The Federal Circuit Helps a Patent Troll Block Public Access to Court Records
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/federal-circuit-helps-patent-troll-block-public-access-court-records
February 14, 2022, 6:17 PM
For more than three years, EFF has been fighting for public access to court records in a patent case between Uniloc, one of the world’s most prolific patent trolls, and Apple, one of the world’s biggest tech companies. The district court has ruled three different times that the public has a strong presumption of access to these records and has ordered Uniloc, the party asking for secrecy, to make them public.
Last week, however, the Federal Circuit further delayed public access to the court ...
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EFF, ACLU, and 30+ Community Groups Oppose Weakening San Francisco’s Surveillance Ordinance
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-aclu-and-30-community-groups-oppose-weakening-san-franciscos-surveillance
February 11, 2022, 10:50 PM
EFF, ACLU, and 34 other community and  civil rights groups have signed onto a letter urging San Francisco’s Mayor and the Board of Supervisors not to gut the city’s landmark 2019 surveillance technology ordinance.
Mayor London Breed recently introduced a proposed ballot initiative that would create massive exceptions to the law’s requirement that police get permission from democratically elected Supervisors before using or acquiring any new surveillance technology.
The letter is signed ...
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We Need Answers About the CIA’s Mass Surveillance
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/we-need-answers-about-cias-mass-surveillance
February 11, 2022, 7:14 PM
The Central Intelligence Agency has been collecting American’s private data without any oversight or even the minimal legal safeguards that apply to the NSA and FBI, an unconstitutional affront to our civil liberties.
According to a declassified report released yesterday by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), the CIA’s surveillance program is reminiscent of the mass surveillance programs conducted by the NSA, though the details released thus far paint a disturbing pictu...
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Key Senators Have Voted For The Anti-Encryption EARN IT Act
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/key-senators-have-voted-anti-encryption-earn-it-act
February 10, 2022, 9:49 PM
Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the dangerous EARN IT bill. We’re disappointed to see the committee advance this misguided bill. If enacted, EARN IT will put massive legal pressure on internet companies both large and small to stop using encryption and instead scan all user messages, photos, and files. 
The bill could now be voted on by the full Senate at any time, or worse, included as part of a different “must-pass” legislative package. We need you to cont...
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EFF Sends Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to Oppose EARN IT
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-sends-letter-senate-judiciary-committee-oppose-earn-it
February 10, 2022, 4:27 AM
On Wednesday, February 9, EFF sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to strongly oppose S. 3538, the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2022 (EARN IT Act).
EFF opposed the original and amended versions of this bill in the previous Congress, and our letter outlines our concerns with the reintroduced version of the bill that the sponsors have not addressed.
Given its significant problems and potential vast impact on internet users, we urged the Com...
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Robots Have No Place Filtering Creative Content, EFF Tells U.S. Copyright Office
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/robots-have-no-place-filtering-creative-content-eff-tells-us-copyright-office
February 9, 2022, 11:28 PM
Software robots should not be deciding whether your creative content, whether written words, videos, photos, or music, ought to be pulled off the internet.That’s what we told the U.S. Copyright office in comments we filed February 8 arguing against requiring service providers to embrace “standard technical measures” to address copyright infringement. While some technologies can be useful to flag potential infringement, technical measures such as automated filters are dangerous because they...
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Activists, Writers, and Security Experts All Oppose the EARN IT Act
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/activists-writers-and-security-experts-all-oppose-earn-it-act
February 9, 2022, 7:26 PM
Along with 60 other human rights, civil rights and open Internet organizations, EFF sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, February 9 outlining our concerns with the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2022 (EARN IT, S.3538).
As we wrote when the bill was introduced, this bill threatens encryption and free speech, while making it harder to protect children from online abuse. That’s why such a broad coalition of civil society groups...
