Top Features
Closely following arguments EFF has made in a number of cases, the court found that geofence warrants constitute the sort of “general, exploratory rummaging” that the drafters of the Fourth Amendment intended to outlaw. This conflicts with another circuit's appellate decision.
EFF Updates
Kit Walsh, EFF’s Director of Artificial Intelligence & Access to Knowledge Legal Projects, and EFF Senior Staff Technologist Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, discuss how AI shouldn’t be a tool to cash in, or to classify people for favor or disfavor, but instead to engage with technology and information in ways that advance us all.
EFF has filed our opening brief in the appeal of a federal trial court ruling that lets patent litigants treat courts like their own private tribunals, effectively shutting out the public — and we’ve got a lot of allies supporting us.
Bumble markets itself as a safe dating app, but it may be selling your deeply personal data unless you opt-out—risking your privacy for their profit.
Since the start of the Israeli military response to Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack, U.S.-based companies like Google and Amazon have been under pressure to reveal more about the services they provide and the nature of their relationships with the Israeli forces engaging in the military response.
The UN General Assembly could consider this awful treaty as soon as next month. If it passes, Member States will be invited to sign and ratify the treaty — and that’s where civil society and human rights defenders can unite to kill it.
Here's an audio version of EFFector. We hope you enjoy it!
Announcements
This summer marks the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Join EFF on Wednesday, Aug. 28 for a livestream discussion about restrictions to reproductive healthcare and the choices people seeking an abortion must face in the digital age where everything is connected and surveillance is rampant. Learn what’s happening across the United States and how you can get involved.
EFF is excited to be at TechCrunch Disrupt, Oct. 28-30 in San Francisco, for the first time! We'll be in the Expo Hall, where you can stop by the EFF booth to chat with our team and learn about the latest developments in defending digital freedom for all. You can even grab some of the latest EFF swag when you take advantage of our membership specials or donate! Digital freedom supporters can even get a 35% discount off of any ticket type by using code "eff35" when registering online. We'll see you there!
Register now for the EFF Awards ceremony, 6:30 pm PT on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 at the Golden Gate Club, 135 Fisher Loop in San Francisco’s Presidio. Carolina Botero, Connecting Humanity, and 404 Media will receive the 2024 EFF Awards for their vital work in ensuring that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people. Fansplaining co-host and The Rec Center co-curator Elizabeth Minkel will deliver the keynote address. The ceremony also will be livestreamed and recorded.
Job Openings
EFF seeks a Human Resources Manager to oversee all day-to-day HR operations and supervise a team of two staff members. The HR Manager, working on-site in San Francisco, will help build the systems and procedures needed to support effective delivery of HR services across the organization, and also will partner with the finance and information technology (IT) staff to enhance and better integrate HR, finance, and IT functions. We’re looking for someone with strong knowledge of HR compliance and best practices in a non-profit setting as well as a track record of inclusive leadership and management.
We’re seeking applications for the Spring 2025 Intern Class! EFF’s legal internships provide law students with a unique opportunity to develop valuable skills and real-world experience while working with a nationally-recognized public interest law firm. Legal interns learn from and assist EFF’s staff attorneys in all aspects of litigation, including legal research, factual investigation, and drafting of memoranda and briefs, while also helping with policy research, client counseling, and the development of public education materials (e.g., blog posts). EFF’s docket ranges across the technological and legal landscape, from online fair use of copyrighted materials to illegal government spying.
MiniLinks
The U.N. cybercrime convention is a blank check for surveillance abuses,” said EFF’s Katitza Rodriguez. “It can and will be wielded as a tool for systemic rights violations.”
“All these extremely sensitive pieces of information, linked to people’s faces?” said EFF’s Jason Kelley. For a hacker, “that’s the best [treasure trove] I can imagine.”
“This suit sits at the uncomfortable junction of antitrust law and free speech,” said EFF’s Mitch Stoltz.
“If we do not know about security vulnerabilities, we cannot fix them, and we cannot make better systems in the future,” said Hannah Zhao, part of the EFF team that helped ensure the Defcon talk could go ahead after a cease-and-desist letter was received.
Using the United Kingdom’s racist riots as an excuse to expand law enforcement’s use of face recognition technology is a rash mistake that will only exacerbate harm against the immigrant communities already under threat, wrote EFF’s Paige Collings.
|
