Too Little, Too Late: Flock Admits Their Technology Needs Reforms
Flock Safety, the embattled vendor of mass surveillance technology, has rolled out a handful of new reforms intended to appease the justified nationwide anger that has seen scores…
Who (or What) Generates Images for EFF?
We’ve had a few questions from EFF supporters lately, asking whether the images we use on our blog posts, or on donation and shop items, have been created with AI image…
Meta Must Stop Silencing Reproductive Health Information
Access to accurate information about reproductive and maternal health can be critical. But on Meta's platforms, simply talking about prescription medication, abortion care, or…
Dismiss Church’s Trademark Lawsuit Against “Mormon Stories” Podcast, EFF Urges Court
Imagine if McDonald’s could use trademark law to control how you use the term “fast food.” Or if the Canadian government could stop you from using the word “Canada” in the title…
Automated Moderation Is Here to Stay—Accountability Must Keep Pace
This post is part 2 in a series about automated content moderation. Read the first post here . When whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked a set of documents from Meta in 2020, among…
Victory! Supreme Court Says Constitution Protects People’s Location Data
You have an expectation of privacy in location data that reveals your movements in the physical world, and even short-term surveillance of these movements is a search subject to…
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…
Appeals Court Agrees with EFF that Building a Web Browser Doesn’t Violate the CFAA
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has endorsed a commonsense technical interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a law not usually given to such interpretation.…
The SCREEN Act Threatens Privacy Far Beyond Adult Websites
Update: On August 5, 2026, The Senate Commerce Committee voted 15-13 to advance this bill , but the bill did not advance because of a lack of Senators in attendance. EFF continues…
European Commission Chooses to Keep EU Users Locked Up Behind Big Tech’s Gates
Users are always seeking more control over their social networking experience to make it better, whether to improve privacy or enhance flexibility. Interoperability between social…
European Court: Apple Can Not Shirk Off its Interoperability Requirements
One of the best bulwarks against monopoly is interoperability—that is making a new product or service work with an existing product or service. Interoperability allows users, and…
EFF and Allies: X’s FTC Petition to Waive Privacy Violation Order Should be Rejected
X Corp. should not be able to escape privacy compliance because it changed its name. On May 15, X Corp. filed a petition before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to set aside or…
The Senate Should Reject KOSA's Privacy Risks
Update: The Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance this bill on August 5, 2026. EFF continues to oppose the bill, which still needs approval from the full Senate. The Senate…
The Youth AI Privacy Act’s Privacy Paradox
Update: The Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance this bill on August 5, 2026. EFF continues to oppose the bill, which still needs approval from the full Senate. The Senate…
New EU Court of Justice Ruling on Platform Liability Could Cause Collateral Damage to Freedom of Expression
Intermediary liability laws around the world recognize that social media platforms, search engines, and other online service providers have become an integral part of our lives:…
Don’t Repeat NY’s 3D Printing Blunder
This year the state of New York had the dubious honor of being the first to pass a controversial provision to mandate all 3D printers come with surveillance and censorship. That…
Why Are Gay Bars Building Databases of Their Patrons?
Update 8/10/2026: Two San Francisco bars that used Patronscan have said they will stop using the system after listening to customers’ privacy concerns. EFF applauds this change…
Mobile Ad Software Encourages Location Data Sharing, EFF Report Finds
Developers Must Beware of Ad Libraries that Betray Users’ Privacy SAN FRANCISCO – Some software development kits (SDKs) provided by advertising companies to help developers…
An Explosion of Surveillance Towers is Coming to U.S. Borders, Costing Over $1 Billion
A new report from the Government Accounting Office reveals that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to nearly triple the number of surveillance towers along U.S.…
San Francisco: Don’t Fall for Industry Defense of Surveillance Pricing
The concept of “surveillance pricing” is just one part of a much larger problem and business model: corporations maximizing their profits by invading our privacy. The…
Google's New Remote Attestation Scheme is As Bad As Its Old One
Google owes its existence to the open web, but today, its technological “innovations” have much to do with locking users into a “walled garden.” The latest of these is “ reCAPTCHA…
Victory! Flock Ends Rollout of Audio “Distress Detection” of Human Voices
Reversing course, Flock Safety—the surveillance technology vendor most known for its extensive network of automated license plate readers — has announced that it will end a pilot…
Hate “The Algorithm?” RSS Is One of the Tools You’ve Been Looking For
Poke your head into just about any online social network—or any general conversations about internet culture—and you’ll likely find a boogieman: the algorithm. Since at least the…
Tomorrow’s U.S. Senate Vote: Four Internet Bills, One Wrong Direction
The Senate Commerce Committee will vote this week on several censorious and privacy invasive bills: KOSA , the SCREEN Act , Youth AI Privacy Act, and CHATBOT Act . While we…
The CHATBOT Act Forces One Parenting Model On Every Family
Update: The Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance this bill on August 5, 2026. EFF continues to oppose the bill, which still needs approval from the full Senate. Artificial…
🏃 Fitness Tracker Privacy Fails | EFFector 38.14
Watches, bands, and rings—if you want to digitally monitor your fitness, more companies than ever are selling devices to do it. And more Americans than ever now own at least one…
