When “Jawboning” Creates Private Liability
A (Very) Narrow Path to Holding Social Media Companies Legally Liable for Collaborating with Government in Content ModerationFor the last several years we have seen numerous arguments that social media platforms are "state actors" that “must carry” all user speech. According to this argument, they are legally required to publish...
Copyright "Small Claims" Quasi-Court Opens. Here's Why Many Defendants Will Opt Out.
A new quasi-court for copyright, with nationwide reach, began accepting cases this week. The “Copyright Claims Board” or “CCB,” housed within the Copyright Office in Washington DC, will rule on private copyright infringement lawsuits from around the country and award damages of up to $30,000 per case. Though it’s...
EFF’s Flagship Jewel v. NSA Dragnet Spying Case Rejected by the Supreme Court
We all deserve the right to have a private conversation online. That's why EFF has taken on government surveillance for the past 30-plus years. One of our longest-running efforts has been to stop the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance that sweeps up tens—if not hundreds—of millions of innocent people in...
Massachusetts' Highest Court Upholds Cell Tower Dump Warrant
This blog post was drafted with help from former EFF Legal Intern Emma Hagemann.Massachusetts’ highest court has upheld the collection of mass cell tower data, despite recognizing that this data not only provides investigators with “highly personal and private” information but also has the potential to reveal “the locations, identities,...
EFF to Court: California Law Does Not Bar Content Moderation on Social Media
Moderated platforms often struggle to draw workable lines between content that is permitted, and content that's not. Every online forum for user speech struggles with this problem, not just the dominant social media platforms. Laws protecting companies’ ability to moderate their platforms free from legal mandates benefit the public, and...
EFF and Partners to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: Retaliatory Investigation of Twitter Chills First Amendment Rights
Censorship doesn’t always look like a black line across a document, or a clear order to remove a piece of content. Websites feel pressured without the government having to issue a clear directive that they host certain speakers or carry certain content. The First Amendment recognizes that speech can often...
Federal Court in Virginia Holds Geofence Warrant Violates Constitution
In the first order of its kind, a federal district court has held that a warrant used to identify all devices in the area of a bank robbery, including the defendant’s, “plainly violates the rights enshrined in [the Fourth] Amendment.” The court questioned whether similar warrants could ever be...
EFF to Appeals Court: Apple’s Monopoly Doesn’t Make Users Safer
When users fork over money for an iPhone (average price: over $800), many expect to be able to play their favorite mobile game on it. They expect the apps they buy to work. Many users also expect to install apps that enhance their security and privacy beyond what Apple provides.Users...
A Universal Gigabit Future Depends on Open Access Fiber
EFF to Tenth Circuit: First Amendment Protects Public School Students’ Off-Campus Social Media Speech
EFF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in support of public school students’ right to speak while off school grounds or after school hours, including on social media. We argued that Supreme Court precedent makes clear that the First Amendment rarely...
