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Deeplinks

EFF"s Deeplinks Blog: Noteworthy news from around the internet

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Why the FTC v. Meta Trial Matters: Competition Gaps...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/21

We’re in the midst of a long-overdue resurgence in antitrust litigation. In the past 12 months alone, there have been three landmark rulings against Google/Alphabet (in search, advertising, and payments). Then there’s the long-running FTC v. Meta case, which went to trial last week. Plenty of people are cheering these cases on, seeing them as a victories over the tech broligarchy (who doesn’t love to see a broligarch get their comeuppance?). But we’re cautiously cheering for another, more

EFF to Congress: Here’s What A Strong Privacy Law...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/21

Enacting strong federal consumer data privacy laws is among EFF’s highest priorities. For decades, EFF has advocated for federal privacy law that is concrete, ambitious, and fully protective of all Americans’ data privacy. That’s why, when the House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently established a Privacy Working Group and asked for comments on what we’d like to see from a Data Security and Privacy Framework, EFF was pleased to offer our thoughts. Our comments highlight several key points

Congress Moves Closer to Risky Internet Takedown Law...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/16

Sorry, EFF doesn't hand out candy like the Easter Bunny, but we are here to keep you updated on the latest digital rights news with our EFFector newsletter!This edition of EFFector explains how you can help us push back against the TAKE IT DOWN Act, an internet censorship law; why we oppose site-blocking legislation, found in two upcoming bills; and how to delete your data from 23andMe. You can read the full newsletter here, and even get future editions directly to your inbox when you subscribe

EFF Urges Court to Avoid Fair Use Shortcuts in Kadrey...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/15

EFF has filed an amicus brief in Kadrey v. Meta, one of the many ongoing copyright lawsuits against AI developers. Most of the AI copyright cases raise an important new issue: whether the copying necessary to train a generative AI model is a non-infringing fair use. Kadrey, however, attempts to side-step fair use. The plaintiffs—including Sarah Silverman and other authors—sued Meta for allegedly using BitTorrent to download “pirated” copies of their books to train Llama, a large language model. In

Privacy on the Map: How States Are Fighting Location...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/15

Your location data isn't just a pin on a map—it's a powerful tool that reveals far more than most people realize. It can expose where you work, where you pray, who you spend time with, and, sometimes dangerously, where you seek healthcare. In today’s world, your most private movements are harvested, aggregated, and sold to anyone with a credit card. For those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care, or visiting a protest or a immigration law clinic, this data is a ticking time bomb. Last year,

Florida’s New Social Media Bill Says the Quiet Part...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/11

At least Florida’s SB 868/HB 743, “Social Media Use By Minors” bill isn’t beating around the bush when it states that it would require “social media platforms to provide a mechanism to decrypt end-to-end encryption when law enforcement obtains a subpoena.” Usually these sorts of sweeping mandates are hidden behind smoke and mirrors, but this time it’s out in the open: Florida wants a backdoor into any end-to-end encrypted social media platforms that allow accounts for minors. This would likely lead

Cybersecurity Community Must Not Remain Silent On...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/11

Cybersecurity professionals and the infosec community have essential roles to play in protecting our democracy, securing our elections, and building, testing, and safeguarding government infrastructure. It is critically important for us to speak up to ensure that essential work continues and that those engaged in these good faith efforts are not maligned by an administration that has tried to make examples of its enemies in many other fields. President Trump has targeted the former Director of the

Certbot 4.0: Long Live Short-Lived Certs!

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/10

When Let’s Encrypt, a free certificate authority, started issuing 90 day TLS certificates for websites, it was considered a bold move that helped push the ecosystem towards shorter certificate life times. Beforehand, certificate authorities normally issued certificate lifetimes lasting a year or more. With 4.0, Certbot is now supporting Let’s Encrypt’s new capability for six day certificates through ACME profiles and dynamic renewal at: 1/3rd of lifetime left 1/2 of lifetime left, if the lifetime

Congress Takes Another Step Toward Enabling Broad...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/10

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday advanced the TAKE IT DOWN Act (S. 146) , a bill that seeks to speed up the removal of certain kinds of troubling online content. While the bill is meant to address a serious problem—the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII)—the notice-and-takedown system it creates is an open invitation for powerful people to pressure websites into removing content they dislike. As we’ve written before, while protecting victims of these heinous

Our Privacy Act Lawsuit Against DOGE and OPM: Why a...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/08

