The leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.
FEATURED UPDATE
In 2014’s Alice v. CLS Bank , the Supreme Court ruled that an abstract idea does not become eligible for a patent simply by being implemented on a generic computer. Since then, Alice has provided a lifeline for real businesses threatened or sued with bogus patents. This week, on the third anniversary of Alice , EFF is launching a new series called Saved by Alice where we’ll collect these stories of times when Alice came to the rescue. Over the...
FEATURED UPDATE
Another group of lawmakers is starting the debate over whether and how to reauthorize an online surveillance power set to sunset at the end of the year. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this morning on Section 702, as enacted by the FISA Amendments Act. That is the authority the government claims justifies the warrantless Internet surveillance of innocent Americans and others around the world and includes controversial Upstream and PRISM programs. We’ve long argued on the Hill...
FEATURED UPDATE
EFF has just launched the Summer Security Camp , a two-week membership drive that challenges people everywhere to gather ‘round the online rights movement and prepare for the privacy and free speech challenges in their paths. Through the 4th of July, anyone can join EFF or renew as a Silicon level member for just $20 and receive a set of miniature field guides with shareable security tips covering these crucially relevant issues : Border Search : know your rights and...
Link: Pull the Plug on Internet Spying Programs
Description:
Every day, the U.S. government sweeps up the emails, text messages, and other online communications of millions of innocent Americans. Congress has a chance to rein in this unconstitutional spying when a key surveillance authority expires at the end of this year.
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Link: Privacy Badger
Description:
Privacy Badger is a browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web. If an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger automatically blocks that...
Link: Surveillance Self-Defense
Description:
Surveillance Self-Defense is EFF's online guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices...
The Latest
More than 40 ISPs Across the Country Tell Chairman Pai to Not Repeal Network Neutrality and Maintain Title II Enforcement
Many Small ISPs Support Real Net Neutrality One excuse FCC Chairman Ajit Pai regularly offers to explain his effort to gut net neutrality protections is the claim that open Internet rules have harmed ISPs, especially small ones. During a speech earlier this year, he stressed that 22 small ISPs...
Liveblogging Today’s Senate Judiciary Hearing on Section 702
Another group of lawmakers is starting the debate over whether and how to reauthorize an online surveillance power set to sunset at the end of the year. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this morning on Section 702, as enacted by the FISA Amendments Act. That is the...
EFF to Supreme Court: No Real-Time Cell Phone Tracking Without a Warrant
Washington, D.C.—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a troubling ruling that allows police to obtain—without a warrant—location data from people’s cell phones to track them in real time. EFF, joined by the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Constitution Project,...
How the STRONGER Patents Act Would Send Innovation Overseas
Senator Chris Coons introduced a bill this week called the STRONGER Patents Act [ PDF ]. The bill contains many terrible ideas. It would gut inter partes review (a valuable tool for challenging bad patents). It would overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in eBay v....
Small Business Fights for its Life, Wins with Alice
Michael Skelps was celebrating on New Year’s Eve with family and friends when he got a strange email from a lawyer. It said that Michael’s company, Capstone Photography, had just been sued for patent infringement. Michael went from celebrating to worrying about whether his small company would survive. Capstone is...
The Patent Troll and the Scavenger Hunt
Ken Cooper runs a small business out of his home. Unfortunately Ken’s business was not so small that it avoided the notice of a patent troll. Ken has been writing code since 1973. His life in programming has ranged from small personal projects to founding a software company that was...
A Startup Runs Into A Patent on Picture Menus
If you’ve ever seen a picture menu, you’ve seen the supposed ‘invention’ claimed by U.S. Patent 6,585,516 . Although it had a complex-sounding title (“Method and system for computerized visual behavior analysis, training, and planning”), the patent simply claimed using picture menus on a computer. Patent troll DietGoal Innovations,...
Saved by Alice: How a Key Supreme Court Decision Protects Businesses from Bad Patents
In 2014’s Alice v. CLS Bank , the Supreme Court ruled that an abstract idea does not become eligible for a patent simply by being implemented on a generic computer. Since then, Alice has provided a lifeline for real businesses threatened or sued with bogus patents. This...
An Attack on Net Neutrality Is an Attack on Free Speech
Several US senators spoke out this week on the importance of net neutrality to innovation and free speech. They are right. The Internet has become our public square, our newspaper, our megaphone. The Federal Communications Commission is trying to turn it in something more akin to commercial...
EFF to the SEC: Get a Warrant
If the federal government wants to compel an online service provider, like Yahoo or Google, to turn over your email, they need a warrant. That's the industry-accepted best practice, implemented by nearly every major service provider . More importantly, it's what the Fourth Amendment requires. The Securities and Exchange...
