Top Features
In a stunning 8-to-3 vote on December 6th, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the San Francisco Police Department from using deadly force with remote-controlled robots. The Board also sent the policy back to its Rules Committee for revisions and more public comment. This is a big reversal: just one week earlier, the Board voted 8-3 to authorize the SFPD to use these killer robots. The campaign against the use of this technology was covered by news outlets across the globe and could not have been achieved without the hard work of activists and residents across the Bay Area who worked together and made their voices heard.
On December 7th, Apple announced it will provide fully encrypted iCloud backups, meeting a longstanding demand by EFF and other privacy-focused organizations. EFF applauds Apple for listening to experts, child advocates, and users who want to protect their most sensitive data. Encryption is one of the most important tools we have for maintaining privacy and security online. That’s why we included the demand that Apple let users encrypt iCloud backups in the Fix It Already campaign that we launched in 2019.
The Safe Connections Act (S. 120) overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Congress, and it was signed by the President on December 7th. The Act makes it easier for survivors of domestic violence to separate their phone line from a family plan while keeping their own phone number. It also requires the FCC to create rules to protect the privacy of the people seeking this protection.
EFF and its allies kept the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) “link tax” bill out of must-pass U.S. military legislation. This bill would create a link tax, impacting the ability of users to see and share information online. The next stop? Keeping it out of the year-end omnibus.
EFF Updates
We're piloting an audio version of EFFector's Newsletter. We hope you enjoy it!
Many people have left Twitter recently, feeling the chaos of Elon Musk’s takeover. Many of them are looking for a new home in the “fediverse.” This represents a rare opportunity to make a better corner of the internet…if we don’t screw it up.
More and more people are checking out something called Mastodon as a Twitter alternative, but what is Mastodon anyway? This explainer will help you make heads or tails of this new approach to communications and social media.
EFF has released a series of images taken along the U.S. Mexico-Border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which means they are free to use so long as credit is given to EFF.
Among its many other problems, the Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act would mandate a slew of filtering technologies that online service providers must “accommodate.” And that mandate is broad, so poorly-conceived, and so technically misguided that it will inevitably create serious privacy and security risks.
EFF talks to Electronic Frontier Alliance member Digital Fourth—also known as Restore the Fourth Boston—a local group that has been instrumental in passing surveillance oversight ordinances in the greater Boston area since 2018.
Announcements
On November 10th, individuals from every corner of the digital rights community gathered in San Francisco for the EFF Awards, a newly-rebranded annual celebration of the movement for digital freedom, justice, and innovation. Watch the recorded event here.
EFF is proud to support CES 2023! CES is in full swing with an in-person event in Las Vegas, NV and a virtual event.
Job Openings
EFF is seeking a Chief Development Officer to lead the organization’s fundraising programs. The Chief Development Officer will lead and oversee the day-to-day management and operations of the development team, co-develop and manage all aspects of our development strategy and help build our membership, major donor and fundraising capacity.
MiniLinks
In a landmark ruling, Meta will only be able to run advertising based on personal data with users' consent.
ICE reported that they accidentally posted the names, birthdates, nationalities and detention locations of more than 6,000 immigrants who claimed to be fleeing torture and persecution.
The Border Chronicle joins EFF on a tour to visit the fortification of surveillance on the United States-Mexico border.
The Center for Democracy and Technology has a new report that they hope can serve as a guide to the post-election audit landscape in 2022 and a path forward for improving post-election audits in 2024 and beyond.
The founder of Girls Who Code writes in Time that employer surveillance of remote employees, which usually comes with punitive measures for those employees deemed insufficiently active, hits mothers with children at home especially hard.
The New York Times asks what happened to self-service kiosks at airports, and the answer is that an increasing number of travelers are being shepherded into face recognition.
EFF’s Cory Doctorow is in the New Yorker this Week, dropping gems like “When we design a computer that treats its user or owner as its adversary, we lay the groundwork for unimaginable acts of oppression and terror.”
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