FBI Wants 52 Million Photos in its Face Recognition Database by 2015

FBI Wants 52 Million Photos in its Face Recognition Database by 2015

New documents released by the FBI show that the Bureau is well on its way toward its goal of a fully operational face recognition database by this summer.

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GoDaddy censors Mexican protest site

GoDaddy is one of the larger web hosts out there today and hosts hoards of websites in the US and abroad. The company has reportedly censored a Mexican website that … Continue reading

Why Net Neutrality Demands Total Transparency

Why Net Neutrality Demands Total Transparency

The net neutrality fight is moving in new directions, and quickly. Today FCC Chair Tom Wheeler announced that the FCC would press forward with new "Open Internet" rules, undeterred by last month’s court decision striking down most of the old ones. Last week, Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced plans to merge. The merger would create the largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the nation, with five times the subscribers of its closest competitor. With only one or two broadband providers available in most parts of the country, prices may soar while the quality of services plummets. A lack of competition raises serious concerns that huge ISPs will be able to favor particular sites and services.

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Today Is the Day the Internet Fights Back to Protect Privacy

Today Is the Day the Internet Fights Back to Protect Privacy

Mass surveillance of electronic communications is a vast, new, government intrusion on the privacy of innocent people worldwide. It is a violation of International human rights law. Without checks and balances, its use will continue to spread from country to country, corrupting democracies and empowering dictators.

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Why the FCC Can’t Actually Save Net Neutrality

Why the FCC Can't Actually Save Net Neutrality

Network neutrality—the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks equally—is a principle that EFF strongly supports. However, the power to enforce equal treatment on the Internet can easily become the power to control the Internet in less beneficent ways. Some people have condemned last week’s court decision to reject the bulk of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet Order as a threat to Internet innovation and openness. Others hailed it as a victory against dangerous government regulation of the Internet. Paradoxically, there is a lot of truth to both of these claims.

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Rating Obama’s NSA Reform Plan: EFF Scorecard Explained

Rating Obama’s NSA Reform Plan: EFF Scorecard Explained

Yesterday, President Obama announced a series of reforms to address abuses by the National Security Agency. We were heartened to see Obama recognized that the NSA has gone too far in trampling the privacy rights of people worldwide. In his speech, the President ensured that National Security Letters would not come with perpetual gag orders, brought new levels of transparency and fairness to the FISA court, and ended bulk collection of telephone records by the NSA. However, there is still much more to be done.

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Obama talks NSA: EFF, Julian Assange, White House respond

Just this morning, United States President Barack Obama spoke up at a bit of NSA news, letting it be known what his real NSA reform plan would be. As is … Continue reading

Crossword Puzzle: What Did We Learn About the NSA This Year?

Crossword Puzzle: What Did We Learn About the NSA This Year?

We’ve certainly learned a lot this year about the surveillance state. Thanks to the cache of intelligence documents leaked by Edward Snowden, as well as the hoards of legal records we liberated through our Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, we’ve had immense amounts of new information to consume and process. But how many of the details do you remember? It’s time for a pop quiz.

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How to Protect Your Phone From the Police

How to Protect Your Phone From the Police

Police forces around the country have developed the nasty habit of confiscating the phones of citizens who choose to film them, unilaterally deleting images and video of their actions. Whether that’s a Fourth Amendment violation is still being decided by the courts; until that happens, here’s how to protect your phone from the prying eyes of cops.

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10 Steps You Can Take to Protect Yourself from Internet Surveillance

10 Steps You Can Take to Protect Yourself from 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?

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