Top Features
We’re challenging Ring spokesperson Shaq to a one-on-one: not on the basketball court, but across the table, so we can discuss with him how the ubiquitous surveillance facilitated by Ring and its privacy-invasive partnerships with police can harm communities. Amazon and Ring have either ignored or dismissed the growing concerns among privacy experts, activists, and communities about the rapidly expanding number of partnerships between Ring and law enforcement. Two months ago, there were under 300; currently, the number has grown to well over 600.
A federal judge has ruled that suspicionless searches of travelers’ electronic cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices at the U.S. border are unconstitutional. This enormous win in our Alasaad v. McAleenan case will help ensure that federal agents at international airports and other U.S. ports of entry cannot turn international travel into an excuse to rifle through your private digital information without individualized suspicion. EFF fought for tech users for years before arriving at the latest victory in Alasaad, and this won’t be the last battle. Donate to EFF today and continue to protect the future of civil liberties, wherever technology leads us.
In two briefs filed this month, EFF, along with co-counsel at Fenwick & West and attorney David Halperin, argues that the public interest must be the touchstone of the copyright fair use analysis where the works in question are the law. A finding of infringement in this case would not just disserve the public; it would violate the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee and the due process protections of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
EFF Updates
With federal agencies set to run out of money this week, House lawmakers passed a short-term funding bill that contained a nasty surprise. Tucked into the end of this must-pass legislation, in a section titled “Other Matters,” is language reauthorizing three Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities currently set to expire on December 15, 2019. The new expiration date would be March 15, 2020. The extension of these surveillance authorities, even for three months, is bad enough. Hiding the language in the back of a must-pass funding bill shows a patent disregard for the importance of this issue.
Foreign police often want to investigate a crime by gathering potential evidence from Internet companies located in another country. What if police in Poland want to get a user’s data from an ISP in Germany, Philippines, Japan—or vice versa? Can they do this? Under what rules, and with what kind of oversight?
EFF, Kaspersky, Operation Safe Escape, and seven other organizations today launched the Coalition Against Stalkerware to unite and mobilize security software companies and advocates for domestic abuse victims in actions to combat and shut down malicious stalkerware apps.
Each year during Sunshine Week (March 15-21, 2020), EFF publishes The Foilies to shine light on all the manifold ways that authorities thwart the public’s right to examine government records. These might include exorbitant fees, excessive redactions, or even the arrest of reporters for simply asking for documents
We have said it before and will say it again: without new privacy laws, or a change in how the courts view those harms, companies will not adequately invest in consumer privacy protection.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a forceful opinion today holding that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects individuals from being forced to disclose the passcode to their devices to the police. In a 4-3 decision in Commonwealth v. Davis, the court found that disclosing a password is “testimony” protected by the Fifth Amendment’s privilege against self-incrimination.
Amid months of damaging investigative reporting and pressure by advocacy groups like EFF, senators are finally joining the fight to learn just how invasive and harmful Amazon’s Ring cameras are to the privacy of people in their vicinity.
Job Openings
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking a Legal Assistant. The ideal candidate is a smart, highly-motivated person with excellent organization and communication skills eager to provide administrative support for EFF’s legal team. You will be performing a variety of support tasks including arranging travel, tracking legislative activities, assisting with intake and providing backup support for the legal secretaries.
The Organizer will support the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s local advocacy efforts, and engage in outreach to community groups, with a focus on technical communities and hackerspaces. Working closely with the Activism team, the Organizer will spend part of their time traveling throughout the US to speak at events and facilitate workshops, and part of their time at our home office in San Francisco working to grow our national network by developing remote relationships with organizers and coordinating outreach to new groups.
We’re looking for a Development Director to lead the organization's fundraising programs and join EFF’s senior leadership. The Development Director will take charge of EFF's eleven-person Development Team in their efforts to raise over $13 million each year. The Development Director will lead, support and build the capacity of our growing development team, manage all aspects of our development strategy, and have a strong focus on building our individual major donor and grant fundraising capacity.
MiniLinks
Police officers who download videos captured by homeowners’ Ring doorbell cameras can keep them forever and share them with whomever they’d like without providing evidence of a crime, the Amazon-owned firm told a lawmaker this month.
Russian organization Roskomsvoboda and a Russian civil rights attorney have launched a lawsuit, petition, and public campaign to get a moratorium on the Russian government's use of face recognition.
You might want to think twice before plugging in at an airport or on the train.
|
