481
How Microsoft Bing Censors the Middle East
Shortly after Microsoft Bing launched in 2009, researchers at the Berkman Center for Internet...
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Society, Policy & Culture 517Security & Privacy 387Tech Industry & Business 163Networking & Internet 38Web & Frontend 32Tools & Productivity 16
482
EFF to Court: Lifetime GPS Tracking Violates the Fourth Amendment
All too often, new police surveillance tools are initially applied to only the “worst of the worst” and then slowly—but surely—expanded to include an ever-growing number of less culpable individuals. We’ve seen it with DNA collection. And now we’re starting to see it with GPS tracking. That’s why...
483
Users Betrayed as Australia Adopts a Copyright Censorship Regime
Since our report last week on Australia's Internet censorship bill, the bill did indeed pass the Senate yesterday, and will become the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015. The new law provides an accelerated process for rightsholders to obtain court orders for ISPs to block sites...
484
ICANN Rejects .ORG Sale to Private Equity Firm
In a stunning victory for nonprofits and NGOs around the world working in the public interest, ICANN today roundly rejected Ethos Capital’s plan to transform the .ORG domain registry into a heavily indebted for-profit entity. This is an important victory that recognizes the registry’s long legacy...
485
U.S. border surveillance towers have always been broken
A new bombshell scoop from NBC News revealed an internal U.S. Border Patrol memo claiming that 30 percent of camera towers that compose the agency's "Remote Video Surveillance System" (RVSS) program are broken. Except, this isn't a bombshell. What should actually be shocking is that Congressional leaders are acting…
486
EFF: Apple Should Stand Up and Defend Its Developers
Update II: Apparently not frightened off by Apple's letter defending its developers, Lodsys went ahead and sued at least seven developers in the Eastern District of Texas for patent infringement. In its original cease-and-desist letters, Lodsys gave developers 21 days to respond. But – apparently...
487
How secure is HTTPS today? How often is it attacked? (2011)
This is part 1 of a series on the security of HTTPS and TLS/SSL HTTPS is a lot more secure than HTTP! If a site uses accounts, or publishes material that people might prefer to read in private, the site should be protected with HTTPS. Unfortunately, is still feasible for some attackers to break...
488
EFF Asks Court to Undo Damage Done to First Amendment in Flawed NSL Ruling
EFF has petitioned a federal appeals court to reconsider its flawed ruling in our national security letter case on behalf of CREDO Mobile and Cloudflare. In July, the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco upheld the NSL statute against our First Amendment challenge. The court ruled that the FBI is...
489
Sovereign Keys, EFF's proposal to replace the certificate authority model
This is part 2 of a series on the security of HTTPS and TLS/SSL. [Part 1] In a previous post, we discussed some structural insecurities in HTTPS and TLS/SSL, and how those are beginning to pose serious problems for the security of the Web. In this post I will introduce a new proposal called "...
490
China Shows How Surveillance Leads to Intimidation and Software Censorship
Xinjiang, home of the China's muslim Uighur minority, has long been the world's laboratory for Internet repression. Faced with widespread local unrest, and online debate, China has done everything it can to enforce its vision of the Net in the region, from imprisoning bloggers and online publishers...
491
The Crime of Speech
New EFF Report Maps Legal Threats to Free Expression in the Arab WorldFreedom of expression is a universal right, but the specific threats to it vary widely from country to country and region to region. As activists fighting for free speech worldwide, it is essential that we better understand the...
492
Farewell From Shari Steele
Today is the start of my last week as an employee of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I will be leaving after nearly 15 years as EFF's President and Executive Director, having started as a Staff Attorney back in 1992. As I wrap up things here, I've been thinking a lot about where we've been...
493
Things to Love About Reddit’s First Transparency Report
Here’s something that merits a lot of reddit gold. On Thursday, reddit published its first-ever transparency report covering all of 2014. It’s a summary of all the legal requests to take down content from the site as well as all government attempts to access reddit’s user data. Lots of companies...
494
How To Opt Out of Facebook Ads Based on Your Real-Life Shopping Activity
Facebook has announced that it’s teaming up with four of the world’s largest corporate data brokers to “enhance” the ad experience for users. Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom, and BlueKai obtain information gathered about users through online means (such as through cookies when users surf the web) as...
495
Judge to DOJ: Not All Writs
A federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn took an admirable stand last week when he questioned the government’s authority to compel Apple to unlock a seized mobile device using the All Writs Act. That’s a general-purpose law passed in 1789 that allows a court to require third parties’ assistance to...
