European Law Claims to Protect Consumers… By Blocking the Web
Last week the European Parliament passed a new Consumer Protection Regulation [PDF] that allows national consumer authorities to order ISPs, web hosts and domain registries to block or delete websites... all without a court order. The websites targeted are those that allegedly infringe European consumer law. But European consumer...
NSA Internet Surveillance Under Section 702 Violates the First Amendment
The First Amendment is too often overlooked in discussions of the National Security Agency’s vast surveillance authorities. But as Congress considers whether to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA this winter, we must remember that it’s not just our Fourth Amendment rights to privacy that are in the crosshairs, but...
Stupid Patent Data of the Month: the Devil in the Details
A Misunderstanding of Data Leads to a Misunderstanding of Patent Law and Policy
Bad patents shouldn’t be used to stifle competition. A process to challenge bad patents when they improperly issue is important to keeping consumer costs down and encouraging new innovation. But according to a recent post...
SESTA Approved by Senate Commerce Committee—Still an Awful Bill
The Senate Commerce Committee just approved a slightly modified version of SESTA, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S. 1693).
SESTA was and continues to be a deeply flawed bill. It would weaken 47 U.S.C. § 230, (commonly known as “CDA 230” or simply “Section...
Sen. Feinstein Supports "Backdoor" Warrants, So Why Don’t Reps. Nunes and Schiff?
As the deadline for renewing and reforming key portions of the NSA’s spying apparatus looms less than two months away, two of the most important members of the House Intelligence Committee have stayed remarkably quiet in the conversation.
Congress just introduced multiple bills to extend Section 702 of...
Internet Association Endorses Internet Censorship Bill
A trade group representing giants of Internet business from Facebook to Microsoft has just endorsed a “compromise” version of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), a bill that would be disastrous for free speech and online communities.
Just a few hours after Senator Thune’s amended version of SESTA...
The Term “Homegrown Violent Extremist” Needs Transparency
The Department of Defense has broadened surveillance to encompass a new type of potential, U.S.-based threat but it has not publicly described the criteria it uses to evaluate the threat. According to documents revealed by Human Rights Watch through a Freedom of Information Request, the Department of Defense can...
US Federal Court Rejects Global Search Order
After years of litigation in two countries, a federal court in the US has weighed in on a thorny question: Does Google US have to obey a Canadian court order requiring Google to take down information around the world, ignoring contrary rules in other jurisdictions? According to the Northern District...
EFF to ICANN: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen
EFF is at ICANN's 60th meeting in Abu Dhabi this week. Along with other members of ICANN's Non-Commercial Users Constituency, we are here to stand up for the rights of ordinary Internet users in the development and implementation of ICANN policies over Internet domain names. In two previous...
EFF to ICANN's Registries: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen
This week EFF is in Abu Dhabi to deliver a message to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and to its contracted domain name registries and registrars—don't pick up the censor's pen. In our previous post in this series, we explained how domain name registrars...
