Daily updates from 21 sources tracking platform decay
Last updated: July 3, 2026 at 7:18 PM UTC
Zoom Session description: The rise of the anti-rights movement is accelerating the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people and identity in Africa. In Senegal, the government’s amendment of Article 319 of Senegal’s The post Resisting anti-rights attacks on the LGBTQ+ movement in the digital age appeared...
Today's links CARDiac, syntax coloring, view source and vibe code: With great abstraction comes great power comes great responsibility comes great loss of fidelity. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Real elections v reality TV; Copyright troll loses license; Who gets fed...
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. To get extended...
How a recent talk by researcher Candice Odgers explains why ban critics are losing
The post “He Didn’t Need to Die.” How an Immigration Detention Center Repeatedly Failed to Address a Mental Health Crisis. appeared first on ProPublica .
This Pride, we’re answering all your digital rights questions in season two of our initiative, LGBT Q&A . You Asked: Is there a way for me to wipe data about me online that could point to my queer identity? EFF’s Answer: You cannot protect everything all the time, but there are ways to wipe...
Sources and leaks from Amazon, Adobe, Atlassian, Citi, and more show what is really happening with AI right now: companies are trying to rein in AI use as costs spiral out of control.
Today's links The difference between "today's task" and "accretive work": Sometimes, "I got it working" is fine, but sometimes it isn't. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Series of tubes; Paralyzed teen beaten bloody by TSA; "Ultra unreal" Chinese lit; London property...
X Corp. should not be able to escape privacy compliance because it changed its name. On May 15, X Corp. filed a petition before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to set aside or modify an order issued in 2022 requiring the company to report regularly to the FTC for its violations of user data. The...
Insiders say Sam Altman is in active talks with the Trump administration.
Earlier this year we wrote about the ridiculous thin-skinned executives at Palantir suing a small independent Swiss online magazine, Republik, that had reported on the great lengths the company had gone to, trying to get the Swiss government to purchase Palantir’s surveillance technology. Palantir...
In the wake of the Sprint T-Mobile merger, wireless carriers immediately stopped trying to compete on price (exactly what deal critics had warned would happen when you reduce sector competition). T-Mobile, which once tried to differentiate itself as the consumer-friendly “uncarrier,” almost...
Last month, SpaceX began making lobbying filings in support of phone unlocking rules making it easier to switch your phone between wireless providers. You might recall that the Biden FCC was on the cusp of installing such rules before the Trump administration, hand in hand with giant telecoms,...
The post Massachusetts Set to Extend Statute of Limitations for Rape Cases With DNA Evidence appeared first on ProPublica .
The post How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral appeared first on ProPublica .
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission released their 48th Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Report . This report summarizes the agencies’ merger enforcement efforts and provides fiscal year 2025 data on the Premerger Notification Program, which alerts the...
Interesting paper: “ Cybersecurity Mission Creep .” Abstract: Cybersecurity is experiencing mission creep. Policymakers are casting more and more problems as issues of cybersecurity. So reframed, wildly different policy issues, from misinformation, to child social media safety laws, to antitrust...
FTC urged to reject Elon Musk’s bid to end X monitoring amid AI concerns.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said today it worked with industry partners to seize hundreds of domains associated with NetNut, a sprawling residential proxy service operated by the publicly-traded Israeli company Alarum Technologies [NASDAQ: ALAR]. The action comes roughly two weeks...
Today's links Technocarcinization: Enshittification is the great leveler. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Grampa's backyard Disneyland; Elizabeth Warren on monopolies; Spotify v Apple (antitrust edn); Exxon lobbyist confesses; "When the Sparrow Falls." Upcoming...
How companies are burning through their AI tokens; and the fake AI-generated flowers all over Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.
”Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” the person who reported the issue said.
The acquisition was approved without concessions by the Department of Justice in June.
Car industry.
Papa Johns is spying on people’s buying activities to predict when they are low on food: The pizza chain recently tapped NBCUniversal, Instacart and the dentsu-owned media agency Carat for help reaching consumers when they’re low on groceries—and thus more likely to be swayed by a mouth-watering...