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Victory! ID.me to Drop Facial Recognition Requirement for Government Services
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/victory-irs-wont-require-facial-recognition-idme
February 9, 2022, 6:02 PM
First, the Internal Revenue Service reversed course from its recent announcement that it was partnering with ID.me, a third-party identity verification service, to use facial recognition for verification of users managing many aspects of their taxes online. Now, ID.me—which provides identity verification services for dozens of government agencies—says it will drop its facial recognition requirement entirely for these agencies, in a victory for privacy and security. 
This is an important win...
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What the Duck? Why an EU Proposal to Require "QWACs" Will Hurt Internet Security
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/what-duck-why-eu-proposal-require-qwacs-will-hurt-internet-security
February 9, 2022, 12:00 PM
It's become easier over the years for websites to improve their security, thanks to tools that allow more people to automate and easily set-up secure measures for web applications and the services they provide. A proposed amendment to Article 45 in the EU’s Digital Identity Framework (eIDAS) would roll back these gains by requiring outdated ideas for security and authentication of websites. The amendment states that “web-browsers shall ensure that the identity data provided using any of the ...
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EFF Joins Activists And Human Rights Groups To Reject Attacks on Encryption
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-joins-activists-and-human-rights-groups-reject-attacks-encryption
February 9, 2022, 5:17 AM
Encryption is under attack. In liberal democracies, elected leaders are giving lip service to our right to privacy—while seeking to create a system where they can scan any data we send over the internet. 
Earlier this month, the U.K. Home Office spent public money on a high-priced ad campaign that bad-mouthed encryption, portraying it as a tool used by criminals. In the U.S., a Senate committee is about to vote on the dangerous “EARN IT” Act, which could lead to widespread scanning of pri...
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Send Surveillance Robot Dogs to the Pound, Not the Border
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/send-surveillance-robot-dogs-pound-not-border
February 8, 2022, 9:34 PM
On February 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, the official research and development arm of the agency, released a cutesy press release about how robotic dogs made in collaboration with Ghost Robotics are “one step closer” to deployment on the U.S.-Mexico border. Covered with sensors and cameras that can relay information and footage in real time to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), these machines are less cute-video or selfie fodder ...
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If EARN IT Passes, What Happens On Your iPhone Won't Stay On Your iPhone
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/if-earn-it-passes-what-happens-your-iphone-wont-stay-your-iphone
February 8, 2022, 8:21 PM
Last year, Apple announced a controversial plan to install photo scanning software in every device. Apple has long been seen as a pro-privacy company—billboards emblazoned with the slogan “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone” were common sights in 2019. A global coalition pushed back, and the company paused the plan. 
Now, Congress wants to force Apple’s hand—along with essentially every company that allows users to store or share messages or content—and essentially ma...
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Ohio: Don’t Give Big Tech a Pass On Privacy
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/ohio-dont-give-big-tech-pass-privacy
February 8, 2022, 7:44 PM
Ohio lawmakers are giving big tech companies a gift in the form of the Ohio Personal Privacy Act. This law purports to strike a balance between consumer protection and company demands. Instead, it stacks the deck even further against individuals who want to protect their privacy.
The OPPA would enshrine privacy violating practices from Big Tech and other companies, and place the responsibility for managing privacy entirely on individuals—without actually improving protections for the people of...
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EFF to Appeals: Apple’s Monopoly Doesn’t Make Users Safer
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-appeals-apples-monopoly-doesnt-make-users-safer
February 4, 2022, 11:19 PM
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 may not know or understand that Apple’s rules for the App Store can get in the way, by driving up app costs and limiting availability. Apple uses layers of digital locks to channel all app purchases and downloads...
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Senate Commerce Committee is Letting Big Telecom Hamstring the FCC
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/senate-commerce-committee-letting-industry-hamstring-fcc
February 4, 2022, 9:37 PM
Six months have passed since the Biden Administration signed an Executive Order to restore Net Neutrality at the FCC. And three months have passed since the President nominated net neutrality champion Gigi Sohn, a member of the EFF board, to the FCC. (Sohn will leave the EFF board if she is confirmed.) Yet Sohn’s nomination is still stuck at the Senate Commerce Committee over apparent reluctance from the committee leadership, including its chair Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and ranki...
