACLU of Northern California, Center for Democracy & Technology, New...

Hearing Monday in Groundbreaking Lawsuit Over Border Searches of Laptops and Smartphones

Boston – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will appear in federal court in Boston Monday, fighting the U.S. government’s attempts to block their lawsuit over illegal laptop and smartphone searches at the country’s borders. The case, Alasaad v. Nielsen, was filed last fall...

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Law Enforcement Use of Face Recognition Systems Threatens Civil Liberties, Disproportionately Affects People of Color: EFF Report

San Francisco, California—Face recognition—fast becoming law enforcement’s surveillance tool of choice—is being implemented with little oversight or privacy protections, leading to faulty systems that will disproportionately impact people of color and may implicate innocent people for crimes they didn’t commit, says an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) ...

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Catalog of Missing Devices Illustrates Gadgets that Could and Should Exist

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched its “Catalog of Missing Devices”—a project that illustrates the gadgets that could and should exist, if not for bad copyright laws that prevent innovators from creating the cool new tools that could enrich our lives.
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EFF and ACLU Ask Court to Allow Legal Challenge to Proceed Against Warrantless Searches of Travelers’ Smartphones, Laptops

Boston, Massachusetts—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) urged a federal judge today to reject the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to dismiss an important lawsuit challenging DHS’s policy of searching and confiscating, without suspicion or warrant, travelers’ electronic devices at U.S. borders.
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EFF Asks Ninth Circuit Appeals Court To Strengthen Privacy Protections Of Smart Phones At The Border

San Diego, California—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to further limit the government’s ability to conduct highly intrusive searches of electronic devices at the border by requiring federal agents to obtain a warrant if they want to access the contents of...

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