Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Articles by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

An employee at a cafe, which uses a unified biometric facial recognition system for payments, in Moscow, Russia, 25 March 2020, Gavriil GrigorovTASS via Getty Images

Why EFF doesn’t support bans on private use of face recognition

Instead of a prohibition on private use, EFF supports strict laws to ensure that each of us is empowered to choose if and by whom our faceprints may be collected.

A young woman consults her smartphone for the next address to visit while canvassing for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden before the general election, Landsdowne, Pennsylvania, 1 November 2020, Mark Makela/Getty Images

EFF’s top recommendations for the Biden administration

EFF prepared a transition memo for the incoming Biden administration, outlining their recommendations for how it should act to protect everyone’s civil liberties in a digital world.

Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, uses his gavel during a hearing titled "Financial Industry Regulation: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency", Washington, DC, 13 June 2018, Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

New OCC rule is a win in the fight against financial censorship

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized its Fair Access to Financial Services rule, which will prevent banks from refusing to serve entire classes of customers that they find politically or morally unsavory.

A Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) "Green" police officer stops a dump truck driver and hands him a ticket, New York, U.S., 26 May 2009, EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images

So-called “consent searches” harm our digital rights

Learn more about how the police evades the Fourth Amendment’s requirement to obtain a warrant.

Beyond platforms: Private censorship, Parler, and the stack

Private companies have strong legal rights under U.S. law to refuse to host or support speech they don’t like. But that refusal carries different risks when a group of companies comes together to ensure that certain speech or speakers are effectively taken offline altogether.

EFF to FinCEN: Stop pushing for more financial surveillance

EFF submitted comments to the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) opposing the agency’s proposal for new regulations of cryptocurrency transactions.

Oakland Privacy and the people of Vallejo prevail in the fight for surveillance accountability

In December, Solano Superior Court Judge Bradley Nelson upheld the gift of surveillance accountability that the California State legislature had provided state residents when they passed 2015’s Senate Bill 741 (Cal. Govt. Code § 53166).

COVID-19 and surveillance tech: Year in review 2020

Location tracking apps. Spyware to enforce quarantine. Immunity passports. Throughout 2020, governments around the world deployed invasive surveillance technologies to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.