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SHOP SAFE Will Stomp Out Online Sales of Used and Homemade Goods
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/shop-safe-will-stomp-out-online-sales-used-and-homemade-goods
February 3, 2022, 9:21 PM
The House of Representatives has inserted SHOP SAFE—a piece of legislation that would make it extremely difficult for any individual to sell things online and equally difficult for any online platform to compete with Amazon—into a 3,000-page trade bill. It cannot remain there.
The “Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-Commerce” (SHOP SAFE) is a bill that claims to be about protecting consumers but is more likely to enrich big brands at consumers’ expense...
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San Francisco Should Strengthen, Not Gut, Surveillance Ordinance
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/san-francisco-should-strengthen-not-gut-surveillance-technology-ordinance
February 3, 2022, 9:14 PM
San Francisco is considering whether to strengthen or roll back civil rights protections against government surveillance. Nearly three years ago, EFF joined a coalition of community groups to support the city’s passage of the Surveillance Technology Ordinance, which bans government use of facial recognition technology and empowers the Board of Supervisors, with public input, to decide whether or not city agencies may acquire and use other surveillance tech.
A year later, the San Francisco Pol...
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It’s Back: Senators Want EARN IT Bill to Scan All Online Messages
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/its-back-senators-want-earn-it-bill-scan-all-online-messages
February 3, 2022, 6:54 PM
People don’t want outsiders reading their private messages —not their physical mail, not their texts, not their DMs, nothing. It’s a clear and obvious point, but one place it doesn’t seem to have reached is the U.S. Senate.
A group of lawmakers led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have re-introduced the EARN IT Act, an incredibly unpopular bill from 2020 that was dropped in the face of overwhelming opposition. Let’s be clear: the new EARN IT Act would pa...
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Tell the Copyright Office Who Is Really Affected by Filters
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/tell-copyright-office-who-really-affected-filters
February 3, 2022, 1:49 AM
Right now, the U.S. Copyright Office is collecting information on the use of "standard technical measures" to address copyright infringement, as part of a longer effort that, we fear, will lead to filtering mandates.
The Copyright Office is also holding a plenary session on February 22, to hear from the public. It will then engage in a  series of  “industry-sector specific consultations.” Given how often “industry” is seen as equivalent to Big Tech and Big Content, it is vital that the...
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Podcast Episode: Saving Podcasts from a Patent Troll
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/podcast-episode-saving-podcasts-patent-troll
February 1, 2022, 9:21 AM
Podcast Episode 110
Imagine getting a letter in the mail—and then another, and then another—telling you that if you don’t pay $25,000 to a company you’ve never heard of, you’ll have to shut down the small business that you’ve worked for years to build.
That’s exactly the situation faced by a group of podcasters several years ago, including comedian Marc Maron, who hosts the WTF podcast. They were being threatened by a patent troll called Personal Audio, which claimed that podcaster...
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California Prevails on Net Neutrality Rules
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/california-prevails-net-neutrality-and-states-can-go-forth
January 28, 2022, 10:58 PM
This post has been updated slightly to take note of future legal proceedings.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an attempt to bar enforcement of California's gold standard state net neutrality law. Major ISPs had insisted that only the Federal Communications Commission could define and enforce net neutrality protections, so when the FCC decided to eviscerate those protections in 2018, the rest of the nation simply had to live with the consequences. The Ninth Circuit held otherwise,...
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New Tracking Global Online Censorship Site Explains Content Moderation Practices and Impacts
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/new-tracking-global-online-censorship-site-explains-content-moderation-practices
January 28, 2022, 12:14 AM
Content moderation has become a critical topic across the globe. Unfortunately, it can still be difficult for the average person to understand the processes that go into content moderation, much less how to appeal decisions that those platforms make to censor content or accounts. To help fill this gap, we’re launching a resource for the research and advocacy communities—as well as the public at large—to learn more about the policies and practices of commercial content moderation and the ph...
