After the federal government rolled back net neutrality protections for consumers in 2017, California stepped up and passed a bill that does what FCC wouldn’t: bar telecoms from blocking and throttling Internet content and imposing paid prioritization schemes. The law,… Read More ›
Archive for September 2020
Crumbling Case Against Assange Shows Weakness of "Hacking" Charges Related to Whistleblowing
By 2013, the Obama administration had concluded that it could not charge WikiLeaks or Julian Assange with crimes related to publishing classified documents — documents that showed, among other things, evidence of U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan —… Read More ›
Five Years Later, Soldiers Convicted of Executing Women and Children in Cameroon
The cold-blooded video shows Cameroonian soldiers marching two women and two children down a road. The soldiers make the women kneel on the ground. One of the soldiers gestures to a young girl and says, “Yes. Little girl, come here,” directing… Read More ›
Did the White House Stop the EPA From Regulating PFAS?
The chemicals are linked to cancer, reproductive and developmental harm, liver problems, and immune dysfunction. They stay in the body for years — and persist in the environment indefinitely. And they’ve contaminated thousands of sites around the country, including hundreds… Read More ›
Tell the Department of Homeland Security: Stop Collecting DNA and other Biometrics
We need your help. On September 11, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its intention to significantly expand both the number of people required to submit biometrics during routine immigration applications and the types of biometrics that individuals… Read More ›
California Community Leaders Call for Urgent Action on Broadband Access—Add Your Organization to the List
More than fifty California organizations, businesses, and public officials—including the AARP of California, the San Francisco Tech Council, the California Center for Rural Policy, the Khan Academy, and a number of California cities and counties—join Common Sense Kids Action and… Read More ›
Bust 'Em All: Let's De-Monopolize Tech, Telecoms AND Entertainment
The early 1980s were a period of tremendous foment and excitement for tech. In the four years between 1980 and 1984, Americans met: The Vic-20 (1980); The Commodore 64 (1981); The IBM PC (1982); and The PC-compatible ROM (1984) But… Read More ›
Introducing “YAYA”, a New Threat Hunting Tool From EFF Threat Lab
At the EFF Threat Lab we spend a lot of time hunting for malware that targets vulnerable populations, but we also spend time trying to classify malware samples that we have come across. One of the tools we use for… Read More ›
The Government’s Antitrust Suit Against Google: Go Big and Do It Right
U.S. antitrust enforcers are reported to be crafting a lawsuit against Google (and its parent company, Alphabet). The Department of Justice and a large coalition of state attorneys general are meeting this week and could file suit very soon. While… Read More ›
Students Are Pushing Back Against Proctoring Surveillance Apps
Special thanks to legal intern Tracy Zhang, who was lead author of this post. Privacy groups aren’t the only ones raising the alarm about the dangers of invasive proctoring apps. Through dozens of petitions across the country, and the globe, students too… Read More ›