In the smartphone era, “distracted driving” is a serious, and well-known, problem. Official warnings about poor driving habits are as old as the automobile itself. The New York Times published a Pulitzer-winning series on distracted driving back in 2009. Increasingly,… Read More ›
Archive for January 2019
Brazil in 2019: Free Speech and Privacy in the Crosshairs. What Are the Threats?
Last year’s Brazilian elections were a victory for Jair Bolsonaro—a politician with highly controversial positions on the country’s past military dictatorship and civil rights. Bolsonaro’s ascent to power and the beginning of his administration in January has attracted international attention… Read More ›
A Surveillance Wall Is Not a Good Alternative to a Concrete Wall
Since even before he took office, President Trump has called for a physical wall along the southern border of the United States. Many different organizations have argued this isn’t a great idea. In response, some Congressional Democrats have suggested turning to surveillance technology… Read More ›
Hearing Thursday: EFF Tells Court That Clicking on a URL Isn’t Enough Evidence to Justify A Search Warrant
Identifying IP Address That May Have Connected to a URL Doesn’t Amount to Probable Cause Richmond, Virginia—On Thursday, January 31, at 8:30 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will ask a federal appeals court to find that the act of… Read More ›
The 5G Protocol May Still Be Vulnerable to IMSI Catchers
It’s hard to talk about the vulnerabilities in cellular technology without increasing the amount of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. There is already much uncertainty around cell-site simulators (CSS, aka Stingrays), their capabilities, and how widely they are used. Partly this… Read More ›
Victory! Illinois Supreme Court Protects Biometric Privacy
Today the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously that when companies collect biometric data like fingerprints or face prints without informed opt-in consent, they can be sued. Users don’t need to prove an injury like identity fraud or physical harm—just losing… Read More ›
In WSJ Op-Ed, Mark Zuckerberg Speaks Down to Users and Misses the Point
Mark Zuckerberg’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today (paywalled, but summarized here) relies on all-too-familiar refrains to explain the dubious principles and so-called “facts” behind Facebook’s business model. It’s the same old song we’ve heard before. And, as usual,… Read More ›
A Guided Tour of the Data Facebook Uses to Target Ads
Last week, Pew released the results of a survey investigating how users understand Facebook’s data collection practices and how they react when shown what the platform thinks it knows about them. The upshot is that 74% of users weren’t aware… Read More ›
Detecting Ghosts By Reverse Engineering: Who Ya Gonna Call?
This article was first published on Lawfare. The most recent purportedly serious proposal by a Western government to force technology companies to provide access to the content of encrypted communications comes from Ian Levy and Crispin Robinson of the Government Communications Headquarters,… Read More ›
Victory: Federal Court in Seattle Will Begin Disclosing Surveillance Records
The public will learn how often federal investigators in Seattle obtain private details about your communications, such as who you called and when, as a result of a petition to unseal those records brought by EFF client The Stranger. Federal… Read More ›