Top Features
A new federal bill would combine some of the worst elements of various social media bills aimed at “protecting the children” into a single law. The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S.1291) ultimately would lead to a second-class online experience for young people, mandated privacy-invasive age verification for all users, and in all likelihood, the creation of digital IDs for all U.S. citizens and residents. Jason Kelley and Sophia Cope give the lowdown.
The world envisioned by the authors of this bill is one where everyone has less privacy and less power to speak out and access information online. You can help stop it.
EFF Updates
Apple has announced a surprising stance in support of California’s Right to Repair Act (S.B. 244). This is a sign that the public’s strong support of the right to repair has forced Apple to change its position, and now is the time for you to help keep the pressure on lawmakers to get the Right to Repair Act passed in California. Thorin Klosowski tells the story.
When a company negligently fails to secure your personal data, you should have accountability and relief—including standing to sue. Unfortunately, an appellate ruling in the Marriott data breach case merely kicks the can down the road. Cindy Cohn provides an update on this important case.
United Nations delegates spent recent weeks at UN Headquarters in New York City for negotiations that will shape the digital rights of billions—and EFF was there to warn about vague international cooperation measures with few conditions and safeguards that put basic privacy and free expression rights at risk. Katitza Rodriguez explains it all. (Bonus: Click here to watch the UN press conference that EFF helped organize to sound the alarm on this dangerous draft treaty.)
We're piloting an audio version of this EFFector newsletter. We hope you enjoy it!
Announcements
Join us at the EFF Awards on Thursday, September 14 at the Regency Lodge in San Francisco! You'll hear from incredible individuals, have the opportunity to meet with other EFF supporters, and enjoy a variety of appetizers and drinks with the price of admission—only $55, with a discount for EFF members and students. Our host for the evening will be renowned science fiction author, activist, journalist, and EFF Special Advisor Cory Doctorow. Help us celebrate digital rights and this year's honorees: Alexandra Asanovna Elbakyan, the Library Freedom Project, and the Signal Foundation. Not sure if you should attend? If you’re reading this, you definitely should!
EFF’s Lee Tien will speak on a panel about California constitutional privacy and Cindy Cohn will moderate a panel on fighting the public/private surveillance partnership at the Berkeley Technology Law Journal’s fourth annual technology and racial justice symposium on Friday, October 27 at the Bancroft Hotel in Berkeley. The symposium—hosted with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, Coalition of Minorities in Technology Law, Privacy Law at Berkeley, and Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice—will bring together leading academics and practitioners to explore the landscape of California’s constitutional right to privacy at age 50, highlight how the right is currently used to promote racial justice and other social progress, and discuss new creative and intersectional uses of state constitutional rights to privacy to defend and promote justice in the digital age.
EFF has launched the Tor University Challenge, a campaign urging higher education institutions to support free, anonymous speech by running a Tor network relay. Universities answering this call to defend private access to an uncensored web will receive prizes while helping millions of people around the world and providing students and faculty a vital learning experience. Tell your alma mater to join the network today!
Don’t miss out on our new member t-shirt for 2023! Donate at the Copper Level or above to receive our new Watchers t-shirt.
Job Openings
EFF is hiring an International Policy Advisor focused on advocacy developments in Europe and globally. The position will support EFF’s international policy team and be responsible for overseeing files related to tech, free expression, privacy, and human rights. Ideal candidates will have deep expertise in EU lawmaking and experience representing civil society organizations at policy and global venues, and collaborating with international coalition partners.
MiniLinks
As Barbie-mania grips the world, the peppy cultural icon deserves thanks for helping to illustrate a dark side of AI, EFF’s Paige Collings and Rory Mir wrote for Salon.
Intelligence agencies and the Justice Department have gone to Congress this summer, hats in hand, promising it will all be different this time if lawmakers just reauthorize their massive power to spy on Americans without warrants. But it won’t be different, EFF’s India McKinney wrote, and Congress must either seriously reform the law or let it die in ignominy.
United Kingdom politicians are poised to enact a deeply misguided and flawed law that will make the internet less safe for everyone on Earth—and the United States and European Union aren’t far behind, EFF's Paige Collings warns in this fiery op-ed.
EFF worked with our allies to host a news conference last month at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, highlighting the serious dangers posed by the UN Cybercrime Treaty that delegates were meeting to negotiate. EFF’s Katitza Rodriguez warned the proposal will give governments the green light to persecute activists, journalists, and marginalized groups — in other words, the usual victims when it comes to authoritarian regimes' attempts to criminalize speech and privacy.
Hackers are able to grab a target’s IP address, potentially revealing their general physical location, by simply sending a link over the Skype mobile app; the target does not need to click the link or otherwise interact with the hacker beyond opening the message. “I think just about anybody could be harmed by this,” EFF’s Cooper Quintin told 404 Media.
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