Last night, New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawksy gave a speech at the Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law in which he reportedly backed down from the threat of forcing software developers who innovate around Bitcoin to obtain licenses. According to Coindesk, Lawksy said:
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With assistance from Marcia HofmannWhat if you picked up a cup of coffee on your way to work and paid $2.00 in cash, only to have the man behind the counter request your home address?"My home address?" you might ask. "Yes," he might reply, "And your full legal name....

It is a tried and tested technique: fomenting a culture of fear of ceaseless war or terrorism, in order to justify arbitrary and authoritarian incursions on civil liberties back at home. We've read about it in George Orwell's 1984, we've heard about it being practised by oppressive regimes such as...

Update 9/26/14: Recently Apple has announced that it is providing basic encryption on mobile devices that they cannot bypass, even in response to a request from law enforcement. Google has promised to take similar steps in the near future. Predictably, law enforcement has responded with howls of alarm.
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This week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott used recent terrorist threats as the backdrop of a dire warning to Australians that “for some time to come, the delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift. There may be more restrictions on some, so that there can be...

The Canadian government's surveillance of innocent Canadians is secretive, expensive, and out-of-control—that’s the message of a new video launched this morning by Canadian digital rights organization, OpenMedia.ca. The group is leading a large, non-partisan, Canadian coalition of organizations calling for effective legal measures to safeguard Canadians from government spying.
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The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) announced on Friday that it would make reams of court records once again accessible through PACER, the federal courts' digital warehouse for its court files. Many advocates are cheering this decision. But we are not. It's a big missed opportunity...

This is a guest post from Angela Daly and Angus Murray, members of the Policy and Research Standing Committee, Electronic Frontiers Australia. Angela is also a member of the Australian Privacy Foundation's board of directors.
Between 15th-19th of September, in the week leading up the first year...

This is a guest post from Sana Saleem, Advisory Board Member, Courage Foundation. If you have comments on this post, you can contact Sana on Twitter.
In the week leading up the first year aniversary of the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles, EFF...

Between 15th-19th of September, in the week leading up the first year anniversary of the 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles, EFF and the coalition behind the Principles will be conducting a Week of Action explaining some of the key guiding principles for surveillance law reform. Every day, we'll take on...