EFF-Austin advocates establishment and protection of digital rights and defense of the wealth of digital information, innovation, and technology. We promote the right of all citizens to communicate and share information without unreasonable constraint. We also advocate the fundamental right to explore, tinker, create, and innovate along the frontier of emerging technologies.
Audio history of EFF-Austin (and why we're not formally connected to the national Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Paulus Le Son, a blogger detained in Vietnam since August 2011 Arrests of Dissident Bloggers Continue in Vietnam As we have previously covered, the Vietnamese government continues to crack down on bloggers and writers who have spoken out against the Communist regime. Alternative news site, Vietnam Redemptorist News, has been targeted by the state and several […]
Dear Hollywood, You don’t need us to tell you that your position on anti-"piracy" laws has been unpopular recently. Last month’s historic protests, with millions of Americans registering their opposition, have made that point pretty clear. Instead, we’re writing today to tell you that the Internet can be great for creators and their community, but […]
Right now, representatives from nine countries including the United States are secretly meeting in a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a trade agreement with the potential to contain intellectual property provisions that go beyond ACTA. These secret meetings could create over-reaching new rules and standards […]
EFF Formally Requests Retention of Materials Stored on Megaupload’s ServicesSan Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today formally requested the preservation of the data seized when the U.S. government shut down Megaupload.com and related sites, notifying the court and attorneys involved in the case that Megaupload's innocent users dese […]
It Shouldn't Take a Letter from Congress for Google to Give Straight Answers About Privacy Policy Changes Last week, Google announced a new, simplified privacy policy. They did a great job of informing users that the privacy policy had been changed through emails and notifications, and several experts (including Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner Dr. Ann Ca […]
In response to growing concern about the impact of Google's proposed policy change on user privacy and cloud-computing services, the company said that its planned privacy changes will not apply to US federal agencies. A report from Safegov.org "Google’s New Privacy Policy Is Unacceptable and Jeopardizes Government Information in the Cloud" rec […]
Leading privacy officials in Europe have asked Google "for a pause" in the company's planned consolidation of user data "in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google's commitments to the information rights of their users and EU citizens. . ." EU Commissioner Vivian Reding (@VivianeRedingEU) has […]
EPIC has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Trade Commission for the Privacy Report that Google was recently required to submit to the agency. The Commission had previously investigated Google after EPIC filed a complaint regarding Google's Buzz product, which transformed private user contacts into publicly available social netw […]
In detailed comments to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC today recommended the suspension of facial recognition technology deployment until adequate safeguards and privacy standards are established. EPIC said that facial recognition is often used by strangers to determine a person's actual identity and that this poses a risk to privacy and personal se […]