US lifts curbs on Anthropic’s advanced Fable and Mythos models.
The post A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification appeared first on ProPublica .
Last night, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Fair Price Protection Act, a law banning surveillance pricing for groceries.
Ebay, Amazon, and Etsy are unable to stop the flood of AI-generated seed scams.
Supreme Court will weigh if Apple contempt finding in Epic case is “erroneous.”
Meta's new Starfire AI glasses, made in partnership with Kylie Jenner, are giving me the creeps.
This Pride, we’re answering all your digital rights questions in season two of our initiative, LGBT Q&A . You Asked: I live in the UK, and we have age verification now on a bunch of websites (including Reddit) and now on iPhones. Can you explain what sort of data companies are actually collecting...
Today's links Jo Walton's "Everybody's Perfect": A mystical tour-de-force that makes you feel like your mundane life until this point has all been a boring dream. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Corruption; How much (little) are the AI companies making? Upcoming...
A senior OpenAI employee has contributed code to the project, simply called 'caveman.'
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, together with 17 State Attorneys General, filed a civil lawsuit against Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (Cal-Maine); Hickman’s Egg Ranch Inc. (Hickman’s); and Centrum Valley Holdings LLC, Versova Holdings LLC, and Versova Management Cooperative (Versova) for...
My journey inside the world of LARPing, where hustlebros pretend to be rich for TikTok.
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA , Anthropic and
Logged-out Old Reddit access is “significant source of abusive scraping."
Sources suggest Musk may be mulling big donation to Trump Accounts.
The post “That Guy Is Still Out There” appeared first on ProPublica .
The post To Protect Its Drinking Water, This City Has to Appeal to the Oil Regulators That Put It at Risk appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Trump’s DOJ Said Police Reform Was “Factually Unjustified.” A New Report Shows Otherwise. appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Florida Is Executing Prisoners at a Record Pace, Even as Most of the U.S. Abandons the Death Penalty appeared first on ProPublica .
The Financial Times has a good article on how AI is changing the capabilities of video surveillance, with information from both Israel/Iran and Russia. I wrote about this sort of thing a few years ago, how AI enables mass spying in the way that computers and networks enabled mass surveillance. The...
Today's links Gemini is better than search because Google enshittified search: We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Microsoft antitrust overturned; Scammer carves C64; RIP Jim Baen; GOP rep to constituent's child: "drop dead"...
Reporting from Microsoft Gardens, next to Salesforce Beach, Amazon Port, and the Canva Creative Cabana.
We’ve taken one small step towards robot police officers: a drone capable of disarming a suspect: In a June 22 video posted on the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office’s Instagram page, an officer wearing goggles can be seen operating a drone to retrieve a knife from an armed suspect hiding inside a...
Data Transfers On Monday, the US Supreme Court decided in Trump v. Slaughter that the US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) may not be independent anymore. Since 2000, the EU has relied on the “independent” FTC as the enforcer of EU-US deals on personal data. According to EU treaty law, such...
Spotify competitor Tidal built a reputation by collaborating with musicians and focusing on audio quality. How will it handle the era of AI-generated slop?
A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court struck a major blow against American consumers on Monday, rewriting constitutional law to bring the Federal Trade Commission and other independent agencies directly under the President’s thumb and threatening their ability to protect the public from harmful...
A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court struck a major blow against American consumers on Monday, rewriting constitutional law to bring the Federal Trade Commission and other independent agencies directly under the President’s thumb and threatening their ability to protect the public from harmful...
Illinois now a key battleground in fight over prediction market sports bets.
The post Louisiana Supreme Court Frees Death Row Prisoner, Calling Evidence Against Him “Scientifically Indefensible” appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal. appeared first on ProPublica .
The Chinese shopping app has become so popular that even a government surcharge couldn't slow demand.
In 1995, Newt Gingrich killed the ability of the left to project power. It hasn't recovered. Plus, Trump picks a new antitrust chief, the end of cheap electronics, and the AI bubble wobbles...
