Should the police be able to force Google to turn over identifying information on every phone within a certain geographic area—potentially hundreds or thousands of devices—just because a crime occurred there? We don’t think so. As we argued in an… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Legal Analysis’
EFF to Court: Social Media Users Have Privacy and Free Speech Interests in Their Public Information
Special thanks to legal intern Rachel Sommers, who was the lead author of this post. Visa applicants to the United States are required to disclose personal information including their work, travel, and family histories. And as of May 2019, they… Read More ›
EFF Asks Virginia Supreme Court to Rein in Indiscriminate Collection and Storage of License Plate Information
Like law enforcement agencies across the country, the police in Fairfax, Virginia, use automated license plate readers (ALPRs) to indiscriminately scan and record every passing car. The ALPRs don’t simply check for speeding, or outstanding tickets—instead, they store detailed information… Read More ›
Medical Device Repair Again Threatened With Copyright Claims
Medical providers face countless challenges in responding to the COVID pandemic, and copyright shouldn’t have to be one of them. Hundreds of volunteers came together to create the Medical Device Repair Database posted to the repair information website iFixit, providing… Read More ›
You Have a First Amendment Right to Record the Police
Like the rest of the world, we are horrified by the videos of George Floyd’s murder. Once again, police brutality was documented by brave bystanders exercising their First Amendment rights. Their videos forcefully tell a painful truth that has further… Read More ›
EFF to Appeals Court: Reverse Legal Gotchas on Ordinary Internet Activities
In the Internet age, copyright decisions can have enormous consequences for all kinds of activities, because almost everything we do on the Internet involves making copies. And when courts make a mistake, they may create all sorts of unexpected legal… Read More ›
Courts Issue Rulings in Two Cases Challenging Law Enforcement Searches of License Plate Databases
This week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in United States v. Yang, a case challenging the search of an automated license plate reader database under the Fourth Amendment. Although the court, citing EFF’s amicus brief, recognized… Read More ›
Frontier’s Bankruptcy Reveals Why Big ISPs Choose to Deny Fiber to So Much of America
Even before it announced that it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Frontier had a well-deserved reputation for mismanagement and abusive conduct. In an industry that routinely enrages its customers, Frontier was the literal poster-child for underinvestment and neglect, an industry… Read More ›
The Constitution Does Not Allow Courts to Silence Criticism of Local Police Departments
EFF has filed an amicus brief urging the Tennessee Supreme Court to overturn a court order that would otherwise ban a victim from disclosing that she was subject to domestic violence or from speaking out about the police department’s handling… Read More ›
Judge Dismisses Twitter’s Lawsuit Over Its Rights to Publish Information About Government Surveillance Orders
A federal judge dismissed Twitter’s long-pending lawsuit last week over its right to share information about secret government surveillance orders for its users’ information. We hope that Twitter will continue its fight for transparency by appealing this decision. Background: The… Read More ›