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Deeplinks

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

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DDoSed by Policy: Website Takedowns and Keeping...

Deeplinks ·

2025/02/05

Who needs a DDoS (Denial of Service) attack when you have a new president? As of February 2nd, thousands of web pages and datasets have been removed from U.S. government agencies following a series of executive orders. The impacts span the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, all the way to programs like Head Start. Government workers had just two days to carry out sweeping takedowns and rewrites due to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management. The

European Commission Gets Dinged for Unlawful Data...

Deeplinks ·

2025/02/04

The European Commission was caught failing to comply with its own data protection regulations and, in a first, ordered to pay damages to a user for the violation. The €400 ($415) award may be tiny compared to fines levied against Big Tech by European authorities, but it’s still a win for users and considerably more than just a blip for the “talk about embarrassing” file at the commission.The case, Bindl vs. EC, underscores the principle that when people’s data is lost, stolen, or shared without

Key Issues Shaping State-Level Tech Policy

Deeplinks ·

2025/02/04

We’re taking a moment to reflect on the 2024 state legislative session and what it means for the future of digital rights at the state level. Informed by insights from the State of State Technology Policy 2024 report by NYU’s Center on Technology Policy and EFF’s own advocacy work in state legislatures, this blog breaks down the key issues (Privacy, Children’s Online Safety, Artificial Intelligence, Competition, Broadband and Net Neutrality, and Right to Repair), taking a look back at last year’s

How State Tech Policies in 2024 Set the Stage for 2025

Deeplinks ·

2025/02/04

EFF has been at the forefront of defending civil liberties in the digital age, with our activism team working across state, federal, and local levels to safeguard everyone's rights in the rapidly evolving tech landscape. As federal action on technology policy often lags, many are looking to state governments to lead the way in addressing tech-related issues. Drawing insights from the State of State Technology Policy 2024 report by NYU’s Center on Technology Policy and EFF's own experiences

Open Licensing Promotes Culture and Learning. That's...

Deeplinks ·

2025/02/03

At EFF, we’re big fans of the Creative Commons project, which makes copyright work in empowering ways for people who want to share their work widely. EFF uses Creative Commons licenses on nearly all of our public communications. To highlight the importance of open licensing as a tool for building a shared culture, we are upgrading the license on our website to the latest version, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Open licenses like Creative Commons are an important tool for sharing

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/31

If you’ve got lawyers and a copyright, the law gives you tremendous power to silence speech you don’t like. Copyright’s statutory damages can be as high as $150,000 per work infringed, even if no actual harm is done. This makes it far too dangerous to rely on the limitations and exceptions to fair use, as you may face a financial death sentence if a court decides you got it wrong. Most would-be speakers back down in the face of such risks, no matter now legitimate their use. The Digital Millennium

Executive Order to the State Department Sideswipes...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/30

In the first weeks of the Trump Administration, we have witnessed a spate of sweeping, confusing, and likely unconstitutional executive orders, including some that have already had devastating human consequences. EFF is tracking many of them, as well as other developments that impact digital rights. Right now, we want to draw attention to one of the executive orders that directly impacts the freedom tools that people around the world rely on to safeguard their security, privacy, and anonymity. EFF

The Internet Never Forgets: Fighting the Memory Hole

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/30

If there is one axiom that we should want to be true about the internet, it should be: the internet never forgets. One of the advantages of our advancing technology is that information can be stored and shared more easily than ever before. And, even more crucially, it can be stored in multiple places. Those who back things up and index information are critical to preserving a shared understanding of facts and history, because the powerful will always seek to influence the public’s perception of

Protect Your Privacy on Bumble

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/30

Late last year, Bumble finally rolled out its updated privacy policy after a coalition of twelve digital rights, LGBTQ+, human rights, and gender justice civil society organizations launched a campaign demanding stronger data protections.Unfortunately, the company, like other dating apps, has not moved far enough, and continues to burden users with the responsibility of navigating misleading privacy settings on the app, as well as absorbing the consequences of infosec gaps, however severe. This