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EFF Launches Tracking Global Online Censorship Project to Shine Light on How Content Moderation Affects Freedom of Expression Around the World
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-launches-tracking-global-online-censorship-project-shine-light-how-content
January 27, 2022, 6:00 PM
Multilingual Website Will Help Users, Researchers Understand and Respond to Corporate CensorshipSan Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today launched Tracking Global Online Censorship, a website project that provides comprehensive, in-depth information about how and why social media platforms remove users’ posts, how users can appeal these take down decisions, and how the practice affects freedom of expression across the globe.Tracking Global Online Censorship is a multi-lang...
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Podcast Episode: Data Doppelgängers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/podcast-episode-data-doppelgangers
January 25, 2022, 9:00 AM
Podcast Episode 109
As humans, we’re constantly changing and evolving, always trying to become our best selves. But the internet will never forget about us at our lowest. One simple search or purchase online can cause the internet, specifically advertisements, to haunt you with products forever, no matter how much you change.
On this episode of How to Fix the Internet, Ethan Zuckerman, a long-time friend and tech pioneer, joins EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien to discuss ways to fix surv...
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The U.K. Paid $724,000 For A Creepy Campaign To Convince People That Encryption is Bad. It Won’t Work.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/uk-paid-724000-creepy-campaign-convince-people-encryption-bad-it-wont-work
January 22, 2022, 12:08 AM
This week, the U.K. government launched an unprecedented and deceptive effort to kill off end-to-end encryption. They’ve hired a fancy ad agency to convince people that encrypted messages are dangerous to children.
The explicit goal of the “No Place to Hide” campaign, launched on Tuesday, is to prevent Facebook from expanding its use of end-to-end encryption. Currently, Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging system uses end-to-end encryption, but other communications systems, including Facebook M...
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Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 34.1
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/digital-rights-updates-effector-341
January 21, 2022, 6:28 PM
Start the new year right by keeping up with the latest news on your digital rights! Version 34, issue 1 of our EFFector newsletter is out now. Catch up on the latest EFF news, from our celebration of Copyright Week to Google releasing a "disable 2g" feature for new Android smartphones, by reading our newsletter or listening to the new audio version below. 
LISTEN ON YoutubE
EFFECTOR 34.01 - Ten years after the "Internet Blackout"
Make sure you never miss an issue by signing up by email to re...
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EFF Sues the U.S. State Department over Documents Related to Activist Leila Khaled
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/eff-sues-us-state-department-over-documents-related-activist-leila-khaled
January 20, 2022, 5:51 PM
Over the last few years, technology platforms have repeatedly censored online expression by Palestinians and their allies. In one example of this, technology companies have refused to host speech by Palestinian activist Leila Khaled. Khaled is associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group on the State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations. Since 2020, Zoom, Facebook, YouTube, and Eventbrite have all censored academic events hosted by colleges an...
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DSA: EU Parliament Vote Ensures a Free Internet, But a Final Regulation Must Add Stronger Privacy Protections
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/dsa-eu-parliaments-position-ensures-free-internet-human-rights-safeguards-need-be
January 20, 2022, 2:09 PM
The European Parliament had an important decision to make this week about the Digital Services Act (DSA). After months of considering amendments, members oscillated between several policy options on how to regulate online platforms, including the dystopian idea of mandating dominant platforms act as internet police, monitoring content on behalf of governments and collecting user information to keep the internet "safe."
European Parliament Got Many Things Right...
In today's vote, the EU Parliame...
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In the Internet Age, Copyright Law Does Far More Than Antitrust to Shape Competition
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/internet-age-copyright-law-does-far-more-antitrust-shape-competition
January 19, 2022, 9:44 PM
We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, addressing what's at stake and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.
