EFF at BSidesLV, Black Hat, and DEF CON 👨‍💻

It’s time. Time for tinkerers, security researchers, hackers, and fellow nerds to gather together in signature black hoodies and utilikilts to beat the heat in Las Vegas for the summer security conferences: BSidesLV, Black Hat USA, and DEF CON. EFF’s lawyers, activists, and technologists are excited, as always, to support this community of folks that […]

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The UK is building a fighter jet with Japan and Italy – an aviation expert explains why it could be a defence gamechanger

The UK is building a next generation fighter jet in collaboration with Italy and Japan. The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) has taken on even greater significance since the collapse of a rival project called the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a collaboration between France, Germany and Spain. The GCAP aircraft, which will be known […]

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AI translators are getting more fluent – but communication is never just a matter of words

raker/Shutterstock Speak into a phone and an app can render your words in another language in seconds. AI-powered speech translation can be fast, convenient and fluent. But fluency does not guarantee that people will understand one another. In the most recent census, 880,000 people in England and Wales (excluding tourists and other short-term visitors) said […]

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South Africa’s privacy laws are evolving, but vulnerable people are being left behind

Imagine receiving a message from your bank about suspicious activity on your account, only to discover that someone has accessed your personal information after an organisation you trusted suffered a data breach. Or finding that your medical records or identity details have been exposed online without your knowledge. As more South Africans use digital services […]

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Amending AB 1709 Doesn’t Fix It: California’s Social Media Ban Still Threatens Free Speech and Privacy

California lawmakers have amended A.B. 1709, but the core problem remains: the bill is still a ban on social media access for youth under 16, and it still threatens the privacy and First Amendment rights of all Californians. Proponents of the bill may argue that the recent amendments represent a compromise, but a close look […]

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The CHATBOT Act Forces One Parenting Model On Every Family

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing education, and the way people search for information. Parents, teenagers, teachers, and schools are struggling with tough questions about when AI should, and should not, be used. It makes sense for Congress to hold hearings and examine how AI should be used by minors. But the recently introduced CHATBOT Act […]

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How grief tech is reimagining Victorian spiritualism

Modern spiritualism began as a religious movement in the 19th century. It promised to bring the living and dead together in conversation, usually through a medium – a person who claimed an ability to directly contact the deceased. The core foundational belief of spiritualism was that death was not the end – a typical tenet […]

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EFF Guide to Recording Law Enforcement

This post is available as a printable one page handout in English and Spanish. Recordings of law enforcement, whether by bystanders or by those directly encountering officers, can be powerful tools of government accountability and can support movements for social change. But recording officers can come with risks. Below are important legal and practical considerations […]

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As Larry the cat welcomes yet another prime minister, an expert explains how pets adapt to change

Larry, the Downing Street cat, has had to adapt to seven different prime ministers moving into No 10 over the past decade. Yet while the nation’s attention is fixed on the departing and incoming political leaders, who is thinking about the effect these upheavals might have on one of the property’s most enduring residents? Cats […]

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Did Cape Town’s gunshot detection system work? Why jury is still out on what ShotSpotter achieved

In mid-2026 Cape Town’s city council ended the use of ShotSpotter, a US-developed gunshot detection system and a form of dragnet surveillance. The system was first piloted in 2016. The council said it was reviewing a renewal of the contract. The acoustic system was marketed as being able to detect and alert police officers to […]

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