You have an expectation of privacy in location data that reveals your movements in the physical world, and even short-term surveillance of these movements is a search subject to the Fourth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Chatrie v. United States . The case involved geofence...
The Illinois legislature recently passed House Bill 5511 , which imposes a sweeping, device-level age-gating framework across nearly all internet-enabled hardware, operating systems, and online services. This well-intentioned but deeply flawed piece of legislation will harm young people who rely on...
Today's links Zuckerberg's increasingly bizarre war on whistleblowers: Under no circumstances should you rush out and read the book that prompted Mark Zuckerberg to demand $111m and eternal auctorial silence. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Flame warriors; Cryptography...
Over the past two years, the Georgian government has built a comprehensive face recognition enforcement system, procured by a Moscow-based company with ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB). The impact on demonstrators is appalling.
Poke your head into just about any online social network—or any general conversations about internet culture—and you’ll likely find a boogieman: the algorithm. Since at least the moment Facebook introduced ( and apologized for ) its News Feed, “the algorithm” has been shorthand for the ways the...
NYT shifts OpenAI/Microsoft copyright claims after SCOTUS ruling against Sony.
We know that ICE wants to deploy eyeglasses with facial recognition that can identify people in real time. Turns out Meta is prototyping the feature with a Pentagon supplier. (Alternate news story.)
This Pride month, we’re calling on the dating app Grindr to prioritize LGBTQ+ user safety by making privacy the default across its platform. That means no more sharing personal data with advertisers or training AI on private information without users’ opt-in consent. Grindr is a dating app for the...
This is not science fiction. It’s not premature. If towns, cities, states, or the federal government want to act to reign in the emergence of armed police drones and robots , we have precious little time. In the absence of substantial regulation around when and how domestic law enforcement in the...
This week, we discuss talking aloud to computers, Cannes, and “Engineering Creativity: Guac Is Extra."
Move would test whether group can turn ambition into a mass-market phone business.
The post An Oregon Law Lets One Wealthy Region Turn the Desert Green. When Drought Hits, Farmers Pay the Price. appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard. appeared first on ProPublica .
Ignoring EFF’s warnings about the dangers and impossibility of implementing a new mandate for 3D print surveillance software , the California State Assembly has signed off on legislation to do just that. In the process, legislators amended the bill to make it even more confusing, while failing to...
Today's links Jailbreaking isn't theft: It wasn't progress when they did it, it's not piracy when we do it back to them. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Major AI breakthrough; Disney v Pooh tombstone; Vancouver riot kiss; Farage admits Brexit lies; Protecting the web...
Time and time again, researchers have found numerous compromised Android devices for sale at large online retailers like Amazon. When these devices get individually reported, we have seen some noted efforts to take them down. But this is a systemic problem and Amazon and other major online...
The Federal Communications Commission wants to require telecommunications providers to collect vast amounts of personal information from every person who wants a phone number in the name of combatting scam and spam calls. This plan will fail to combat the deluge of unwanted calls people in the...
Seeking transparency and accountability in Paraguay’s use of facial recognition, EFF, the Association of Technology, Education, Development, Research, Communication (TEDIC), and the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights...
This week marks four years since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade ’s constitutional protections for people seeking abortion care. Anniversaries are a moment to take stock, and over the last four years, EFF has seen firsthand how digital rights and reproductive...
We spoke to Darren Blanchard, the man arrested while speaking out against data centers at a community meeting. He's sharing the bodycam footage of his arrest for the first time with 404 Media.
Alibaba allegedly used 25,000 accounts to mine Claude over 28.8 million exchanges.
The post Carbon Captured appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Why Carbon Capture Can’t Conceivably Solve Climate Change appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Court Inquiry Denounces “Disturbing Pattern” of Violations at Arizona’s Largest Sheriff’s Office appeared first on ProPublica .
The congresswoman has a strong track record of backing winners this cycle — but she’s emerging from controversy after sitting out key races in her home state. The post Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wades Into Tennessee Primary, Endorsing Justin J. Pearson appeared first on The Intercept .
When a car passes an automated license plate reader (ALPR), its plate is captured and instantly compared against a list of vehicles that police are actively looking for or that police have identified for real-time surveillance. These are called “hotlists,” and EFF has learned that one used by...