There has been a notable, and long overdue flurry, of antitrust actions targeting Big Tech, launched by users, entrepreneurs, and governments alike. And ...
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Fact-Checking, COVID-19 Misinformation, and the British Medical Journal
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/fact-checking-covid-19-misinformation-and-british-medical-journal
January 19, 2022, 5:58 PM
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, authoritative research and publications have been critical in gaining better knowledge of the virus and how to combat it. However, unlike previous pandemics, this one has been further exacerbated by a massive wave of misinformation and disinformation spreading across traditional and online social media.
The increasing volume of misinformation and urgent calls for better moderation have made processes like fact-checking—the practice that aims to assess the accu...
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Copyright Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of Your Right to Repair
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/copyright-shouldnt-stand-way-your-right-repair
January 18, 2022, 9:11 PM
We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, addressing what's at stake and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.
If you bought it, you own it and you can do what you want with it. That should be the end of the story—whether we’re talking about a car, a tractor, ...
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Podcast Episode: How Private is Your Bank Account?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/who-peering-your-bank-account
January 18, 2022, 9:41 AM
Podcast Episode 108
Your friends, your medical concerns, your political ideology— financial transactions tell the story of your life in intimate details. But U.S. law has failed to protect  this sensitive data from prying eyes.  Join EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien as they talk to Marta Belcher, one of the leading lawyers working on issues of financial censorship and financial privacy, as they help you understand why we need better protections for our financial lives—and the importa...
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Welcome to the Public Domain, Winnie-the-Pooh
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/welcome-public-domain-winnie-pooh
January 17, 2022, 5:26 PM
We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, addressing what's at stake and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.
In 2019, for the first time in 20 years, U.S. copyright law allowed formerly copyrighted works to join the public domain. Works in the public domain are ...
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It’s Copyright Week 2022: Ten Years Later, How Has SOPA/PIPA Shaped Online Copyright Enforcement?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/its-copyright-week-2022-ten-years-later-how-has-sopapipa-shaped-online-copyright
January 17, 2022, 5:20 PM
We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, addressing what's at stake and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.
Ten years ago, a diverse coalition of internet users, non-profit groups, and internet companies defeated the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTEC...
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EFF Asks Appeals Court to Rule DMCA Anti-Circumvention Provisions Violate First Amendment
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-asks-appeals-court-rule-dmca-anti-circumvention-provisions-violate-first
January 13, 2022, 8:55 PM
Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Computer Scientist and Security Researcher Seeks to Bar Enforcement of Section 1201 ProvisionsWashington D.C.—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked a federal appeals court to block enforcement of onerous copyright rules that violate the First Amendment and criminalize certain speech about technology, preventing researchers, tech innovators, filmmakers, educators, and others from creating and sharing their work.EFF, with co-counsel Wilson Sonsini Goodrich &am...
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EFF Threat Lab’s “apkeep” APK Downloader, Now More Capable and Available in More Places
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/eff-threat-labs-apkeep-apk-downloader-now-more-capable-and-available-more-places
January 13, 2022, 8:21 PM
In September, we introduced EFF Threat Lab’s very own APK Downloader, apkeep. It is a tool that allows us to make the job of tracking state-sponsored malware and combatting the stalkerware of abusive partners easier. Since that time, we’ve added some additional functionality that we’d like to share.
F-Droid
In addition to the ability to download Android packages from the Google Play Store and APKPure, we’ve added support for downloading from the free and open source app repository F-Droi...
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San Francisco Police Illegally Used Surveillance Cameras at the George Floyd Protests. The Courts Must Stop Them
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/san-francisco-police-illegally-used-surveillance-cameras-george-floyd-protests
January 13, 2022, 6:51 PM
Update: This post has been updated to reflect that the hearing date in this case has been moved to January 21.
