The Dangers of COVID-19 Surveillance Proposals to the Future of Protest
Many of the new surveillance powers now sought by the government to address the COVID-19 crisis would harm our First Amendment rights for years to come. People will be chilled and deterred from speaking out, protesting in public places, and associating with like-minded advocates if they fear scrutiny from cameras,...
Copyright and Crisis: Filters Are Not the Answer
It’s been a joke for years now, from the days when Facebook was just a website where you said you were eating a sandwich and Instagram was just where you posted photos of said sandwich, but, right now, we really are living our everyday lives online. Teachers are trying to...
EFF, Other Nonprofits, and California’s Attorney General Tell ICANN To Stop The Private Equity Takeover of .ORG
Update 4/20: ICANN has postponed its decision about the sale of .ORG until May 4thICANN, the organization at the top of the Internet’s domain name system, may be close to deciding whether the takeover of the .ORG domain registry by a private equity firm can go forward. EFF, along with...
Open Innovation in Medical Technology Will Save Lives
Experts from the world’s top engineering programs have come together to share knowledge about medical technology, hoping to make life-saving treatments more widely available. Importantly, they’re ensuring that patents, copyrights, and other legal restrictions don’t get between that knowledge and the people who need it most.Open Licenses Provide Life-Saving Technology...
Sharing Our Common Culture in Uncommon Times
We are in an unprecedented time. People are being told to stay home as much as possible. Some of us are lucky enough to have jobs that can be done remotely, schools are closed and kids are home, and healthcare, grocery, or other essential workers are looking for respite where...
Thermal Imaging Cameras are Still Dangerous Dragnet Surveillance Cameras
As governments around the world continue to seek solutions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, companies are eager to sell their technology as a silver bullet to defeating the virus. The public already has seen privacy-invasive proposals for geolocation tracking and face recognition. Now, some vendors of surveillance...
Google-Fitbit Merger Would Cement Google’s Data Empire
Google buying another tech company isn’t new. But Google’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit poses an extraordinary threat to competition and user privacy. Users face having their Fitbit information added to Google’s already large and invasive data pool, and a world that makes it harder and harder for privacy-focused tech...
Automated Moderation Must be Temporary, Transparent and Easily Appealable
For most of us, social media has never been more crucial than it is right now: it’s keeping us informed and connected during an unprecedented moment in time. People have been using major platforms for all kinds of things, from following and posting news, to organizing aid—such as coordinating...
Government Needs Critics—Now More Than Ever
Now More Than Ever, Prisoners Should Have Some Access to Social Media
COVID-19 has trapped many of us in our homes, isolating us from family and friends and limiting our movements. But there are few people who feel the isolating impacts of COVID-19 more acutely than those who are actually incarcerated in jails and prisons across the country. As Jerry Metcalf, an...








