Favorite In the first weeks of the Trump Administration, we have witnessed a spate of sweeping, confusing, and likely unconstitutional executive orders, including some that have already had devastating human consequences. EFF is tracking many of them, as well as other developments that impact digital rights. Right now, we want to draw attention to one…
All posts tagged The Public Interest Internet
Victory! Embedded Links to Photos on Instagram Don’t Infringe Photographers’ Copyrights, Court Rules
Favorite Every day, we visit websites or read news articles that contain photos embedded from somewhere else, usually other websites or servers where the images were first published or stored. What’s happening behind the scenes when you click on a website chock full of photos and text is a basic function of the internet—inline linking—that…
The Fediverse Could Be Awesome (if we don’t screw it up)
Favorite This post is part of a series on Mastodon and the fediverse. We also have a post on security and privacy on Mastodon, and more are on the way. Something remarkable is happening. For the past two weeks, people have been leaving Twitter. Many others are reducing their reliance on it. Great numbers of…
Court’s Decision Upholding Disastrous Texas Social Media Law Puts The State, Rather Than Internet Users, in Control of Everyone’s Speech Online
Favorite The First Amendment and the freedom of speech and expression it provides has helped make the internet what it is today: a place for diverse communities, support networks, and forums of all stripes to share information and connect people. Individuals and groups exercise their constitutional right to host and moderate sites that offer a…
Indonesia’s New Draft Criminal Code Restrains Political Dissent
Favorite Even in the face of strong public protest over a set of proposed revisions to criminal laws that infringe Indonesians’ free expression rights, the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights last month sent to the Parliament a new draft of the Criminal Code (CC) that threatens to further chill political dissent and civic…
Podcast Episode: The Revolution Will Be Open Source
Favorite Episode 102 of EFF’s How to Fix the Internet The open source movement focuses on collaboration and empowerment of users. It plays a critical role in building a better digital future, but the movement is changing as more people from around the world join and bring their diverse interests with them. Join EFF’s Cindy…
From Bangkok to Burlington — The Public Interest Social Internet
Favorite This blog post is part of a series, looking at the public interest internet—the parts of the internet that don’t garner the headlines of Facebook or Google, but quietly provide public goods and useful services without requiring the scale or the business practices of the tech giants. Read our earlier installments. In the last…
Utilities Governed Like Empires
Favorite Believe the hype After decades of hype, it’s only natural for your eyes to skate over corporate mission-statements without stopping to take note of them, but when it comes to ending your relationship with them, tech giants’ stated goals take on a sinister cast. Whether it’s “bringing the world closer together” (Facebook), “organizing the…
The Tower of Babel: How Public Interest Internet is Trying to Save Messaging and Banish Big Social Media
Favorite This blog post is part of a series, looking at the public interest internet—the parts of the internet that don’t garner the headlines of Facebook or Google, but quietly provide public goods and useful services without requiring the scale or the business practices of the tech giants. Read our earlier installments. How many messaging…
Organizing in the Public Interest: MusicBrainz
Favorite This blog post is part of a series, looking at the public interest internet—the parts of the internet that don’t garner the headlines of Facebook or Google, but quietly provide public goods and useful services without requiring the scale or the business practices of the tech giants. Read our first two parts or our…