Within the next week, Congress is preparing to vote on the KIDS Act , a sprawling package of legislation that seeks to control Americans’ web browsing and private messaging. The package includes a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act , or KOSA, combined with a collection of other internet...
Matt Garman argues that junior employees are as necessary as ever. But AWS now sells agents that can recruit, code, and process claims. Will the balance hold?
Lawsuit alleged Disney inflated market prices by making carriers include ESPN.
The post Missouri’s Governor Is Opposed to Out-Of-State Funding, but Not for His Own Ballot Measure appeared first on ProPublica .
Sold to the public as a foreign surveillance tool, Section 702 is the law has let intelligence agencies spy on millions of Americans’ private conversations without a warrant. Despite years of revelations about this law's misuse, Congress has repeatedly reauthorized Section 702 without meaningful...
As populist politicians win elections, the anti-monopoly movement attacks new AI driven price-fixing hiking the cost of gas, meat, rent, electronics, et al. But can the new populists govern?
An exclusive survey of AI workers in Kenya reveals how automated management affects their livelihoods. Unions and advocacy groups are beginning to fight back.
Today's links Spying on kids to save kids from spying is very, very stupid: First they came for the VPNs. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: RIP Darwin's tortoise; ISPs conspire to create copyright jail; Waxy v fair use; Broken Windows is BS; Google is a machine-learning...
GDPR Policy For years, users and many companies have been complaining about cookie banners. Even though this understandable frustration is mostly caused by misleading dark patterns used by the industry, these banners have become the symbol of what is perceived as excessive EU regulation. As part of...
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA , Anthropic and
The post Jury Finds Home Financing Scheme That Targeted Muslims in Minnesota Violated State Law appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Do You Administer SNAP or Medicaid Benefits? Help ProPublica Report on America’s Safety Net. appeared first on ProPublica .
The post Have Your SNAP Benefits Ever Been Stolen? Help ProPublica Investigate. appeared first on ProPublica .
Today's links Good politics: Just make people's lives better. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: WWII online; Xbox security blunders; Homeless bloggers; Thermal printer racing game; Robbing a bank to get healthcare in jail; Crumb v Trump; "The Blues Brothers"; Bagelheads;...
On Friday - Juneteenth - Obama opened his oligarch-funded library. What does this moment say about race and finance? Plus, the FTC stops enforcing Robinson-Patman, the AI bubble worsens, and more...
Today's links How the Epstein Class recruits: Oh wait, THAT'S what this was?! Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: MPAA blasted in WSJ; RFID skimmers; Post-Soviet inventions; "Farthing"; "Dirty, Drunk and Punk"; Dweb v founders' frailty; Tax cheating made simple; Oregon v...
Today's links The Big Con: Making the pile of shit bigger won't increase the number of ponies underneath it. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: TVA v SETI@Home; Telemarketers v DHS batphones; Matt Stone's MPAA censorship memo; Stonehenge pocket watch; W3C v security...
This week, politicians in the UK pushed forward with plans to eviscerate privacy and free speech on the internet by announcing a ban on social media for users under 16 that is set to take effect in Spring 2027. The UK government continues to falsely characterize this policy as a necessary response...
So it’s been a big week for me after I published an exclusive covering OpenAI’s audited financials from 2024 and 2025 , with reactions ranging from “oh my god, OpenAI spent $34 billion to make $13.07 billion in revenue!” to “actually, it’
This week, EFF joined Foxglove, Human Rights Watch, and 60 other organizations in writing to the UK’s Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, raising serious concern about the Home Office’s decision to deploy Facial Age Estimation (FAE) to assess asylum-seeking children from...
Today's links AI digital sovereignty risk doesn't exist: If 'risk + AI = risk – AI', then 'AI = 0'. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Napster x librarians; Flickr API reciprocity; KFC's Mega Jug v diabetes research; Hambone virtuoso; Google fiber x binding arbitration;...
