The Federal Circuit Helps a Patent Troll Block Public Access to Court Records
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/federal-circuit-helps-patent-troll-block-public-access-court-records
February 14, 2022, 6:17 PM
For more than three years, EFF has been fighting for public access to court records in a patent case between Uniloc, one of the world’s most prolific patent trolls, and Apple, one of the world’s biggest tech companies. The district court has ruled three different times that the public has a strong presumption of access to these records and has ordered Uniloc, the party asking for secrecy, to make them public.
Last week, however, the Federal Circuit further delayed public access to the court ...
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EFF, ACLU, and 30+ Community Groups Oppose Weakening San Francisco’s Surveillance Ordinance
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-aclu-and-30-community-groups-oppose-weakening-san-franciscos-surveillance
February 11, 2022, 10:50 PM
EFF, ACLU, and 34 other community and  civil rights groups have signed onto a letter urging San Francisco’s Mayor and the Board of Supervisors not to gut the city’s landmark 2019 surveillance technology ordinance. Mayor London Breed recently introduced a proposed ballot initiative that would create massive exceptions to the law’s requirement that police get permission from democratically elected Supervisors before using or acquiring any new surveillance technology. The letter is signed ...
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We Need Answers About the CIA’s Mass Surveillance https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/we-need-answers-about-cias-mass-surveillance
February 11, 2022, 7:14 PM
The Central Intelligence Agency has been collecting American’s private data without any oversight or even the minimal legal safeguards that apply to the NSA and FBI, an unconstitutional affront to our civil liberties. According to a declassified report released yesterday by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), the CIA’s surveillance program is reminiscent of the mass surveillance programs conducted by the NSA, though the details released thus far paint a disturbing pictu...
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Key Senators Have Voted For The Anti-Encryption EARN IT Act https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/key-senators-have-voted-anti-encryption-earn-it-act
February 10, 2022, 9:49 PM
Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the dangerous EARN IT bill. We’re disappointed to see the committee advance this misguided bill. If enacted, EARN IT will put massive legal pressure on internet companies both large and small to stop using encryption and instead scan all user messages, photos, and files. 
The bill could now be voted on by the full Senate at any time, or worse, included as part of a different “must-pass” legislative package. We need you to cont...
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EFF Sends Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to Oppose EARN IT
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-sends-letter-senate-judiciary-committee-oppose-earn-it
February 10, 2022, 4:27 AM
On Wednesday, February 9, EFF sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to strongly oppose S. 3538, the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2022 (EARN IT Act). EFF opposed the original and amended versions of this bill in the previous Congress, and our letter outlines our concerns with the reintroduced version of the bill that the sponsors have not addressed.
Given its significant problems and potential vast impact on internet users, we urged the Com...
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Robots Have No Place Filtering Creative Content, EFF Tells U.S. Copyright Office
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/robots-have-no-place-filtering-creative-content-eff-tells-us-copyright-office
February 9, 2022, 11:28 PM
Software robots should not be deciding whether your creative content, whether written words, videos, photos, or music, ought to be pulled off the internet.That’s what we told the U.S. Copyright office in comments we filed February 8 arguing against requiring service providers to embrace “standard technical measures” to address copyright infringement. While some technologies can be useful to flag potential infringement, technical measures such as automated filters are dangerous because they...
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Activists, Writers, and Security Experts All Oppose the EARN IT Act
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/activists-writers-and-security-experts-all-oppose-earn-it-act
February 9, 2022, 7:26 PM
Along with 60 other human rights, civil rights and open Internet organizations, EFF sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, February 9 outlining our concerns with the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2022 (EARN IT, S.3538).
As we wrote when the bill was introduced, this bill threatens encryption and free speech, while making it harder to protect children from online abuse. That’s why such a broad coalition of civil society groups...
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Victory! ID.me to Drop Facial Recognition Requirement for Government Services
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/victory-irs-wont-require-facial-recognition-idme
February 9, 2022, 6:02 PM
First, the Internal Revenue Service reversed course from its recent announcement that it was partnering with ID.me, a third-party identity verification service, to use facial recognition for verification of users managing many aspects of their taxes online. Now, ID.me—which provides identity verification services for dozens of government agencies—says it will drop its facial recognition requirement entirely for these agencies, in a victory for privacy and security. 
This is an important win...
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What the Duck? Why an EU Proposal to Require "QWACs" Will Hurt Internet Security
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/what-duck-why-eu-proposal-require-qwacs-will-hurt-internet-security
February 9, 2022, 12:00 PM
It's become easier over the years for websites to improve their security, thanks to tools that allow more people to automate and easily set-up secure measures for web applications and the services they provide. A proposed amendment to Article 45 in the EU’s Digital Identity Framework (eIDAS) would roll back these gains by requiring outdated ideas for security and authentication of websites. The amendment states that “web-browsers shall ensure that the identity data provided using any of the ...
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EFF Joins Activists And Human Rights Groups To Reject Attacks on Encryption
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/eff-joins-activists-and-human-rights-groups-reject-attacks-encryption
February 9, 2022, 5:17 AM
Encryption is under attack. In liberal democracies, elected leaders are giving lip service to our right to privacy—while seeking to create a system where they can scan any data we send over the internet. 
Earlier this month, the U.K. Home Office spent public money on a high-priced ad campaign that bad-mouthed encryption, portraying it as a tool used by criminals. In the U.S., a Senate committee is about to vote on the dangerous “EARN IT” Act, which could lead to widespread scanning of pri...
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Send Surveillance Robot Dogs to the Pound, Not the Border
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/send-surveillance-robot-dogs-pound-not-border
February 8, 2022, 9:34 PM
On February 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, the official research and development arm of the agency, released a cutesy press release about how robotic dogs made in collaboration with Ghost Robotics are “one step closer” to deployment on the U.S.-Mexico border. Covered with sensors and cameras that can relay information and footage in real time to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), these machines are less cute-video or selfie fodder ...
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If EARN IT Passes, What Happens On Your iPhone Won't Stay On Your iPhone
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/if-earn-it-passes-what-happens-your-iphone-wont-stay-your-iphone
February 8, 2022, 8:21 PM
Last year, Apple announced a controversial plan to install photo scanning software in every device. Apple has long been seen as a pro-privacy company—billboards emblazoned with the slogan “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone” were common sights in 2019. A global coalition pushed back, and the company paused the plan. 

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