Protect Your Privacy with California's DROP Tool
Are you a California resident? Then we've got exciting news for you: there's a tool just for you that lets you take a single, relatively easy step to protect your privacy. It's…
EFF to Grindr: This Pride Month, Put Safety and Privacy Over Profits
This Pride month, we’re calling on the dating app Grindr to prioritize LGBTQ+ user safety by making privacy the default across its platform. That means no more sharing personal…
EFF Joins Call for FTC to Drop Its Disastrous AI Policy Proposal
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July issued a proposed policy statement “concerning the suppression of accuracy in artificial intelligence systems. ” We urge the FTC to…
"We Want Texans to Know Their Rights": Q&A with Mayday Health on the Impact of Surveillance on Abortion Care
Last May, EFF reported that a sheriff’s office in Texas searched data from more than 83,000 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to track down a woman suspected of…
Developers: Beware of Ad Libraries that Betray Your Users’ Location Privacy
Across mobile platforms, advertising companies provide developers with software development kits (SDKs) that make it easy to monetize their apps. But those same SDKs can…
Most Smart Watches, Rings, and Bands Lack Basic Transparency Reports and Key Privacy Features
Oura Rings, Garmin GPS fitness watches, Apple Watches, Whoop bands—every year, more and more tech devices are promising to monitor our health and fitness, guide us toward…
EFF Joins 18 Civil Rights Organizations Calling on Governor Hochul to Reject the Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act
EFF joined a group of 18 civil society organizations to send a letter encouraging New York Governor Kathy Hochul to veto Senate Bill 9934A, the New York Stealth Crawler…
EFF and ARTICLE 19 Submission to the European Commission on the DSA Trusted Flagger Guidelines
EFF and ARTICLE 19 have submitted joint comments to the European Commission on draft guidelines for the Digital Services Act’s trusted flagger mechanism. Having long advocated for…
California Steps Back From Dangerous Expansion of its Age-Gating Law
The California legislature has stepped back from a plan that would have expanded its age-gating law, removing language that could have compounded serious threats to users’ speech,…
Sony Nerfs Videogame Ownership
Legal intern Suzanne Castillo co-authored of this post. Playstation’s decision to kill physical game discs is the latest attack on our diminishing rights to access and engage with…
“Stealth Crawlers” Are Not a Threat to the Open Web. Bills Targeting Them Would Be.
There’s a new boogeyman in the battles over AI: so-called “stealth crawlers.” We’ll admit it—the term “stealth crawlers” sounds quite nefarious. In reality, they’re anything but.…
Your Vision. Your Legacy. Your Future.
This month, we celebrate 36 years of EFF and a mission that is bigger than any one of us. Thanks to EFF, communities around the world are demanding that technology protects their…
Building Our Future Together
In my first weeks as Executive Director of EFF, I’ve been reminded every day how consequential this moment is in determining what kind of future we will have. We are on the edge.…
LGBT Q&A: How Can I Wipe Online Data That Points To My Queer Identity?
This Pride, we’re answering all your digital rights questions in season two of our initiative, LGBT Q&A . You Asked: Is there a way for me to wipe data about me online that could…
LGBT Q&A: What Data Are Companies in the UK Collecting When Verifying My Age?
This Pride, we’re answering all your digital rights questions in season two of our initiative, LGBT Q&A . You Asked: I live in the UK, and we have age verification now on a bunch…
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…
The Fourth Circuit Says Border Agents Can Search Your Phone By Hand, No Suspicion Required
Legal intern Suzanne Castillo was the principal author of this post. The Fourth Circuit issued a disappointing opinion in U.S. v. Belmonte Cardozo , a case in which EFF filed an…
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,…
Technology's Power in the Hands of the People
In the scorching heat of every Las Vegas summer, EFF joins thousands of hackers, makers, policy analysts, and activists for the world's largest computer security gathering. If…
Hundreds of Drone-as-First-Responder Programs Could Soon Be Launched Across the Country
Police departments across the country are lining up to launch drone-as-first-responder (DFR) programs, and hundreds have cleared a necessary hurdle toward making deployment a…
Help EFF Cut the AI Hype
In the global race to build and dominate the AI industry, it can sure seem like the interests of ordinary people sit last on the agenda. It's just the opposite for EFF. While…
Missed EFF's Livestream with Adam Savage and iFixit? Listen Here!
EFF’s first EFFecting Change livestream was all the way back in July of 2024. Maybe you've caught each stream, or maybe you’ve only caught a few. Or maybe you’re like me and…
Farmers Are Getting Control Of Their Equipment Back
For years, John Deere had actively made repairing their tractors near-impossible for anyone but itself and the few "authorized" repair shops—regardless of the ability of its…
EFF to Gov. Pritzker: Veto Illinois’ HB 5511
The Illinois legislature recently passed House Bill 5511 , which imposes a sweeping, device-level age-gating framework across nearly all internet-enabled hardware, operating…
🚫 Don't Let Congress Age-Gate the Internet | EFFector 38.13
The effort to age gate the internet is back in Washington—and now it has a new name. Recently passed by the House of Representatives, the KIDS Act is a sprawling package of…
The House Passed The KIDS Act—The Senate Should Reject It
Last week, the House voted on the KIDS Act , a disjointed package of legislation that seeks to control Americans’ web browsing and private messaging. The package combines a…
How the Watch Dogs Video Game Series Mirrored and Predicted Real-World Digital Rights Issues
When Ubisoft's Watch Dogs 2 was released in 2016, it was a headtrip for those of us working on digital-rights issues in the Bay Area. During the day, I'd fight…