Court Orders Megaupload Parties to Come Up with a Plan
On Friday, EFF went to court to argue that innocent Megaupload customers like Kyle Goodwin should be able to get their lost files back. We were particularly concerned because the government, which had originally seized the files and still apparently holds all of Megaupload's financial assets, had argued...
Cybersecurity Bill FAQ: The Disturbing Privacy Dangers in CISPA and How To Stop It
Pinterest's Pernicious Terms of Service
Pinterest's Terms of Service has been gaining widespread attention lately in the tech press. It began in late February with a blogpost from a lawyer "tearfully deleting" a Pinterest page because she feared potential legal liability for posting professional photographs, and gained a steady stream of press through March.
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Viacom v. Google: A Decision at Last, and It's Mostly Good (for the Internet and Innovation)
The Internet can breathe a sigh of relief today. In the latest twist in the long-running Viacom v. YouTube litigation, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived the entertainment giant’s suit against Google – but simultaneously eviscerated most of the legal theories on which the lawsuit was based....
Megaupload Goes to Court: A Primer
Does the government have a responsibility to protect innocent third parties from collateral damage when it seizes their property in the course of prosecuting alleged copyright infringement? That is the question a federal district court will consider next week in the latest skirmish in the legal battle between the U.S....
Local Cops Following Big Brother's Lead, Getting Cell Phone Location Data Without a Warrant
New data from law enforcement agencies across the country has confirmed what EFF has long been afraid of: while police are routinely using cell phone location tracking information, only a handful of agencies are bothering to obtain search warrants.
Since 2005, we've been beating the drum loudly, warning...
The Supreme Court Gets it Right: No Patents on Laws of Nature
UPDATE: As expected, the Supreme Court send Myriad, the breast cancer gene case, back to the Federal Circuit for rehearing in light of its ruling in Mayo. Hopefully the Federal Circuit will accept the high court's invitation to hold that DNA is not patentable.
We're happy to...
Supreme Court Decision on GPS Surveillance Sparking Good Court Rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that warrantless installation of GPS devices violates the Fourth Amendment – United States v. Jones (PDF) – is already percolating through the court system, which is good news for our privacy rights. Today, in a two sentence order (PDF), the Ohio Supreme...
Court Declares Newspaper Excerpt on Online Forum is a Non-Infringing Fair Use
Late Friday, the federal district court in Nevada issued a declaratory judgment that makes it harder for copyright holders to file lawsuits over excerpts of material and burden online forums and their users with nuisance lawsuits.
The judgment – part of the nuisance lawsuit avalanche started by...
A Tale of Two Encryption Cases
In the last two months, two different federal courts have ruled on whether the Fifth Amendment's right against self-incrimination applies to the act of decrypting the contents of a computer. We wrote amicus briefs (PDF) in each case arguing the Fifth Amendment did prevent forced decryption when...








