In EFF’s Catalog of Carceral Surveillance, we explore patents filed by or awarded to prison communication technology companies Securus and Global Tel*Link in the past five years. The dystopian technology the patents describe are exploitative and dehumanizing. And if the… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Patents’
The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Voice Recognition and Surveillance
Prison phone companies have been profiting off the desire for human connection for as long as they’ve been in business. Historically, there’s been one primary instrument for that connection — voice — and only one way to milk it for… Read More ›
The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Prison Gaming and AR/VR Services
No matter how many rights are taken away from people in prison, no matter how brutally they are treated by the prison industrial complex, there is one right so fundamental, so essential, that even controversial prison telecommunications company Securus can’t… Read More ›
The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance – Mobile Correctional Facility Robots
There are too many people in U.S. prisons. Their guards are overworked, underpaid, and prone to human errors. Some have taken this as a sign that we need to rework our criminal justice system. Prison technology companies have another approach… Read More ›
The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Exploring the Future of Incarceration Technology
Prison technology and telecom companies such as Securus and Global Tel*Link are already notorious for their ongoing efforts to extract every last penny and destroy any last shred of privacy afforded to incarcerated people. They have so far succeeded in… Read More ›
The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Monitoring Online Purchases of Inmates’ Family and Friends
Prison wardens and detention center administrators have, for years, faced what they believe to be a serious problem. While they can surveill every aspect of the lives of the people imprisoned in their facilities, they typically have no ability to… Read More ›
This Captcha Patent Is An All-American Nightmare
A newly formed patent troll is looking for big money from small business websites, just for using free, off-the-shelf login verification tools. Defenders of the American Dream, LLC (DAD ), is sending out its demand letters to websites that use Google’s… Read More ›
Supreme Court Upholds Process to Challenge Bad Patents
The Patent Office grants thousands of patents a year, including many that would be invalidated if a court considered them. These junk patents should never be issued in the first place, but fortunately there is a way to challenge them… Read More ›
15 Universities Have Formed A Company That Looks A Lot Like A Patent Troll
Imagine this: a limited liability company (LLC) is formed, for the sole purpose of acquiring patents, including what are likely to be low-quality patents of suspect validity. Patents in hand, the LLC starts approaching high-tech companies and demanding licensing fees…. Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Telehealth Robots Say Goodbye
Before COVID-19, people living in rural and isolated areas urgently needed to access health care services remotely; now we all do. Thanks to decades of innovation in computing and telecommunications, more essential health care services are available electronically than ever… Read More ›