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Deeplinks

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

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New USPTO Memo Makes Fighting Patent Trolls Even Harder

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/21

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just made a move that will protect bad patents at the expense of everyone else. In a memo released February 28, the USPTO further restricted access to inter partes review, or IPR—the process Congress created to let the public challenge invalid patents without having to wage million-dollar court battles. If left unchecked, this decision will shield bad patents from scrutiny, embolden patent trolls, and make it even easier for hedge funds and large

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Google Search? Courts...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/20

Can we get from a world where Google is synonymous with search to a world where other search engines have a real chance to compete? The U.S. and state governments’ bipartisan antitrust suit, challenging the many ways that Google has maintained its search monopoly, offers an opportunity. Antitrust enforcers have proposed a set of complementary remedies, from giving users a choice of search engine, to forcing Google to spin off Chrome and possibly Android into separate companies. Overall, this is the

State AGs Must Act: EFF Expands Call to Investigate...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/20

Back in January, EFF called on attorneys general in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri to investigate potential privacy violations and hold accountable crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) that engage in deceptive practices. Since then, some of these centers have begun to change their websites, quietly removing misleading language and privacy claims; the Hawaii legislature is considering a bill calling on the attorney general to investigate CPCs in the state, and legislators in Georgia have

EFF’s Reflections from RightsCon 2025

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/19

EFF was delighted to once again attend RightsCon—this year hosted in Taipei, Taiwan between 24-27 February. As with previous years, RightsCon provided an invaluable opportunity for human rights experts, technologists, activists, and government representatives to discuss pressing human rights challenges and their potential solutions. For some attending from EFF, this was the first RightsCon. For others, their 10th or 11th. But for all, one message was spoken loud and clear: the need to collectivize

California’s A.B. 412: A Bill That Could Crush...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/17

California legislators have begun debating a bill (A.B. 412) that would require AI developers to track and disclose every registered copyrighted work used in AI training. At first glance, this might sound like a reasonable step toward transparency. But it’s an impossible standard that could crush small AI startups and developers while giving big tech firms even more power.A Burden That Small Developers Can’t Bear The AI landscape is in danger of being dominated by large companies with deep

EFF Joins 7amleh Campaign to #ReconnectGaza

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/17

In times of conflict, the internet becomes more than just a tool—it is a lifeline, connecting those caught in chaos with the outside world. It carries voices that might otherwise be silenced, bearing witness to suffering and survival. Without internet access, communities become isolated, and the flow of critical information is disrupted, making an already dire situation even worse. At this years RightsCon conference hosted in Taiwan, Palestinian non-profit organization 7amleh, in collaboration with

The Foilies 2025

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/16

Recognize the Worst in Government Transparency Co-written by MuckRock's Michael Morisy, Dillon Bergin, and Kelly Kauffman The public's right to access government information is constantly under siege across the United States, from both sides of the political aisle. In Maryland, where Democrats hold majorities, the attorney general and state legislature are pushing a bill to allow agencies to reject public records requests that they consider "harassing." At the same time, President Donald Trump's

“Guardrails” Won’t Protect Nashville Residents From...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/15

Nashville’s Metropolitan Council is one vote away from passing an ordinance that’s being branded as “guardrails” against the privacy problems that come with giving the police a connected camera system like Axon’s Fusus. But Nashville locals are right to be skeptical of just how much protection from mass surveillance products they can expect. "I am against these guardrails," council member Ginny Welsch told the Tennessean recently. "I think they're kind of a farce. I don't think there can be any

EFF to NSF: AI Action Plan Must Put People First

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/13

This past January the new administration issued an executive order on Artificial Intelligence (AI), taking the place of the now rescinded Biden-era order, calling for a new AI Action Plan tasked with “unburdening” the current AI industry to stoke innovation and remove “engineered social agendas” from the industry. This new action plan for the president is currently being developed and open to public comments to the National Science Foundation (NSF).EFF answered with a few clear points: First,

EFF Thanks Fastly for Donated Tools to Help Keep Our...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/13

EFF’s most important platform for welcoming everyone to join us in our fight for a better digital future is our website, eff.org. We thank Fastly for their generous in-kind contribution of services helping keep EFF’s website online. Eff.org was first registered in 1990, just three months after the organization was founded, and long before the web was an essential part of daily life. Our website and the fight for digital rights grew rapidly alongside each other. However, along with rising threats to

EFFecting Change: Is There Hope for Social Media?

