Category: Business

Federal court records belong to everyone. But one federal court in Texas lets patent litigants treat courts like their own private tribunals, effectively shutting out the public. When EFF tried to intervene and push for greater access to a patent dispute earlier this year, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas rejected […]

The U.S. Supreme Court addressed government’s various roles with respect to speech on social media in five cases reviewed in its recently completed term. The through-line of these cases is a critically important principle that sets limits on government’s ability to control the online speech of people who use social media, as well as the […]

The final text of the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime, adopted last Thursday by the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee, is now headed to the UN General Assembly for final approval. The last hours of deliberations were marked by drama as Iran repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, attempted to remove almost all human rights protections that survived […]

In a major decision on Friday, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that geofence warrants are “categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.” Closely following arguments EFF has made in a number of cases, the court found that geofence warrants constitute the sort of “general, exploratory rummaging” that the drafters of the Fourth Amendment […]

In a big win for free speech online, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that a federal agency violated the First Amendment when it blocked animal rights activists from commenting on the agency’s social media pages. We filed an amicus brief in the case, joined by the Foundation for Individual Rights […]

Asnia Dalan holds a bag she sewed following the training she received. The Olango Sindaw Ko Kauyagan Producer cooperative in Piagapo, a village in the hills above Lake Lanao, was set up in the wake of what is known as the siege of Marawi, in which terrorists affiliated with Islamic State attacked and occupied the […]

Digital surveillance is ubiquitous. Corporate snoops collect information about everything we do, everywhere we go, and everyone we communicate with. Then they compile it, store it, and use it against us.   Increasingly, companies exploit this information to set individualized prices based on personal characteristics and behavior. This “surveillance pricing” allows retailers to charge two people […]

Bumble markets itself as a safe dating app, but it may be selling your deeply personal data unless you opt-out—risking your privacy for their profit. Despite repeated requests, Bumble hasn’t confirmed if they sell or share user data, and its policy is also unclear about whether all users can delete their data, regardless of where […]

Police use of face recognition technology (FRT) poses a particularly massive risk to our civil liberties, particularly for Black men and women and other marginalized communities. That’s why EFF supports a ban on government FRT use. Half-measures aren’t up to the task. However, even as half-measures go, California’s legislature is currently considering a particularly weak […]

We’re thrilled to share that the Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA) has a fresh new look and a wealth of new resources for community organizers. EFF can’t be everywhere and in every fight, which is why back in 2016 we committed to building a network with grassroots organizations, and made the EFA a critical part of […]