The government bestows temporary monopolies in the form of patents to promote future innovation and economic growth. Antitrust law empowers the government to break up monopolies when their power is so great and their conduct is so corrosive of competition… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Legal Analysis’
Civil Rights and First Amendment Defenders Urge First Circuit to Require a Warrant for Border Device Searches
Last month, EFF, along with co-counsel ACLU and ACLU of Massachusetts, filed a brief in Alasaad v. Wolf urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to require a warrant for searches of electronic devices at the border…. Read More ›
Victory! Court Orders CA Prisons to Release Race of Parole Candidates
In a win for transparency, a state court judge ordered the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to disclose records regarding the race and ethnicity of parole candidates. This is also a win for innovation, because the plaintiffs will… Read More ›
EFF and ACLU Tell Federal Court that Forensic Software Source Code Must Be Disclosed
Can secret software be used to generate key evidence against a criminal defendant? In an amicus filed ten days ago with the United States District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania, EFF and the ACLU of Pennsylvania explain that… Read More ›
In Historic Opinion, Third Circuit Protects Public School Students’ Off-Campus Social Media Speech
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an historic opinion in B.L. v. Mahanoy Area School District, upholding the free speech rights of public school students. The court adopted the position EFF urged in our amicus brief… Read More ›
A Legal Deep Dive on Mexico’s Disastrous New Copyright Law
Mexico has just adopted a terrible new copyright law, thanks to pressure from the United States (and specifically from the copyright maximalists that hold outsized influence on US foreign policy). This law closely resembles the Digital Millennium Copyright Act enacted… Read More ›
EFF Files Amicus Brief Arguing Geofence Warrants Violate the Fourth Amendment
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 ›
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 ›