We’ve arrived at the sad, dumb point in history at which the only thing less surprising than acts of mass violence are the ways in which our planet’s mega information distributors muck everything up with ensuing frauds, hoaxes, and confusion…. Read More ›
Archive for October 2017
We Can Finally Identify One Of The Largest Holders Of Puerto Rican Debt
For years, the identity of the owner of one of the largest holdings of Puerto Rican debts has been a mystery. That mystery has finally been solved, with the help of the The Baupost Group, who unmasked themselves to The… Read More ›
‘Monopoly Man’ Shows Up At Wells Fargo Hearing As Senate Pushes To Legalize Ripoff Clause
Members of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday interrogated Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan about his response to a fraudulent account scandal that engulfed the bank last year. Unconvinced that the bank has cleaned up its act in the last… Read More ›
Europe's Courts Decide: Does U.S. Spying Violate Europe's Privacy?
In a long-awaited decision on whether and how Europeans’ private data can be protected from the roving eyes of the NSA, the Irish Commercial High Court this morning declared that “standard contractual clauses” —the procedure that tech companies like Facebook… Read More ›
A troubling new tactic to keep bad patents from being tossed out
On September 8, 2017, the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company Allergan announced that it “sold” its patents relating to its eye drops “Restasis” to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. But this was not a usual “sale.” The Tribe doesn’t appear to… Read More ›
DHS Should Stop the Social Media Surveillance of Immigrants
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last month issued a notice that it is storing social media information on immigrants, including lawful permanent residents and naturalized U.S. citizens, apparently indefinitely, in a government database that contains “Alien Files” (A-Files)…. Read More ›
The U.S. Election System Remains Deeply Vulnerable, But States Would Rather Celebrate Fake Success
When the Department of Homeland Security notified 21 states that Russian actors had targeted their elections systems in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the impacted states rolled out a series of defiant statements. “Oregon’s security measures… Read More ›
Live Blog: House Discusses Section 230
%3Ciframe%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FDyxD260Wz2Y%3Fautoplay%3D1%22%20allowfullscreen%3D%22%22%20width%3D%22560%22%20height%3D%22315%22%20frameborder%3D%220%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E Privacy info. This embed will serve content from youtube.com — 9:07 a.m.: The hearing ends on a positive note, with multiple members of the committee expressing a desire to address sex trafficking in a way that preserves the protections… Read More ›
The End Game for European Upload Filtering Approaches
Update: the October 5 vote in the LIBE committee has now been postponed to an indefinite future date. If you’ve been following the slow progress of the European Commission’s proposal to introduce new upload filtering mandates for Internet platforms, or… Read More ›
EFF Asks Court to Undo Damage Done to First Amendment in Flawed National Security Letter Ruling
EFF has petitioned a federal appeals court to reconsider its flawed ruling in our national security letter case on behalf of CREDO Mobile and Cloudflare. In July, the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco upheld the NSL statute against our First Amendment… Read More ›