Last week, a federal judge rejected the government’s motion to dismiss our Privacy Act lawsuit against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). OPM is disclosing to DOGE agents the highly sensitive personal information of tens of millions of federal employees, retirees, and job applicants. This disclosure violates the federal Privacy Act, a watershed law that tightly limits how the federal government can use our personal

EFF, Civil Society Groups, Academics Call on UK Home...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/08

Last week, EFF joined 30 civil society groups and academics in warning UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Department for Science, Innovation & Technology Secretary Peter Kyle about the law enforcement risks contained within the draft Data Use and Access Bill (DUA Bill).Clause 80 of the DUA Bill weakens the safeguards for solely automated decisions in the law-enforcement context and dilutes crucial data protection safeguards. Under sections 49 and 50 of the Data Protection Act 2018, solely

Judge Rejects Government’s Attempt to Dismiss EFF...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/03

Court Confirms That, If Proven, DOGE’s Ongoing Access to Personnel Records Is Illegal NEW YORK—A lawsuit seeking to stop the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from disclosing tens of millions of Americans’ private, sensitive information to Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) can continue, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Judge Denise L. Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York partially rejected the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit,

EFF Joins Amicus Brief Supporting Perkins Coie Law...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/03

EFF has joined the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal advocacy organizations across the ideological spectrum in filing an amicus brief asking a federal judge to strike down President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting law firm Perkins Coie for its past work on voting rights lawsuits and its representation of the President’s prior political opponents. As a legal organization that has fought in court to defend the rights of technology users for almost 35 years, including numerous

Calyx Institute: A Case Study in Grassroots Innovation

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/03

Technologists play a huge role in building alternative tools and resources when our right to privacy and security are undermined by governments and major corporations. This direct resistance ensures that even in the face of powerful adversaries, communities can find some safety and autonomy through community-built tools.One of the most renowned names in this work is the Calyx Institute, a New York based 501(c)3 nonprofit founded by Nicholas Merrill, after a successful and influential constitutional

Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still a...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/02

More than a decade ago, Congress tried to pass SOPA and PIPA—two sweeping bills that would have allowed the government and copyright holders to quickly shut down entire websites based on allegations of piracy. The backlash was immediate and massive. Internet users, free speech advocates, and tech companies flooded lawmakers with protests, culminating in an “Internet Blackout” on January 18, 2012. Turns out, Americans don’t like government-run internet blacklists. The bills were ultimately

Vote for “How to Fix the Internet” in the Webby...

Deeplinks ·

2025/04/01

EFF’s “How to Fix the Internet” podcast is a nominee in the Webby Awards 29th Annual People's Voice competition – and we need your support to bring the trophy home!Vote now! We keep hearing all these dystopian stories about technology’s impact on our lives and our futures — from tracking-based surveillance capitalism to the dominance of a few large platforms choking innovation to the growing pressure by authoritarian governments to control what we see and say. The landscape can feel bleak. Exposing

EFF Urges Third Circuit to Join the Legal Chorus: No...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/31

Two appeals courts have recently rejected efforts by private parties to use copyright to restrict access to the laws that most directly affect ordinary citizens: regulations that ensure our homes, workplaces, devices, and many other products, are safe and fit for purpose. Apparently hoping the third time will be the charm, a standards organization is asking the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to break ranks and hold that a private party that helps develop a law also gets to own that law. In an amicus

Announcing EFF’s New Exhibit on Border Surveillance...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/31

EFF has created a traveling exhibit, “Border Surveillance: Places, People, and Technology,” which will make its debut at the Angel Island Immigration Station historical site this spring. The exhibition on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay will run from April 2, 2025 through May 28, 2025. We would especially like to thank the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and Angel Island State Park for their collaboration. You can learn more about the exhibit’s hours of operation and how to visit it

Congress Must Reject Transparent Efforts to Undermine...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/28

Earlier this week, the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 1526, a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa to prevent courts from issuing nationwide injunctions. This bill could receive a vote on the House floor as early as next week. Senator Josh Hawley recently introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both bills would prohibit district courts from handing down injunctive relief orders that apply to parties that are not involved in the case. EFF opposes both bills. We see this legislation for what it is: a

Online Tracking is Out of Control—Privacy Badger Can...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/27

Every time you browse the web, you're being tracked. Most websites contain invisible tracking code that allows companies to collect and monetize data about your online activity. Many of those companies are data brokers, who sell your sensitive information to anyone willing to pay. That’s why EFF created Privacy Badger, a free, open-source browser extension used by millions to fight corporate surveillance and take back control of their data. Since we first released Privacy Badger in 2014, online

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