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/13

Please join EFF for the next segment of EFFecting Change, our livestream series covering digital privacy and free speech. EFFecting Change Livestream Series:Is There Hope for Social Media?Thursday, March 20th12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Pacific - Check Local TimeThis event is LIVE and FREE! Users are frustrated with legacy social media companies. Is it possible to effectively build the kinds of communities we want online while avoiding the pitfalls that have driven people away? Join our panel featuring EFF

EFF Joins AllOut’s Campaign Calling for Meta to Stop...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/13

In January, Meta made targeted changes to its hateful conduct policy that would allow dehumanizing statements to be made about certain vulnerable groups. More specifically, Meta’s hateful conduct policy now contains the following text: People sometimes use sex- or gender-exclusive language when discussing access to spaces often limited by sex or gender, such as access to bathrooms, specific schools, specific military, law enforcement, or teaching roles, and health or support groups. Other times,

In Memoriam: Mark Klein, AT&T Whistleblower Who...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/12

EFF is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Mark Klein, a bona fide hero who risked civil liability and criminal prosecution to help expose a massive spying program that violated the rights of millions of Americans.Mark didn’t set out to change the world. For 22 years, he was a telecommunications technician for AT&T, most of that in San Francisco. But he always had a strong sense of right and wrong and a commitment to privacy. Mark not only saw how it works, he had the documents to prove

EFF Stands with Perkins Coie and the Rule of Law

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/12

As a legal organization that has fought in court to defend the rights of technology users for almost 35 years, including numerous legal challenges to federal government overreach, Electronic Frontier Foundation unequivocally supports Perkins Coie’s challenge to the Trump administration’s shocking, vindictive, and unconstitutional Executive Order. In punishing the law firm for its zealous advocacy on behalf of its clients, the order offends the First Amendment, the rule of law, and the legal

Anchorage Police Department: AI-Generated Police...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/12

The Anchorage Police Department (APD) has concluded its three-month trial of Axon’s Draft One, an AI system that uses audio from body-worn cameras to write narrative police reports for officers—and has decided not to retain the technology. Axon touts this technology as “force multiplying,” claiming it cuts in half the amount of time officers usually spend writing reports—but APD disagrees. The APD deputy chief told Alaska Public Media, “We were hoping that it would be providing significant time

Hawaii Takes a Stand for Privacy: HCR 144/HR 138...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/11

In a bold push for medical privacy, Hawaii's House of Representatives has introduced HCR 144/HR 138, a resolution calling for the Hawaii Attorney General to investigate whether crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are violating patient privacy laws. Often referred to as "fake clinics" or “unregulated pregnancy centers” (UPCs), these are non-medical centers that provide free pregnancy tests and counseling, but typically do not offer essential reproductive care like abortion or contraception. In Hawaii,

Ten Years of The Foilies

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/11

A look back at the games governments played to avoid transparency In the year 2015, we witnessed the launch of OpenAI, a debate over the color of a dress going viral, and a Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples have the right to get married. It was also the year that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) first published The Foilies, an annual report that hands out tongue-in-cheek "awards" to government agencies and officials that respond outrageously when a member of the public tries to

Right to Repair: A Prime Example of Grassroots Advocacy

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/11

Good old-fashioned grassroots advocacy is one of the best tools we have right now for making a positive change for our civil liberties online. When we unite toward a shared goal, anything is possible, and the right to repair movement is a prime example of this. In July of last year, EFF and many other organizations celebrated Repair Independence Day to commemorate both California and Minnesota enacting strong right to repair laws. And, very recently, it was reported that all 50 states have

EFF Sends Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/11

On Monday, March 10, EFF sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment Act (STOP CSAM Act) ahead of a committee hearing on the bill. EFF opposed the original and amended versions of this bill in the previous Congress, and we are concerned to see the Committee moving to consider the same flawed ideas in the current Congress. At its core, STOP CSAM endangers encrypted messages –

RightsCon Community Calls for Urgent Release of Alaa...

Deeplinks ·

2025/03/10

Last month saw digital rights organizations and social justice groups head to Taiwan for this year's RightsCon conference on human rights in the digital age. During the conference, one prominent message was spoken loud and clear: Alaa Abd El-Fattah must be immediately released from illegal detention in Egypt. "As Alaa’s mother, I thank you for your solidarity and ask you to not to give up until Alaa is out of prison." During the RightsCon opening ceremony, Access Now’s Executive Director, Alejandro

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