SACRAMENTO, September 22, 2022 —The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) searches entire zip codes’ worth of people’s private data and discloses it to police without a warrant or any suspicion of wrongdoing, according to a privacy lawsuit filed Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court. SMUD’s bulk disclosure of customer utility data turns its entire customer […]
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Posted inUS
Data Broker Helps Police See Everywhere You’ve Been with the Click of a Mouse
SAN FRANCISCO, September 1, 2022 – Millions of Americans’ everyday movements can be traced by police with the click of a mouse and possibly without a warrant, thanks to a data broker that’s selling phone geolocation data to state and local law enforcement, an Electronic Frontier Foundation investigation has found. The investigation, conducted by a […]
Posted inCalifornia
California Activists Sue Marin County Sheriff for Illegally Sharing Drivers’ License Plate Data With ICE, CBP, Other Out-of-State Agencies
San Francisco, October 14, 2021—Community activists in Northern California today sued Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle for illegally sharing millions of local drivers’ license plates and location data, captured by a network of cameras his office uses, with hundreds of federal and out-of-state agencies—a practice that violates two California laws, endangers the safety and privacy […]
Posted inCalifornia
New EFF Report Shows Cops Used Ring Cameras to Monitor Black Lives Matter Protests
San Francisco, Calif. February 16, 2021 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has obtained emails that show that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) sent at least one request—and likely many more—for Amazon Ring camera video of last summer’s Black-led protests against police violence. In a report released today, EFF shows that the LAPD asked […]
Posted inLife
Internet Users Deserve More Choice Through Interoperability and Better Privacy. They Can Have Both, EFF Says in White Paper
San Francisco, Feb. 16, 2021—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a white paper outlining how we can usher in a new regime of interoperability aimed at breaking big tech’s grip on users’ Internet experience while still protecting user privacy. In a white paper entitled Privacy Without Monopoly: Data Protection and Interoperability, EFF takes on one […]
Posted inUS
Computer Security Experts Urge White House to Keep Politics Out of Election Security
San Francisco, November 17, 2020 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has joined more than three dozen cybersecurity experts and professional security organizations in calling for the White House to keep politics out of securing this month’s election. Election security officials and computer security experts must be able to tell the truth about the security […]
Posted inUS
Voter Advocacy Orgs Sue Trump Administration for Executive Order Threatening Social Media Censorship
San Francisco, August 27, 2020 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has joined forces with Protect Democracy and Cooley LLP to represent five advocacy organizations suing President Trump and others in his administration for an unconstitutional executive order threatening their ability to receive accurate information free from government censorship. The plaintiffs are Common Cause, Free […]
Posted inCalifornia
California Prisons Block AI Researchers from Examining Parole Denials
San Francisco, May 20, 2020 – A team of researchers who want to develop a machine learning platform to help analyze and detect any patterns of bias in California parole-suitability decisions has been blocked for years by the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). In a lawsuit filed today by the Electronic Frontier Foundation […]
Posted inLife
.ORG Domain Registry Sale to Ethos Capital Rejected in Stunning Victory for Public Interest Internet
San Francisco May 1, 2020 – In an important victory for thousands of public interest groups around the world, a proposal to sell the .ORG domain registry to private equity firm Ethos Capital and convert it to a for-profit entity was rejected late yesterday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The […]
Posted inLife
Redditor Wins Fight to Stay Anonymous
San Francisco, March 3, 2020 – A Reddit commenter has won their fight to stay anonymous after facing an improper copyright claim from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, a group that publishes doctrines for Jehovah’s Witnesses. A U.S. District Court judge has granted a motion to quash a subpoena for the identity of “Darkspilver,” […]
Posted inUS
EFF Calls For Disclosure of Secret Financing Details Behind $1.1 Billion .ORG Sale, Asks FTC To Scrutinize Deal
San Francisco, Feb. 21, 2020 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Education Fund today called on ICANN and private equity firm Ethos Capital to make public secret details—hidden costs, loan servicing fees, and inducements to insiders—about financing the $1.1 billion sale of the .ORG domain registry. EFF and […]
Posted inUS
Report Exposes Big Tech’s Personal Data Trackers Lurking on Social Media, Websites, and Apps
San Francisco, Dec. 2, 2019 —The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today released a comprehensive report that identifies and explains the hidden technical methods and business practices companies use to collect and track our personal information from the minute we turn on our devices each day. Published on Cyber Monday, when millions of consumers are shopping […]
Posted inCalifornia
EFF Wins Access to License Plate Reader Data to Study How Law Enforcement Uses the Privacy Invasive Technology
San Francisco, Oct. 3, 2019 – Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) have reached an agreement with Los Angeles law enforcement agencies under which the police and sheriff’s departments will turn over license plate data they indiscriminately collected on millions of law-abiding drivers in Southern […]
Posted inUS
Congress Should Look to Supreme Court, Not Silicon Valley CEOs, For Guidance Before Regulating Online Speech
New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. April 8, 2019 – As policymakers around the U. S. contemplate regulations to protect and/or restrict online speech, a group of public interest organizations dedicated to free expression are publishing a set of legal guideposts that must inform any legislative or regulatory discussion. The document, entitled “Online Speech […]
Posted inCalifornia
Social Justice Organizations Challenge Retention of DNA Collected from Hundreds of Thousands of Innocent Californians
San Francisco, Dec. 10, 2018 – Two social justice organizations—the Center for Genetics and Society and the Equal Justice Society—and an individual plaintiff, Pete Shanks, have filed suit against the state of California for its collection and retention of genetic profiles from people arrested but never convicted of any crime. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) […]
Posted inCalifornia
EFF Sues San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to Obtain Records About Use of Privacy Invasive Cell-Site Simulators
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, Oct. 24, 2018 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to gain access to records about search warrants where cell-site simulators, devices that allow police to locate and track people by tricking their cell phones into a connection, were authorized in criminal investigations. EFF seeks the […]
Posted inOp-Ed
Katharine Trendacosta: California’s Net Neutrality Bill Is Strong Again Because You Spoke Out
July 9, 2018 – After a hearing that stripped California’s gold standard net neutrality bill of much of its protections, California legislators have negotiated new amendments that restore the vast majority of those protections to the bill. The big ISPs and their money did not defeat the voices of the many, many people who want […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Coalition Pushes Tech Companies To Be More Transparent, Accountable About Censoring User Content
WASHINGTON, D.C. May 7, 2018 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on Facebook, Google, and other social media companies today to publicly report how many user posts they take down, provide users with detailed explanations about takedowns, and implement appeals policies to boost accountability. EFF, ACLU of Northern California, Center for Democracy & Technology, […]
Posted inUS
EFF Demands Information About Secretive Government Tattoo Recognition Technology
Washington, D.C. November 30, 2017 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Homeland Security today, demanding records about the agencies’ work on the federal Tattoo Recognition Technology program. This secretive program involves a coalition of government, academia, and private industry working […]
Posted inUS
Trump’s Blocking People From His Twitter Account Violates the First Amendment, EFF Tells Court
NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 6, 2017 – President Donald Trump’s blocking of people on Twitter who criticize him violates their constitutional right to receive government messages transmitted through social media and participate in the forums created by them, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) told a court today. Public agencies and officials, from city mayors and […]