Last week, Senators Ted Cruz and Ron Wyden introduced the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression, or JAWBONE Act . The bipartisan legislation creates a federal cause of action against government officials who coerce or attempt to coerce broadcasters, interactive...
With no serious debate, including on proposed amendments, Canada is blazing full speed ahead with Bill C-22, which would threaten encryption and increase surveillance. Also known as the Lawful Access Bill, Bill C-22 is currently moving forward quickly to a vote despite the many, many criticisms...
Late last year, as part of our annual “Year in Review” series, we summarized our efforts providing digital privacy and security advice to at-risk communities. OPSEC trainings (short for operational security, a catch-all term we use to describe any kind of workshop, advising session, assessment, or...
EFF is grateful for SerpApi ’s generous support, helping us fight for your rights to speak and access information online. SerpApi has been giving to EFF every year since 2018, and alongside our 32,000 individual donors, their gift is critical to keeping up the fight. Whether in the courts, halls of...
This Pride season, join EFF and the Queer Arts Collective in building a creative space at the intersection of digital justice and artistic expression. We’re looking for fresh, untold, historically censored takes on digital liberation. Whether it’s pointing the lens towards an issue you feel is...
The Trump administration’s approach to AI safety, particularly the generative AI models that regularly grab headlines, has been haphazard at best. At worst, it’s unconstitutional. As EFF and our allies explained in an amicus brief , the Pentagon’s actions against one company, Anthropic, violate the...
A proposed undersea cable from Chile to Hong Kong promised to connect South America directly to Asia. Instead, it became a test of how far the U.S. will go to curb Chinese telecom ambitions.
Court records belong to the public. Yet anyone seeking access to federal court filings through PACER, a government software system that stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, is usually required to pay hefty fees to search for and view documents. PACER’s fees have long acted as a...
In a joint analysis, several European organizations, including AlgorithmWatch, point out the risks and deficiencies of the recently approved AI Omnibus – and highlight the risks that this process in the name of simplification could have for future legislative procedures.
For the past four years, a sprawling Android-based botnet called Popa has forced millions of consumer TV boxes to relay Internet traffic linked to advertising fraud, account takeovers, and mass data-scraping efforts. This week, researchers from multiple security firms concluded that the Popa botnet...
Today's links The (real) dead economy theory: Vibes and memestocks, all the way down. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Jim Baen has had a stroke; Blame Apple for iTunes DRM; France v the internet; "Rotters"; 1901 undersea cables; Washington Post wants Trump coverage...
And yes, AI is a factor. Replika and Wabi founder Eugenia Kuyda on how advances in coding changed her hiring calculus
Developers say DeepSeek is good enough for a fraction of the cost. “You don’t need God to write your email.”
We, the undersigned civil society organizations, condemn in the strongest possible terms the cyberattack on the World Food Programme (WFP) that took place on May 14, 2026, exposing the personal data of 600,000 Palestinian households in Gaza. The post Surveilled, targeted, and now hacked: WFP must...
The NO FAKES Act is supposed to target harmful AI-generated impersonations. But in reality, it will make it easier to suppress commentary, satire, and other lawful speech. That's why EFF has signed a letter urging the Senate Judiciary Committee not to advance the bill in its current form. Take...
The ability to access publicly available information using automated tools is a central value and benefit of a free and open internet. Automated access—often called crawling or scraping—powers important, useful tools for locating, preserving, and analyzing online information. For example, crawling...
Soundtrack: In Flames - Colony To further support my independent journalism, please subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $7 a month or $70 a year. If you’re subscribed to the free newsletter and logged in, you should see at the bottom right hand corner of your screen
More than half of Spotify listening is now in non-English languages as the company expands across Africa, Asia, and Latin America with local artists, pricing, and payment systems.
After 26 years, today is my last day at EFF. It's been a terrific and wild ride — the organization has grown from a tiny band of fighty people trying to plant a flag for freedom and justice in the coming digital world into a large, established band of fighty people doing, well, much the same. The...
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a proposed settlement today to resolve the United States’ civil antitrust lawsuit against OhioHealth Corporation (OhioHealth) challenging the company’s anticompetitive contract restrictions. The proposed settlement would make healthcare more...
