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Deeplinks Blog by Mitch Stoltz | April 20, 2015

New “Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act” Targets Many of DMCA Section 1201's Problems

On Thursday, Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Jared Polis introduced a new bill to fix many of the problems that Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act causes for free speech, privacy, security research, and innovation. Called the “Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act,” the bill would...

Deeplinks Blog by Andrew Crocker | April 18, 2015

United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security from Boarding Flight to Security Conferences

Our client, Chris Roberts, a founder of the security intelligence firm One World Labs, found himself detained by the FBI earlier this week after tweeting about airplane network security during a United Airlines flight. When Roberts landed in Syracuse, he was questioned by the FBI, which ultimately seized a...

Deeplinks Blog by Amul Kalia | April 17, 2015

Is This Justice? Charging an Eighth Grader with a Felony for “Hacking”

A 14-year-old eighth grader in Florida, Domanik Green, has been charged with a felony for “hacking” his teacher’s computer. The “hacking” in this instance was using a widely known password to change the desktop background of his teacher’s computer with an image of two men kissing. The outrage of...

Deeplinks Blog by Karen Gullo | April 17, 2015

EFF's Podcasting Patent Win Highlights a Disturbing Trend

It's time to take a closer look at EFF's recent victory against bogus patents and highlight what we and others concerned about our patent system are up against. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), acting on our request for review, last week invalidated claims from a...

Deeplinks Blog by Jeremy Malcolm, Maira Sutton | April 16, 2015

Fast Track Bill Would Legitimize White House Secrecy and Clear the Way for Anti-User Trade Deals

Following months of protest, Congress has finally put forth bicameral Fast Track legislation today to rush trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) through Congress. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden, and Rep. Paul Ryan, respectively, introduced the bill titled the...

Deeplinks Blog by Parker Higgins | April 16, 2015

On the Clipper Chip's Birthday, Looking Back on Decades of Key Escrow Failures

On this day in 1993, the Clinton White House introduced the Clipper Chip, a plan for building in hardware backdoors to communications technologies. The chip would be used in American secure voice equipment, giving law enforcement agencies the explicit ability to decrypt its traffic using a key stored by...

Deeplinks Blog by Alison Dame-Boyle | April 16, 2015

EFF at 25: Remembering the Case that Established Code as Speech

One of EFF's first major legal victories was Bernstein v. Department of Justice, a landmark case that resulted in establishing code as speech and changed United States export regulations on encryption software, paving the way for international e-commerce. We represented Daniel J. Bernstein, a Berkeley mathematics Ph.D. student, who wished...

Deeplinks Blog by Dia Kayyali | April 16, 2015

Want to Record The Cops? Know Your Rights

There are some very disturbing videos circulating the Internet right now, depicting the deaths of unarmed civilians at the hands of trained, armed men. Many of these videos even show individuals being shot in the back, or as they try to flee.
These are videos of police officers in...

Deeplinks Blog by Sophia Cope | April 16, 2015

Police Must Respect the Right of Citizens to Record Them

“I’m asking all the citizens of North Charleston to continue taping.”
That is what Councilwoman Dorothy Williams said in response to the shooting death of Walter Scott. She and others recognize that the story would have been very different without the video showing that a white police officer...

Deeplinks Blog by Dave Maass | April 16, 2015

What If MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Had Been a Facebook Post?

“Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do...

Deeplinks Blog by Adi Kamdar | April 16, 2015

Fighting for Patent Reform in Washington, D.C.

EFF primarily fights awful software patents with legal challenges, explaining to judges how trivial non-innovations aren’t worthy of a government-granted monopoly, which bad actors then wield to bully small businesses and users into forking over huge sums of money. With every busted and narrowed software patent—like the recently tackled ...

Deeplinks Blog by David Bogado, Katitza Rodriguez | April 15, 2015

Does Internet.org Leave Latin Americans Without A Real Internet?

During the VII Summit of the Americas held in Panama from 10 to 11 April, presidents from several Latin American countries, including the Panamanian host Juan Carlos Varela, Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, and Ollanta Humala of Peru posed for a photo with a special...

Deeplinks Blog by Peter Eckersley | April 15, 2015

Three Paths to Better Open Wireless Routers

For the past few years, EFF and a coalition of other organizations has been campaigning for more and better Open Wireless networks. Unlocked, password-free wireless networks are in many respects the most convenient, efficient, and privacy-protective way to access the Internet, and running one is a considerate and neighbourly...

Deeplinks Blog by Eva Galperin, Kit Walsh | April 14, 2015

New Surveillance Self-Defense Playlist for LGBTQ Youth

The Internet provides a wide-range of resources for LGBTQ youth to find community, health information, and other resources to explore and understand their identities. Unfortunately, many of these resources get censored, either intentionally or as collateral damage from the use of other filters. It can be difficult to access online...

Deeplinks Blog by Dave Maass | April 13, 2015

All Eyes on Virginia as Lawmakers Face Major Surveillance Decisions

Virginia may be home to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the FBI National Academy, but it could also soon be home to some of the toughest regulations on local law enforcement use of surveillance technologies.
All lawmakers need to do is stand up to...

Our Work

Our Work

New “Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act” Targets Many of DMCA Section 1201's Problems

United Airlines Stops Researcher Who Tweeted about Airplane Network Security from Boarding Flight to Security Conferences

Is This Justice? Charging an Eighth Grader with a Felony for “Hacking”

EFF's Podcasting Patent Win Highlights a Disturbing Trend

Fast Track Bill Would Legitimize White House Secrecy and Clear the Way for Anti-User Trade Deals

On the Clipper Chip's Birthday, Looking Back on Decades of Key Escrow Failures

EFF at 25: Remembering the Case that Established Code as Speech

Want to Record The Cops? Know Your Rights

Police Must Respect the Right of Citizens to Record Them

What If MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Had Been a Facebook Post?

Fighting for Patent Reform in Washington, D.C.

Does Internet.org Leave Latin Americans Without A Real Internet?

Three Paths to Better Open Wireless Routers

New Surveillance Self-Defense Playlist for LGBTQ Youth

All Eyes on Virginia as Lawmakers Face Major Surveillance Decisions

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