By Brendan Scanland WASHINGTON, D.C. — Every four years, Congress is tasked with certifying the Presidential Election results. The 2024 Presidential Election was officially certified by Congress on Monday and went much smoother than the previous certification four years ago. As President of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the joint session of…
Vice President Kamala Harris presided over a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, overseeing the Electoral College vote count that confirmed her 2024 loss to Donald Trump — a stark contrast to the chaos that upended the process four years ago. This time there were no protests and no objections from members of Congress…
Which surveillance technologies are California police using? Are they buying access to your location data? If so, how much are they paying? These are basic questions the Electronic Frontier Foundation is trying to answer in a new lawsuit called Pen-Link v. County of San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office. EFF filed a motion in California Superior Court…
A global spy tool exposed the locations of billions of people to anyone willing to pay. A Catholic group bought location data about gay dating app users in an effort to out gay priests. A location data broker sold lists of people who attended political protests. What do these privacy violations have in common? They…
The steady rise of decentralized networks this year is transforming social media. Platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads are still in their infancy but have already shown that when users are given options, innovation thrives and it results in better tools and protections for our rights online. By moving towards a digital landscape that can’t…
Policies aimed at fostering digital government processes are gaining traction in Latin America, at local and regional levels. While these initiatives can streamline access to public services, it can also make them less accessible, less clear, and put people’s fundamental rights at risk. As we move forward, we must emphasize transparency and privacy guarantees during…
At times this year, it seemed that Congress was going to give up its duty to protect our rights online—particularly when the Senate passed the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) by a large majority in July. But this legislation, which would chill protected speech and almost certainly result in privacy-invasive age verification requirements for…
There’s no part of your life now where you can avoid the onslaught of “artificial intelligence.” Whether you’re trying to search for a recipe and sifting through AI-made summaries or listening to your cousin talk about how they’ve fired their doctor and replaced them with a chatbot, it seems now, more than ever, that AI…
This year, nearly half of U.S. states passed laws imposing age verification requirements on online platforms. EFF has opposed these efforts, because they censor the internet and burden access to online speech. Though age verification mandates are often touted as “online safety” measures for kids, the laws actually do more harm than good. They undermine…
The tragic attack on Be’eri kibbutz underscores the ruthless tactics used by Hamas, hiding behind civilians while carrying out brutal acts under the guise of “freedom fighting.” This assault exemplifies the extremist ideology shared by groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic State, which often prioritize eradication of Israel over peace efforts. Anti-Zionist rhetoric, which resonates globally and is fueled by misinterpretations of history, neglects the historical and biblical significance of Jerusalem and Mount Zion as the heart of Israel. Attempts to shift Israel’s capital from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv mirror the absurdity of asking unified Germany to abandon Berlin as its capital.