Congress took action in 2015 to address privacy and transparency, but state legislatures emerged as the nation’s leaders for policy innovation. From Virginia to California, states adopted new policies to reclaim digital privacy, advance government transparency, and protect free expression. These new laws both protect residents of these states,...

Corporations that make digital devices and software used by millions around the world for work, play and school had a spotty record of protecting that data in 2015. Because companies are responsible for safeguarding intensely private customer information, it’s important that companies do better. There were bright spots—in June...

EFF, ACLU, and ACLU of Maryland filed an amicus brief today in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in the first case in the country (that we know of) where a judge has thrown out evidence obtained as a result of using a cell-site simulator without...

For the first time ever, this month’s Stupid Patent of the Month is being awarded to a design patent. Microsoft recently sued Corel for, among other things, infringing its patent on a slider, D554,140, claiming that Corel Home Office has infringed Microsoft’s design.
The design patent, as detailed...

Access to data stored in the United States presents an especially important question for other countries because of the prominence of U.S. Internet companies. Currently, law enforcement officials in other countries must pursue access to data in the U.S. through the Department of Justice (DOJ)-run Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (...

Sometimes news events make your point better than you ever could. That was the case this year as we completed the triennial rulemaking cycle of requesting exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA)'s restrictions on circumventing DRM.
The process of requesting an exemption is unnecessarily...

One of the most frustrating things about law is how slowly it changes, leaving courts to apply old laws to facts that Congress never anticipated. That’s certainly the case with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)—the federal “anti-hacking” statute, which was passed back in 1986 and is...