EFF to State AGs: Time to Investigate Crisis...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/28

Discovering that you’re pregnant can trigger a mix of emotions—excitement, uncertainty, or even distress—depending on your circumstances. Whatever your feelings are, your next steps will likely involve disclosing that news, along with other deeply personal information, to a medical provider or counselor as you explore your options.Many people will choose to disclose that information to their trusted obstetricians, or visit their local Planned Parenthood clinic. Others, however, may instead turn to

What Proponents of Digital Replica Laws Can Learn...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/28

We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation Performers—and ordinary people—are understandably concerned that they may be replaced or defamed by AI-generated imitations. We’ve seen a

California Law Enforcement Misused State Databases...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/28

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LACSD) committed wholesale abuse of sensitive criminal justice databases in 2023, violating a specific rule against searching the data to run background checks for concealed carry firearm permits. The sheriff’s department’s 6,789 abuses made up a majority of the record 7,275 violations across California that were reported to the state Department of Justice (CADOJ) in 2023 regarding the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). Records

Don't Make Copyright Law in Smoke-Filled Rooms

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/28

We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. Copyright law affects everything we do on the internet. So why do some lawmakers and powerful companies still think they can write new copyright

It's Copyright Week 2025: Join Us in the Fight for...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/27

We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation One of the unintended consequences of the internet is that more of us than ever are aware of how much of our lives is affected by copyright. People see

EFF to Michigan Supreme Court: Cell Phone Search...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/25

Last week, EFF, along with the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, ACLU, and ACLU of Michigan, filed an amicus brief in People v. Carson in the Supreme Court of Michigan, challenging the constitutionality of the search warrant of Mr. Carson's smart phone.In this case, Mr. Carson was arrested for stealing money from his neighbor's safe with a co-conspirator. A few months later, law enforcement applied for a search warrant for Mr. Carson's cell phone. The search warrant enumerated the claims that

Face Scans to Estimate Our Age: Harmful and Creepy AF

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/23

Government must stop restricting website access with laws requiring age verification. Some advocates of these censorship schemes argue we can nerd our way out of the many harms they cause to speech, equity, privacy, and infosec. Their silver bullet? “Age estimation” technology that scans our faces, applies an algorithm, and guesses how old we are – before letting us access online content and opportunities to communicate with others. But when confronted with age estimation face scans, many people

Second Circuit Rejects Record Labels’ Attempt to...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/23

In a major win for creator communities, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has once again handed video streaming site Vimeo a solid win in its long-running legal battle with Capitol Records and a host of other record labels. The labels claimed that Vimeo was liable for copyright infringement on its site, and specifically that it can’t rely on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor because Vimeo employees “interacted” with user-uploaded videos that included infringing

Speaking Freely: Lina Attalah

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/23

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.* Jillian York: Welcome, let’s start here. What does free speech or free expression mean to you personally? Lina Attalah: Being able to think without too many calculations and without fear. York: What are the qualities that make you passionate about the work that you do, and also about telling stories and utilizing your free expression in that way? Well, it ties in with your first question. Free speech is basically being able to express oneself

The Impact of Age Verification Measures Goes Beyond...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/23

As age verification bills pass across the world under the guise of “keeping children safe online,” governments are increasingly giving themselves the authority to decide what topics are deemed “safe” for young people to access, and forcing online services to remove and block anything that may be deemed “unsafe.” This growing legislative trend has sparked significant concerns and numerous First Amendment challenges, including a case currently pending before the Supreme Court–Free Speech Coalition v

Texas Is Enforcing Its State Data Privacy Law. So...

Deeplinks ·

2025/01/22

States need to have and use data privacy laws to bring privacy violations to light and hold companies accountable for them. So, we were glad to see that the Texas Attorney General’s Office has filed its first lawsuit under Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) to take the Allstate Corporation to task for sharing driver location and other driving data without telling customers. In its complaint, the attorney general’s office alleges that Allstate and a number of its subsidiaries (some of which

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