EFFector Volume 37, Issue 8š¤ A Surveillance Startup in Damage ControlWelcome to an all-new EFFector, your regular digest on everything digital rights from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In our 825th issue: An investigation into AI-generated police reports, a secret deal to sell flight passenger data to the feds, and why mass surveillance canāt be fixed with a software patch. When you lose your rights online, you lose them in real life. Become an EFF member today!
āFeatured Story: āFeature Updatesā Canāt Make Mass Surveillance Safe![]() Itās been a rough couple of months for Flock Safety. In recent weeks, weāve learned that the surveillance startupās nationwide camera network has been used to illegally share data with ICE, search for someone who self-administered an abortion, and potentially violate Illinois law. However, Flock has a bright idea for how to make its continent-spanning web of more than 80,000 vehicle-tracking cameras safe: new product features! You and I might see some obvious problems with creating a surveillance social network, one where thousands of law enforcement agencies, businesses, and homeowner associations can track and share our every move. But then weāre not selling automated license plate readers (ALPR), are we? For years, weāve warned about the dangers of ALPR networks. Now, faced with mounting evidence of widespread abuse, Flock has released a set of statements to assure the public that, actually, theyāve been super-duper responsible. And even if some privacy "oopsies" have occurred, they plan to roll out ālasting improvementsā (that is, easily circumvented software tweaks) to discourage users from breaking the law. As we write on our blog, however, ALPR surveillance systems are inherently vulnerable to both technical exploitation and human manipulation. These vulnerabilities are not theoreticalāthey represent real pathways for bad actors to access vast databases containing millions of Americans' location data. When surveillance databases are breached, the consequences extend far beyond typical data theftāthis information can be used to harass, stalk, or even extort. The intimate details of people's daily routines, their associations, and their political activities may become available to anyone with malicious intent. Flock operates as a single point of failure that can compromiseāand has compromisedāthe privacy of millions of Americans simultaneously. These software tweaks and feature rollouts cannot assuage the fear engendered by the massive surveillance system Flock has built and continues to expand. Thankfully, more and more communities are pushing back against Flock. In recent months, Austin, San Marcos, and Denver have all rejected plans to continue or expand their Flock programs amid growing awareness of ALPR harms. Given how pervasive, sprawling, and ungovernable ALPR sharing networks have become, the only "improvement" we can rely on to protect people's rights and safety is no network at all.
āEFF Updatesš¤ AI POLICING: When AI is used to write police reports, how can you tell the difference between what an officer wrote and what was generated by AI? With Axonās Draft One, which generates police reports from body cam recordings, you canāt. A new EFF investigation finds thereās no meaningful way to audit Draft One usage ā because Axon designed it that way. šļø TAXPAYER PRIVACY: Government information is siloed for a reason: to protect privacy, to prevent the use of sensitive data to punish and harass people, and to preserve the legitimacy of civic institutions. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed by EFF, we explain why the IRS sharing personal tax information with ICE is improper and makes innocent taxpayers vulnerable to dangerous mistakes, including wrongful arrest, detention, and deportation. āļø PLANE WRONG: Airlines shouldnāt be selling our names, flight itineraries, and financial details to law enforcement. But thatās just what a databroker owned by major U.S. airlines has been doing. And, tellingly, the airlines forbid U.S. Customs and Border Protection from revealing where the information they sold them came from. š§ ON THE POD: On a recent episode of EFF's "How to Fix the Internet" podcast, we chatted with Deirdre Connolly, a cutting-edge thinker post-quantum cryptography. Listen to our discussion to learn more about what quantum computing means for the future of digital security and whatās being done to defend against tomorrowās attacks today.
Youāre Invited: the 2025 EFF Awards![]() EFF is honored to announce that Just Futures Law, Erie Meyer, and Software Freedom Law Center, India will receive the 2025 EFF Awards for their vital work in ensuring that technology supports privacy, freedom, justice, and innovation for all people. The EFF Awards recognize specific and substantial technical, social, economic, or cultural contributions in diverse fields, including journalism, art, digital access, legislation, tech development, and law. The EFF Awards ceremony will start at 6 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025 at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria, 101 Henry Adams St. in San Francisco. Guests can register at https://eff.org/effawards. The ceremony will be recorded and shared online on Sept. 12.
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"At this point, the system has become fundamentally ungovernable."EFF's Sarah Hamid in this week's EFFector audio companion on how policies and product features have failed to make automated license plate reader networks safe. Hear our full interview with Sarah here.
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