By Hope Williams, Nathan Sheard, and Nestor Reyes
The authors are community activists who helped organize and participated in protests against police violence in San Francisco after the murder of George Floyd. A hearing in their lawsuit against the San Francisco Police Department over surveillance of Union Square protests is scheduled for Friday. This article was first published in the ...
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Nearly 130 Public Interest Organizations and Experts Urge the United Nations to Include Human Rights Safeguards in Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/nearly-130-public-interest-organizations-and-experts-urge-united-nations-include
January 13, 2022, 4:35 PM
(UPDATE: Due to the ongoing situation concerning the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Ad Hoc Committee won't hold its first session from 17 to 28 January 2022 in New York, as planned. Further information will be provided in due course).
EFF and Human Rights Watch, along with nearly 130 organizations and academics working in 56 countries, regions, or globally, urged members of the Ad Hoc Committee responsible for drafting a potential United Nations Cybercrime Treaty to ensure human rights pr...
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VICTORY: Google Releases “disable 2g” Feature for New Android Smartphones
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/victory-google-releases-disable-2g-feature-new-android-smartphones
January 12, 2022, 9:50 PM
Update: This feature is only available on certain phones running Android 12. So far we have only confirmed it is available on the Pixel 6.
Last year Google quietly pushed a new feature to its Android operating system allowing users to optionally disable 2G at the modem level in their phones. This is a fantastic feature that will provide some protection from cell site simulators, an invasive police surveillance technology employed throughout the country. We applaud Google for implementing this m...
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Livestreamed Hearing Moved to Jan. 21: EFF Will Ask Court to Issue Judgment Against SFPD for Illegally Spying on Protesters Marching in Support of Black Lives
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/livestreamed-hearing-friday-eff-will-ask-court-issue-judgment-against-sfpd-illegally
January 12, 2022, 6:29 PM
San Francisco Police Violated City Law in Using Private Camera NetworkUpdate: The hearing has been moved to January 21.
San Francisco—On Friday, Jan. 21, at 9:30 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU of Northern California will ask a California state court to find that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) violated city law when it used a network of non-city surveillance cameras to spy on Black-led protests in 2020 against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’...
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Court Orders Authorizing Law Enforcement To Track People’s Air Travels In Real Time Must Be Made Public
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/court-orders-authorizing-law-enforcement-track-peoples-air-travels-real-time-must
January 11, 2022, 10:54 PM
The public should get to see whether a court that authorized the FBI to track someone’s air travels in real time for six months also analyzed whether the surveillance implicated the Fourth Amendment, EFF argued in a brief filed this week.
In Forbes Media LLC v. United States, the news organization and its reporter are trying to make public a court order and related records concerning an FBI request to use the All Writs Act to compel a travel data broker to disclose people’s movements.
Forbe...
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Standing Up For Privacy In New York State
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/standing-privacy-new-york-state
January 11, 2022, 7:38 PM
New York’s legislature is open for business in the new year, and we’re jumping in to renew our support for two crucial bills that protect New Yorkers’ privacy rights. While very different, both pieces of legislation would uphold a principle we hold dear: people should not worry that their everyday activities will fuel unnecessary surveillance.
The first piece of legislation is A. 7326/S. 6541—New York bills must have identical versions in each house to pass—which protects the confident...
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Podcast Episode: Algorithms for a Just Future
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/podcast-episode-algorithms-just-future
January 11, 2022, 10:41 AM
Episode 107 of EFF’s How to Fix the Internet
Modern life means leaving digital traces wherever we go. But those digital footprints can translate to real-world harms: the websites you visit can impact the mortgage offers, car loans and job options you see advertised. This surveillance-based, algorithmic decision-making can be difficult to see, much less address. These are the complex issues that Vinhcent Le, Legal Counsel for the Greenlining Institute, confronts every day. He has some ideas and...