496
Samsung Sets Its Reputation on Fire with Bogus DMCA Takedown Notices
While there are countless examples of DMCA abuse, sometimes a story stands out. Last week, Samsung sent a series of takedown notices aimed at videos showing a GTA V mod in action. The modification replaced an in-game weapon with an exploding Samsung phone. Whether you think these videos are...
497
Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance
One of the trends we've seen is how, as the word of the NSA's spying has spread, more and more ordinary people want to know how (or if) they can defend themselves from surveillance online. But where to start? The bad news is: if you're being personally targeted by a powerful intelligence agency...
498
EFF Pries More Information on Zero Days from the Government
Until just last week, the U.S. government kept up the charade that its use of a stockpile of security vulnerabilities for hacking was a closely held secret.[fn]For what it's worth, the government denies having a “Raiders of the Lost Ark style” stockpile of zero days.[/fn] In fact, in response to...
499
User Privacy Isn't Solely a Facebook Issue
During Congressional hearings about Facebook’s data practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, Mark Zuckerberg drew an important distinction between what we expect from our Internet service providers (ISPs, such as Comcast or Verizon) as opposed to platforms like Facebook that operate...
500
With EFF’s help, language teacher responds to threat over ‘invalid’ patent
Foreign languages have been taught, and studied, for thousands of years. People who teach languages are the last folks that should be dealing with patent threat letters—but incredibly, that’s exactly what has happened to Mihalis Eleftheriou. Hodder and Stoughton, a large British publisher, has sent...
501
Platforms systematically removed a user because he made "most wanted CEO" cards
On December 14, James Harr, the owner of an online store called ComradeWorkwear, announced on social media that he planned to sell a deck of “Most Wanted CEO” playing cards, satirizing the infamous “Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards” introduced by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 2003. Per the...
502
Report on FBI’s Use of Patriot Act Highlights Need for Intelligence Reform
The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) yesterday released another report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act between 2007 and 2009. The report was long delayed due to declassification and redaction issues, but the timing is...
503
Dear Google, Commit Your Broad Patents to a Defensive License
Dear Google, There has been quite a bit of news lately that you have applied for a patent on bill splitting. It's a helpful tool—we've all been to restaurants or lived with housemates and have needed a convenient way of calculating and tracking who owes what. But this technology already exists—and...
504
EFF about EU: EIDAS 2.0 Sets a Dangerous Precedent for Web Security
The Council of the European Union this week adopted new language for regulations governing internet systems that may put the security of your browser at greater risk.The new language affects the EU’s electronic identification, authentication and trust services (eIDAS) rules, which are supposed to...
505
From Reddit to Pornhub, Websites Slow Down for Net Neutrality on September 10
You know the net neutrality conversation is breaking new ground when even the porn sites are weighing in. And that's just what we're seeing: Major adult platforms Pornhub and Redtube are joining an online protest on September 10, calling for stronger protections for net neutrality. They’re teaming...
506
Why Releasing Text Isn't Enough: Behind the Scenes of TTIP
Today the draft text of the U.S.-Europe free trade agreement, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), was leaked by Greenpeace Netherlands. The leak reveals for the first time the current state of the text of 15 chapters and annexes, along with a confidential commentary from the...
507
It’s Not Too Late for Uber to Avoid Stupid Patent of the Month
“Good Spirit,” he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol As our devoted readers are aware, each month we highlight a...
508
Behind the One-Way Mirror: A Dive into the Technology of Corporate Surveillance
It's time to shed light on the technical methods and business practices behind third-party tracking. For journalists, policy makers, and concerned consumers, this paper will demystify the fundamentals of third-party tracking, explain the scope of the problem, and suggest ways for users and legislation to fight back…
509
EFF Joins Coalition Opposing Dangerous CFAA Bill
EFF and over a dozen other organizations are urging U.S. lawmakers to oppose a dangerous bill proposed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Lindsey Graham that would make the already-flawed Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) worse. The joint letter sent Wednesday explains that the legislation fails to...
510
European Court Strikes Down Law Allowing Users to Rip Their Own CDs
Today the High Court of the United Kingdom handed down an excellent decision—excellent because the result is so unreasonable, so out of touch with reality, and so divorced from the needs and expectations of ordinary users, that it provides a textbook illustration of the need for urgent reform of...