News
Updated 25 Oct, 05:30
25 articles
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The Vulnerability Apocalypse and Why We Should Fund Open Source
If you use the internet at all, you may have noticed that a large percentage of sites suddenly went down earlier this week—and all your nerdiest friends were talking about "The Vulnerability Apocalypse” and this thing called PHP that…
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Computer Security Is About to Get a Lot Worse, Here’s What You Can Do
It is a commonly held truth among computer geeks that there is no such thing as bug free software, or a secure computer. Any piece of software that anyone actually uses will have a security vulnerability somewhere in the code. The more…
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Two States Can Now Restrict Social Media Access—Here’s What To Do Next
Last week, two federal appeals courts issued opinions that will allow Florida and Georgia to start enforcing laws that will age-gate and block young people from accessing social media. The laws do not adequately respect minors’ rights to…
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Canadians Are Running Out Of Time To Oppose The Dangerous C-22 Surveillance Bill
Canada’s Parliament is debating a massive expansion of surveillance powers that will threaten the privacy and security of millions of people. Bill C-22, also called the Lawful Access Act, has already passed the House of Commons, and is now…
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Introducing Our New Surveillance Self-Defense Guide: Online Privacy for Parents and Youth
The internet is a vast and confusing place no matter your age. Trying to help youth engage with it safely and privately is a complicated topic that touches on many different skillsets and ideas. But just because it’s complicated doesn’t…
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Interoperability vs. Security: Why not both?
An open internet where people can freely build, share, and remix each other's work is a powerful engine of grassroots innovation we’ve all benefited from. In recent decades, however, corporations have taken control of an increasing share…
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EFF to Brazil’s ANPD: Data Privacy and Free Expression Must Underpin Platform Regulations
The Brazilian National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of digital platforms according to new legislation approved in Brazil. Throughout this year, EFF has presented comments, filed submissions, and met…
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EFF’s State Legislative Agenda to End ALPR Mass Surveillance
Police agencies across the U.S. have deployed Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) to capture images of passing vehicles along with time, date, and GPS coordinates. While the technology itself isn’t new (ALPRs have existed in various…
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EFF Launches Guide to Help Parents and Youth Protect Privacy Online
Guide Includes Easy, Quick Ways To Identify and Protect Against Online Threats SAN FRANCISCO – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published “Online Privacy for Parents and Youth,” a new guide to help families protect themselves…
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Victory! Court Rules OPM Data Disclosure to DOGE Is Unlawful
In a victory for data privacy, a federal court in New York definitively ruled that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) violated the law when it disclosed millions of federal employee records to DOGE agents. In a summary judgment…
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Require Police to Get a Warrant to Search ALPR Data
This post was co-written by Andi Cao, an EFF legal intern. Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are mass surveillance. They photograph every passing car and log where and when it was captured, building a searchable record of where…
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Announcing Privacy Badger for Safari on macOS
Exciting news for Safari users: Privacy Badger is now available on Safari for macOS! You’ll need Safari version 26.5 or higher to use it. Whether you want to protect yourself from data brokers or just don’t want Big Tech profiting off your…
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EFF Launches Privacy Badger for Safari on macOS
Free Tracker Blocker Used by Millions Will Protect Even More Users' Privacy SAN FRANCISCO—Privacy Badger, the award-winning tracker blocker made by the member-supported digital rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), is now…
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In Memoriam: Barry Steinhardt
Barry Steinhardt, a lifelong privacy champion and an early leader in the battle for digital civil liberties who served as EFF’s president in 1998-99, died last week at age 73. A Connecticut native, Steinhardt led the Vermont and…
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Our Lawsuit Against the Trump Administration’s Social Media Surveillance Moves Forward. Here’s What the Court Said.
No one should have to choose between speaking freely and protecting their immigration status. Yet that’s precisely the choice the Trump administration’s mass surveillance of online speech forces on noncitizens living in the U.S. Last fall…
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We’re Asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to End Warrantless ALPR Searches
Today, EFF joined the ACLU of Wisconsin in filing a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, asking it to rule that the state’s constitution requires a warrant for retrospective searches of ALPR databases used by law enforcement in four…
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DHS Inspector General Finds That TSA is Not Properly Safeguarding Passenger Facial Recognition Data
EFF legal intern Gabrielle Ladun was the principal author of this post. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) has published a summary of findings from its audit of the Transportation Security…
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🗣 A Victory for Freedom of Speech Online | EFFector 38.18
No one should have to think twice before criticizing the government online. But a mass surveillance program known as "Catch and Revoke" was created to make millions do just that. EFF and other defenders of free speech are fighting back. In…
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As Federal Court Rules ALPRs are Mass Surveillance, EFF Gets Disappointing Ruling
In an extremely disappointing ruling, a California trial court dismissed SIREN v. San Jose, our case challenging the city of San Jose’s warrantless searches of its vast stores of automated license plate reader (ALPR) data. EFF and the ACLU…
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Privacy's Defenders Podcast: No Privacy Without Encryption
When we communicate online today – from your personal emails and DMs to secure international commerce – we usually do so with encryption. Encryption converts readable data into unreadable gibberish to protect our privacy and security. This…
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Resisting the Menace of Federal Data Consolidation
In the past two years, the federal government has unlawfully consolidated data exposing our private information. This consolidation has been chaotic but generally came in three rolling waves: It started with DOGE, moved to agency-to-agency…
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Organizing in the Town at Oakland Tech Week
EFF was thrilled to join organizers, advocates, and activists in the East Bay for the second annual Oakland Tech Week last week. We are grateful to our friends at MediaJustice and Upturn for inviting us co-present this all-day event…
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Turkish Crackdown On LGBTQ+ Organizations Threatens Freedom of Expression and Association
EFF strongly condemns Turkey’s state-led discriminatory, oppressive attacks on feminist and LGBTQ+ organisations, media platforms, student groups, and rights defenders and activists within the country. Since mid-September, access to the…
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When No ID Means No Internet: Age Verification and the Right to Access Information
This post was co-authored by Sheila B. Lalwani, a doctorate student and recent COMPASS Fellow hosted by EFF. Age verification proposals are often presented as a simple tradeoff: sacrifice a little privacy to better safeguard children…
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It's DAF Day! Wait...What's a DAF?
Today is DAF Day! This event highlights the millions of donor-advised funds (DAFs) people have set up to make charitable donations and change the world. If you have a DAF, consider supporting EFF today. Decisions about your privacy…