Court to California: Try a Privacy Law, Not Online Censorship

In a victory for free speech and privacy, a federal appellate court confirmed last week that parts of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act likely violate the First Amendment, and that other parts require further review by the lower court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit correctly rejected rules requiring online businesses […]

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NO FAKES – A Dream for Lawyers, a Nightmare for Everyone Else

Performers and ordinary humans are increasingly concerned that they may be replaced or defamed by AI-generated imitations. We’re seeing a host of bills designed to address that concern – but every one just generates new problems. Case in point: the NO FAKES Act. We flagged numerous flaws in a “discussion draft” back in April, to […]

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EFFecting Change: Reproductive Justice in the Digital Age

Please join EFF for the next segment of EFFecting Change, our newest livestream series, diving into topics near and dear to our hearts.  August 28: Reproductive Justice in the Digital Age This summer marks the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Join EFF for a livestream discussion about restrictions to reproductive […]

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EFF Honored as DEF CON 32 Uber Contributor

At DEF CON 32 this year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation became the first organization to be given the Uber Contributor award. This award recognizes EFF’s work in education and litigation, naming us “Defenders of the Hacker Spirit.” DEF CON Uber Contributor Award EFF Staff Attorney Hannah Zhao and Staff Technologist Cooper Quintin accepting the Uber […]

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2 Fast 2 Legal: How EFF Helped a Security Researcher During DEF CON 32

This year, like every year, EFF sent a variety of lawyers, technologists, and activists to the summer security conferences in Las Vegas to help foster support for the security research community. While we were at DEF CON 32, security researcher Dennis Giese received a cease-and-desist letter on a Thursday afternoon for his talk scheduled just […]

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EFF Presses Federal Circuit To Make Patent Case Filings Public

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 […]

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In These Five Social Media Speech Cases, Supreme Court Set Foundational Rules for the Future

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 […]

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The UN General Assembly and the Fight Against the Cybercrime Treaty

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 […]

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Federal Appeals Court Finds Geofence Warrants Are “Categorically” Unconstitutional

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 […]

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