Category: Business

Their experiences underline a broader message: inclusive economic growth depends on opening space for those too often excluded, including people with disabilities, youth and home-based innovators. Entrepreneur by necessity For Shaymaa Saeed, a young Egyptian crochet designer and handicrafts artist with a disability, entrepreneurship was not a lifestyle choice but a necessity. Health challenges prevented […]

The Blue Ridge Regional Resilience Challenge 2026 is a competitive innovation program launched by RISE to identify, fund, and pilot solutions that address multi-hazard resilience in real community settings. Rather than treating disasters as isolated events, the Challenge is designed to support solutions that: Work across multiple hazards and phases (preparedness, response, recovery) Strengthen regional […]

The exchange of data in the blink of an eye has become a given in much of the world – and yet we rarely pause to think about what makes it all possible: a complex global network of cables in the depths of the ocean that silently connects us. In the modern information age, undersea […]

Age verification mandates won’t magically keep young people safer online, but that has not stopped governments around the world spending this year implementing or attempting to introduce legislation requiring all online users to verify their ages before accessing the digital space.  The UK’s misguided approach to protecting young people online took many headlines due to […]

As reproductive rights face growing attacks globally, access to content about reproductive healthcare and abortion online has never been more critical. The internet has essential information on topics like where and how to access care, links to abortion funds, and guidance on ways to navigate potential legal risks. Reproductive rights activists use the internet to […]

A functioning patent system depends on one basic principle: bad patents must be challengeable. In 2025, that principle was repeatedly tested—by Congress, by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and by a small number of large patent owners determined to weaken public challenges.  Two damaging bills, PERA and PREVAIL, were reintroduced in Congress. At […]

State legislatures—from Olympia, WA, to Honolulu, HI, to Tallahassee, FL, and everywhere in between—kept EFF’s state legislative team busy throughout 2025. We saw some great wins and steps forward this year. Washington became the eighth state to enshrine the right to repair. Several states stepped up to protect the privacy of location data, with bills […]

Across ideologically diverse communities, 2025 campaigns against automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance kept winning. From Austin, Texas to Cambridge, Massachusetts to Eugene, Oregon, successful campaigns combined three practical elements: a motivated political champion on city council, organized grassroots pressure from affected communities, and technical assistance at critical decision moments. The 2025 Formula for Refusal […]

State and federal lawmakers have introduced multiple proposals in 2025 to curtail or outright block children and teenagers from accessing legal content on the internet. These lawmakers argue that internet and social media platforms have an obligation to censor or suppress speech that they consider “harmful” to young people. Unfortunately, in many of these legislative […]