This week, EFF sent a letter (pdf link) to the Supreme Court of California objecting to the required use of the proctoring tool ExamSoft for the October 2020 California Bar Exam. Test takers should not be forced to give their… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Commentary’
Human Rights and TPMs: Lessons from 22 Years of the U.S. DMCA
Introduction In 1998, Bill Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a sweeping overhaul of U.S. copyright law notionally designed to update the system for the digital era. Though the DMCA contains many controversial sections, one of the most… Read More ›
Exposure Notification Technology is Ready for Its Closeup
Since this COVID-19 crisis began people have looked to technology to assist in contact tracing and notification. Technology will never be a silver bullet to solve a deeply human crisis, even if it might assist. No app will work absent widespread… Read More ›
Technology Can’t Predict Crime, It Can Only Weaponize Proximity to Policing
Special thanks to Yael Grauer for additional writing and research. In June 2020, Santa Cruz, California became the first city in the United States to ban municipal use of predictive policing, a method of deploying law enforcement resources according to… Read More ›
Digital Identification Must Be Designed for Privacy and Equity
With growing frequency, the digital world calls for verification of our digital identities. Designed poorly, digital identification can invade our privacy and aggravate existing social inequalities. So privacy and equity must be foremost in discussions about how to design digital… Read More ›
One Database to Rule Them All: The Invisible Content Cartel that Undermines the Freedom of Expression Online
Every year, millions of images, videos and posts that allegedly contain terrorist or violent extremist content are removed from social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. A key force behind these takedowns is the Global Internet Forum to Counter… Read More ›
Proctoring Apps Subject Students to Unnecessary Surveillance
With COVID-19 forcing millions of teachers and students to rethink in-person schooling, this moment is ripe for an innovation in learning. Unfortunately, many schools have simply substituted surveillance technology for real transformation. The use of proctoring apps—privacy-invasive software products that… Read More ›
An Open Letter to the Government of South Africa on the Need to Protect Human Rights in Copyright
Five years ago, South Africa embarked upon a long-overdue overhaul of its copyright system, and, as part of that process, the country incorporated some of the best elements of both U.S. and European copyright. From the U.S.A., South Africa imported… Read More ›
On the Road to Victory for Human Rights in Mexico!
Mexico’s National Commission for Human Rights has taken a crucial step towards averting a human rights catastrophe, asking Mexico’s Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of the Mexican copyright law: The Commission stated that the law contains “possible violations of… Read More ›
Mexico's New Copyright Law Undermines Mexico's National Sovereignty, Continuing Generations of Unfair "Fair Trade Deals" Between the USA and Latin America
Earlier this month, Mexico’s Congress hastily imported most of the US copyright system into Mexican law, in a dangerous and ill-considered act. But neither this action nor its consequences occurred in a vacuum: rather, it was a consequence of Donald… Read More ›