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Podcast Episode: About Face (Recognition)

EFF's international team advocates for privacy, free speech, and an open Internet in international venues and across the world. We expose mass and unwarranted surveillance, and educate unlawfully targeted users on how to protect themselves and their colleagues. We use individual cases globally to highlight the effect of technology on human rights, and defend technologists from persecution and detention wherever they live.

Ensuring users' voices are heard in global policymaking

Internet users are impacted not only by rules and policies made in their own country, but those made around the world. EFF's international team fights to make sure that Internet users are heard in these processes. They include copyright treaties developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), trade agreements such as the now-defeated Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), domain name policies developed by ICANN, and increasingly, a shadowy web of cross-border industry agreements forged in corporate backrooms.

Where international bodies lack an adequate rights-based framework for their deliberations, EFF also works to fill the gap by developing global principles such as the Manila Principles for Intermediary Liability and the Necessary and Proportionate principles. We use these to promote users' rights on the global stage in bodies such as the United Nations General Assembly, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Fighting unchecked surveillance laws and norms

We fight laws and treaties that seek to legitimize mass surveillance and weaken civil liberties and transparency. We work to spotlight privacy violations throughout the world and defend against influential governments seeking to increase law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ power. EFF fends off proposals for mandatory data retention, wiretapping-friendly legislation, national identity schemes, biometrics initiatives, and invasive location tracking. EFF works with digital rights organizations around the globe to fight for privacy, and  pressure telecommunications companies to protect the privacy of their customers.

Exposing Institutional Censorship

EFF recognizes that much of today’s free expression takes place on corporate platforms, which apply their own rules and are subject to the legal requirements of different jurisdictions. While in recent years most major companies have produced transparency reports that show content takedowns made at the behest of government actors, there is little to no transparency regarding takedowns made on the basis of terms of service. Furthermore, companies often prohibit certain legal content, such as nudity.

We encourage social media companies to operate with greater transparency and accountability. To that end, we partner with Visualizing Impact on Onlinecensorship.org, which collects reports from users in an effort to shine a light on content takedowns. We also regularly advocate for companies to make policy changes, particularly when their policies result in discriminatory practices.

Protecting vulnerable populations from digital attacks

EFF works to protect vulnerable populations from digital attacks. We seek to compensate for the asymmetry between powerful attackers and  targets who do not necessarily have a strong, technical understanding of digital security or a team of experts at their disposal. We research the threats that these populations face, such as state-sponsored malware.  We raise awareness of digital privacy and security issues through our Surveillance Self-Defense project and conduct security trainings based on these materials. We also defend the rights of security researchers through our work on export controls and EFF's Coders Rights Project. so that these researchers can continue to contribute to the safety and security of vulnerable populations.

Defending Technologists and Censored Voices Across The World

Throughout its history, EFF has defended those who have been unfairly targeted with prosecution and detention simply because they used technology to exercise their civil liberties. With our Offline project, EFF seeks to highlight the international cases of individuals who have used technology to speak out against abuse, or have built and shared technology that protects or extends human rights, and have been imprisoned as a result. We work with the communities that support these prisoners of conscience, draw attention to their predicament, and work for their release.

International Highlights

Shadow Regulation

Shadow Regulations are voluntary agreements between companies (sometimes described as codes, principles, standards, or guidelines) to regulate your use of the Internet, often without your knowledge.
Shadow Regulation has become increasingly popular after the monumental failure of restrictive Internet laws such as ACTA, SOPA and PIPA. This...

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Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the Data On Your Devices and In the Cloud

Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border:Protecting the Data On Your Devices and In the Cloudby Sophia Cope, Amul Kalia, Seth Schoen, and Adam SchwartzDownload the report as a PDF.EXECUTIVE SUMMARYأفادت الحكومة الأمريكية أن عدد حالات تفحص المحتويات الالكترونية على الحدود قد إزداد بمقدار خمسة أضعاف خلال سنة واحدة فقط،...

International Updates

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EFF, International Allies Warn That Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, Rather Than Making Us More Secure, Could Legitimize Intrusive Surveillance and Drag Down Global Privacy and Free Expression Standards

EFF and international allies Access Now, Article 19, Epicenter, and Global Partners Digital are in Vienna this week and next for the fifth round of negotiations on the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, along with the over 100 representatives of Member States hashing out a new draft text.While we have not...

Latam Media Briefing: Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty Lacks Sufficient Human Rights Safeguards, Exacerbating Threats to Privacy and Civil Liberties in Latam

VIENNA—On Tuesday, April 18, at 10:00 am Pacific Time (1:00 pm Eastern Time), experts from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and three Latin American digital rights allies will brief reporters about the unique threats to privacy posed by the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty, which could authorize the use of s...

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《联合国网络犯罪公约》时间表

2017 年 10 月俄罗斯联邦向联合国大会呈递了一封信,内含《联合国打击网络犯罪合作公约》(草案),拟向成员国分发。 2019 年 11 月由俄罗斯、白俄罗斯、柬埔寨、中国、伊朗、缅甸、尼加拉瓜、叙利亚和委内瑞拉共同发起的一项旨在建立打击网络犯罪的国际公约的决议在联合国大会上获得通过。该决议遭到了美国、欧盟和其他国家的反对。包括进步通讯协会和电子前沿基金会 (EFF) 在内的人权组织敦促联合国大会投票反对这项决议,理由是,担心它“可能会削弱互联网在行使人权和促进社会与经济发展中的作用”。 2019 年 12 月联合国大会通过了一项决议,成立了特设委员会 (AHC),负责起草有关“打击将信息和通信技术用于犯罪目的”的联合国公约。 AHC 的招募向全球所有成员国以及不同层级的非成员观察员国(如欧盟和欧洲理事会)、民间团体和非政府组织 (NGO) 开放。联合国毒品和犯罪问题办公室 (UNODC) 通过条约事务司有组织犯罪和非法贩运处担任特设委员会的秘书处。然而,这项举措的时机存在争议,因为联合国大会的另一项大会决议提出了对网络犯罪法“在某些情况下遭到滥用,以针对人权维护者,或以违反国际法的方式阻碍他们的工作并危及他们的安全”的担忧。 2020 年 8 月由于新冠疫情,AHC 将原定在纽约举行的首轮组织会议推迟到 2021 年。 2021 年 1 月人权观察组织警告称,联合国成员国正在启动一项网络犯罪公约的进程,该公约的“支持者是世界上一些最为专制的政府……该举措引起了严重的人权问题。” 2021 年 5 月AHC 召开首轮组织会议,来自 160 多个国家代表就谈判大纲和方式达成一致。AHC 呼吁,从...

Media Briefing: Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty Negotiations Headed in Troubling Direction, Sidestepping Human Rights Protections and Threatening Free Expression, EFF and Allies Warn

San Francisco—On Thursday, April 13, at 10:00 am Pacific Time (1:00 pm Eastern Time, 7 pm CEST), experts with Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and four international allies will brief reporters on the grave threat to human rights posed by ongoing UN Cybercrime Treaty negotiations that could lead to broad surveillance...

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After Students Challenged Proctoring Software, French Court Slaps TestWe App With a Suspension

In a preliminary victory in the continuing fight against privacy-invasive software that “watches” students taking tests remotely, a French administrative court outside Paris suspended a university’s use of the e-proctoring platform TestWe, which monitors students through facial recognition and algorithmic analysis.TestWe software, much like Proctorio, Examsoft, and other...

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