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“Worst in Show Awards” Livestreams Friday: EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Cory Doctorow Will Unveil Most Privacy-Defective, Least Secure Consumer Tech Products at CES
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/worst-show-awards-livestreamed-friday-effs-cindy-cohn-and-cory-doctorow-will-unveil
January 6, 2022, 11:38 PM
"Cool" Products That Collect Your Data, Lock Out UsersLas Vegas—On Friday, January 7, at 9:30 am PT, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Executive Director Cindy Cohn and EFF Special Advisor and sci-fi author Cory Doctorow will present the creepiest, most privacy-invasive, and unsecure consumer tech devices debuting at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).EFF, in partnership with iFixit, USPIRG, and Repair.Org, will unveil their 2022 Worst in Show picks, an annual award giv...
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How are Police Using Drones?
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/how-are-police-using-drones
January 6, 2022, 8:32 PM
Across the country, police departments are using myriad means and resources at their disposal to stock up on drones. According to the most recent tally on the Atlas of Surveillance (a project of EFF and the University of Nevada), at least 1,172 police departments nationwide are using drones. And over time, we can expect more law enforcement agencies to deploy them. A flood of COVID relief money, civil asset forfeiture money, federal grants, or military surplus transfers enable more departments t...
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EFF Condemns the Unjust Conviction and Sentencing of Activist and Friend Alaa Abd El Fattah
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/01/eff-condemns-unjust-conviction-and-sentencing-activist-and-friend-alaa-fatttah
January 4, 2022, 6:37 PM
EFF is deeply saddened and angered by the news that our friend, Egyptian blogger, coder, and free speech activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, long a target of oppression by Egypt's successive authoritarian regimes, was sentenced to five years in prison by an emergency state security court just before the holidays.
According to media reports and social media posts of family members, Fattah, human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer, and blogger Mohamed 'Oxygen' Ibrahim were convicted on December 20 of  "spr...
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Cross-Border Access to User Data by Law Enforcement: 2021 Year in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/cross-border-access-user-data-law-enforcement-year-review-2021
January 3, 2022, 7:29 PM
Law enforcement around the world is apparently getting its holiday wish list, thanks to the Council of Europe’s adoption of a flawed new protocol to the Budapest Convention, a treaty governing procedures for accessing digital evidence across borders in criminal investigations. The Second Additional Protocol (“the Protocol”) to the Budapest Convention, which will reshape how police in one country access data from internet companies based in another country, was heavily influenced by law enf...
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Fighting For A More Open, Balanced Patent System: 2021 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/2021-we-fought-more-open-balanced-patent-system
January 2, 2022, 9:54 PM
At EFF, we’ve always stood up for the freedom to tinker and innovate. Unfortunately, our patent system doesn’t promote those freedoms. In some areas, like software, it’s causing much more harm than good. And the system is rife with patent trolls: companies that are focused on licensing and litigating patents, instead of making things. In 2021, the majority of all patent lawsuits were filed by these trolls. In fact, patent trolls have filed the majority of patent lawsuits for many years now...
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Fighting For You From Coast to Coast: 2021 In Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/fighting-you-coast-coast-year-review-2021
January 2, 2022, 9:54 PM
EFF makes its presence known in statehouses across the country to advocate for strong privacy laws, broadband access, and to protect and advance your digital rights. The pandemic has changed a lot about how state legislators operate in 2021, but one thing has remained the same: EFF steps up to fight for you from coast to coast.  
Golden Opportunities in the Golden State
We helped win a huge victory in for all Californians this year, finally securing an historic $6 billion investment for broadba...
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Police Use of Artificial Intelligence: 2021 in Review
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/police-use-artificial-intelligence-2021-review
January 1, 2022, 9:49 AM
Decades ago, when imagining the practical uses of artificial intelligence, science fiction writers imagined autonomous digital minds that could serve humanity. Sure, sometimes a HAL 9000 or WOPR would subvert expectations and go rogue, but that was very much unintentional, right?  
And for many aspects of life, artificial intelligence is delivering on its promise. AI is, as we speak, looking for evidence of life on Mars. Scientists are using AI to try to develop more accurate and faster ways t...
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