Manifest V3: Open Web Politics in Sheep's Clothing
When Google introduced Manifest V3 in 2019, web extension developers were alarmed at the amount of functionality that would be taken away for features they provide users. Especially features like blocking trackers and providing secure connections. This new iteration of Google Chrome’s web extensions interface still has flaws that might...
Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest
The ACLU of Northern California has concluded a year-long Freedom of Information campaign by uncovering massive spying on Black Lives Matter protests from the air. The California Highway Patrol directed aerial surveillance, mostly done by helicopters, over protests in Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto, Placerville, Riverside, Sacramento, San Francisco, and...
PDX Privacy: Building Community Defenses in Difficult Times
The Electronic Frontier Alliance is made up of more than seventy groups of concerned community members, often including workers in the tech industry who see issues of the industry from the inside. One of the Alliance’s most active members is PDX Privacy, a Portland-based privacy group whose membership advocates for...
The Internet Archive Transforms Access to Books in a Digital World
In honor of Open Access Week, and particularly this year’s theme of structural equity, we wanted to highlight a project from the Internet Archive that is doing extraordinary work promoting access to knowledge. The bad news: that project is also under legal threat. The good news: the Archive,...
Europe's Digital Services Act: On a Collision Course With Human Rights
Last year, the EU introduced the Digital Services Act (DSA), an ambitious and thoughtful project to rein in the power of Big Tech and give European internet users more control over their digital lives. It was an exciting moment, as the world’s largest trading bloc seemed poised to end a...
Why Is It So Hard to Figure Out What to Do When You Lose Your Account?
We get a lot of requests for help here at EFF, with our tireless intake coordinator being the first point of contact for many. All too often, however, the help needed isn’t legal or technical. Instead, users just need an answer to a simple question: what does this company...
From Bangkok to Burlington — The Public Interest Social Internet
After Years of Delays and Alarmingly Flimsy Evidence, Security Expert Ola Bini’s Trial Set for This Week
Update: In October 19th, 2021, Ola Bini's trial has been suspended by request of the Corporación Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CNT) whose representative was unable to attend the hearing. Later that year, a new date was set. The trial is set to take place from January 19th to 21th, 2022.For over...
Flight of the Concord Drones
This blog post was written by Kenny Gutierrez, EFF Bridge Fellow.The City Council of Concord, California, is tone deaf to community concerns regarding a proposed police Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (UAS) system – commonly referred to as drones. In a city where the police department is responsible for nearly ...
What the Facebook Whistleblower Tells Us About Big Tech
Through her leaks and Congressional testimony, Frances Haugen, the “Facebook Whistleblower,” revealed a lot about Facebook's operation. Many of these revelations are things we've long suspected but now have proof of: Facebook focuses on growth—of users and time spent on its platforms—to the exclusion of everything else. For Facebook,...