Today's links AI and amateurism: When is generative content vernacular? Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Disney characters x clean underwear; Transparent Pontiac; Makers v dog with LED collar; Microsoft buys Linkedin; Legitimate greatness. Upcoming appearances: LA, Menlo...
LGBTQ+ communities are facing an escalating wave of censorship and targeted surveillance, but we can push back through mutual solidarity. Join us live to learn how safer virtual spaces get built, how platform policies and government pressure are reshaping the digital landscape, and what platform...
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA , Anthropic and
Elon Musk is a trans-humanist, the ultimate expression of the Chicago School philosophy. The Pope offers a different vision about how limits make us human. Plus, Iran, Warner/Paramount, and more...
Today's links Shareholder supremacy and the precog CEO: A bright line test that's totally unfalsifiable. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Msft v Linux geeks; James Joyce scholars v Joyce estate; iPod sweatshops; Pratchett initiates assisted suicide; Lego-making machine...
Today's links Google's new remote attestation scheme is every bit as terrible as its old remote attestation scheme: Not even a QR code can produce a kissable pig. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Arrested at Toronto G20; Rule by rentiers; Wrong about the First Amendment;...
Highlights from Hard Fork Live, including Figma CEO Dylan Field on why design isn’t dead
The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“Division”) issued the following statement today in connection with the closing of the Division’s investigation into the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (“WBD” or “Warner Bros.”) by Paramount Skydance (“Paramount”), together...
Friends, I believe we’re approaching the end of this era. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed the paperwork to go public, starting a race for exit liquidity for two companies that burn billions of dollars a year and have no path to profitability. Both of these companies are
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lets US intelligence agencies collect communications from foreigners abroad without a warrant, and routinely sweeps in Americans’ emails, messages, and calls in the process. The authority for this program is set to expire Friday, June 12th,...
Today's links The world has moved on: Notes from the enshittocene. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: "Jpod"; Barlow v Glickman; Cyclist v bike lanes; Judge v copyright trolls; "The Uncertain Places"; Thatcher v Palin; NY v Time Warner; Banks v negative interest rates;...
Corporations harvest and monetize ever-growing amounts of our personal data, such as our browsing history and physical location . One bitter fruit of this poisonous tree is known as “surveillance pricing”: corporations offer the same product to two different people at two different prices, based on...
Last June during Pride, we launched a new initiative— LGBT Q&A —where we answered your most pressing queer-related digital rights questions on EFF’s Instagram and TikTok accounts. No question was too big or too small! You asked us things like what pictures to use on dating apps; how to remove your...
What do EFF staffers Sarah Chen , Javier Morales , Caitlin Chin , Emma Rodriguez , and Mikko Kopponen have in common? For one thing, they don’t exist. For another, all have been quoted as EFF experts in articles published in the past two months on a site called News-USA Today , which describes...
On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, AI Now Senior Fellow, AI and Healthcare Dr. Katie J. Wells testified at a Hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education & the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. In her testimony, Dr. Wells highlighted how gig nursing platforms are...
Enshittification isn't just a sweary word to describe the accelerating decay of the online platforms, apps, and services that we rely on. It's a framework for understanding the structural incentives that make tech companies enemies of their own users over time—the surveillance business model, the...
Brookings Institution researcher Molly Kinder on why she's leaving her job to create solution for AI's "messy middle." PLUS: Claude Fable arrives
Across the country, surveillance companies have spun a vast web of tens of thousands of license plate cameras. The people selling this tech want you to believe that it's for your safety, but how are authorities really using automated license plate readers (ALPR)? In this week's EFFector newsletter...
For months now, Congress has been kicking the ball down the road— temporarily postponing the expiration of the mass surveillance authority Section 702 of FISA in hopes that some consensus could be reached. Now, with the deadline looming, the stakes have never been higher. Nearly every time the...
Today's links Naomi Kritzer's "Obstetrix": When forced birth cultists become forced obstetrics militants. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: DD-WRT; iTunes DRM is illegal; Fingertip magnet; Sony passwords v Gawker passwords; RIAA recants on 3 strikes; Parachute wedding...
