Top Features
The United Nations Ad Hoc Committee is just weeks away from finalizing a too-broad Cybercrime Convention. This draft would normalize unchecked domestic surveillance and rampant government overreach, allowing serious human rights abuses around the world. See also our deep dive on how the flawed treaty would criminalize the work of security researchers and investigative journalists.
As the current leadership of the EU Council enters its final weeks, it is debating a dangerous proposal that could lead to scanning the private files of billions of people.
EFF Updates
Chancey Fleet wants a technological future that’s more organically attuned to people’s needs, which requires including people with disabilities—including impaired vision and blindness—in every step of the development and deployment process.
This technology is like dragging a fishing net, rather than a single hook in the water. Every phone in the vicinity connects with the device; even people completely unrelated to an investigation get wrapped up in the surveillance.
Have you got a lead foot when you’re driving? If your car has internet capabilities, GPS tracking or OnStar, your car knows your driving history. And now we know: Your car insurance carrier might know it, too.
The recent wave of protests calling for peace in Palestine have been met with unwarranted and aggressive suppression from law enforcement, universities, and other bad actors. We suggest some precautions activists should take to protect themselves and their communities.
EFF has urged California lawmakers to oppose an ill-advised bill that would require internet users to show their ID in order to look at sexually explicit content, effectively censoring the internet for all users.
Here’s an audio version of EFFector. We hope you enjoy it!
Announcements
EFF is celebrating its 34th anniversary with a miniseries of campfire tales from our friends, The Encryptids—the rarely-seen creatures who’ve become digital rights legends. They've come out of the woodwork to celebrate the virtues of a web that supports online privacy, free expression, and digital access for everyone. The Encryptids may be mysterious, but your digital rights shouldn’t be.
EFF will be back in Las Vegas for Black Hat USA on August 7 and 8! We'll be in the Business Hall, where you can come say hi and learn more about the work we are doing to defend digital freedoms. EFF supporters attending in-person can get $200 off briefing tickets by using the code "EFF2024" when registering online.
Join Jillian C. York, EFF's Director for International Freedom of Expression, and local online rights supporters for a Speakeasy meetup on Thursday, June 27 in Berlin, Germany! Raise a glass and discover EFF's latest work defending digital freedom online.
EFF is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world, championing user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. Our mission is to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people of the world.
But what does that mean to you? We’d love to know what you think of EFF: Why do you support us, how do you see our mission, what’s the issue you’re most glad that we’re addressing? Drop us a line at testimonials@eff.org and let us know!
Job Openings
EFF is seeking a Legislative Activist responsible for communicating to lawmakers across the country about the importance of EFF's principles to protect people’s right to privacy, free expression, and innovation. You have experience with the state legislative process, be it as a legislative staffer, a lobbyist, an advocate, or a journalist. You are highly organized and able to balance fast-moving legislative developments across several states. You are a tactical and strategic thinker able to focus both on the day ahead and the long game, and a clear communicator who can explain EFF's issues to a general audience through blog posts and other written materials or in speeches and testimony. This position is part of a highly cross-disciplinary Activism team, and will collaborate regularly with our organizing, legal, and technologist colleagues. Application deadline is Friday, June 28.
Applications are now open for the Fall 2024 Intern Class, with a deadline of June 30! 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
"Global takedown orders threaten freedom of expression around the world, create conflicting legal obligations, and lead to the lowest common denominator of Internet content being available around the world, allowing the least tolerant legal system to determine what we all are able to read and distribute online," said EFF’s David Greene.
“The people who run these companies are perhaps not the most scrupulous or really concerned about the quality of their product,” said EFF’s Eva Galperin.
“There’s little transparency” around bossware that employers use to surveil workers, said EFF’s Hayley Tsukayama. “Even figuring out what is on your computer can be a huge step to figuring out how you want to deal with it.”
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