Microsoft today released software updates to plug nearly 200 security holes across its Windows operating systems and supported software, a record number of fixes for the company's monthly Patch Tuesday cycle. Nearly three dozen of those bugs earned Microsoft's most dire "critical" rating, and...
Several U.S. states are pushing to ban young people from social media entirely. This marks the latest wave of censorship bills masquerading as “children’s online safety” measures, with states like Massachusetts , Idaho , Minnesota , North Carolina , South Carolina , Illinois , and EFF’s home state...
Credit Scoring CRIF is one of the largest credit reference agencies in Austria. It has built up a largely unknown "shadow registry" containing the names, dates of birth and addresses of almost all adults in Austria. CRIF uses this data to assign people a score. For 90% of those affected, this score...
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider and vote on the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act (NO FAKES). Instead of targeting the real privacy harms posed by AI-generated replicas, this law would create another layer of internet censorship on top of the already...
Just days after a damning WIRED report exposed that Meta had quietly embedded facial recognition technology (FRT) code into millions of phones, the tech giant has quietly acquiesced in demands to reverse course. Last week, researchers identified code in Meta AI, a companion app for its line of...
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA , Anthropic and
On a warm June evening in San Francisco, attorneys and other legally-minded friends of EFF gathered for our 18th Annual Cyberlaw Trivia Night, an annual test of tech-related legal knowledge, and the ability to remember some deeply obscure facts under pressure. Returning Quizmaster Kurt Opsahl once...
Controversy erupted in a Maine Senate race, causing Democrats nationwide to go at each others' throat. Fights over oligarchy are becoming unavoidable.
Today's links Criticizing the everything machine: It slices, it dices, it even makes paperclips! Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Parliament v DRM; Colbert's commencement; Counterfeiting x luxury goods; Joule thief; Lean-back media. Upcoming appearances: Kansas City, LA,...
Today's links Refining humanity: What our technology is shows us what we're not. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: GNU Radio; France v "follow us on Twitter"; Aaronsw vindicated; Capitalism's crooked refs. Upcoming appearances: Kansas City, LA, Menlo Park, Toronto, NYC,...
The internet is an essential resource for young people and adults to access information, explore community, and find themselves—both inside countries and across continents. Yet governments around the world continue to introduce and implement legislation requiring all online users to verify their...
Last year during LGBTQ+ Pride month, we launched an LGBT Q&A where we answered your most pressing digital rights questions on EFF’s Instagram and TikTok accounts. Ahead of LGBT Q&A Season 2 launching next week, we’re posting a recap with some of the questions we answered. Check them out below. You...
Today's links Delusion as a service: Destructive diagnostics. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Gay Days at Disney World; Parametric 3D printable key; Fine against sculpture for "storing bike on public property"; TPP is a wash; Reagan was Trump; Steampunk roadster; "Every...
Update, June 8, 2026: Following widespread public scrutiny and WIRED’s critical reporting, Meta has stripped the unactivated facial recognition code from its latest Meta AI app update. Meta has deployed facial recognition code to millions of their always-on surveillance glasses, according to new...
After hundreds of users submitted public comments, the board says it's clear the company has a problem
President Trump’s highly politicized appointment of an entirely unqualified acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) underscores why the government’s warrantless mass spying power must be reformed. Congress now faces a deadline of Friday, June 12 to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign...
Governments must not adopt emerging and powerful AI technologies without also adopting strong and clear safeguards to protect Constitutional rights, EFF Senior Policy Analyst Dr. Matthew Guariglia testified today to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure...
California lawmakers are again considering A.B. 412 , a bill that would require AI developers to identify and disclose copyrighted works used to train generative AI systems. The problem this year is the same as last year : it’s practically impossible to comply with this law. The bill demands...
Forced Consent & Consent Bypass Today, the Norwegian Consumer Council ( Forbrukerrådet ) and noyb have filed a complaint against the Norwegian news publisher Schibsted for implementing a “Pay or Okay” system across its products. Schibsted is one of the largest news publishers in the Nordics and...