EFF in the news for defending digital civil liberties amid widespread online-safety and surveillance debates. Founded 1990 in SF to protect Internet users’ rights. #digitalrights
A San Francisco business theft involving a Waymo driverless car remains unsolved months after a January incident. Police obtained video and account data but have not identified a suspect. The company says it does not use facial recognition and reviews requests for legal validity.
A Florida man has filed suit against multiple law-enforcement agencies for wrongful arrest and prosecution after a faulty facial-recognition match flagged him as a child-luring suspect at a Jacksonville Beach McDonald’s in August 2024. The case, now in federal court, alleges officers concealed exculpatory evidence and relied on a low-quality image from a screen grab. The plaintiff lives hundreds of miles away and says he never visited the site.
New York and California are pushing legislation to require firearm-blocking technology in 3D-printers to detect gun designs before printing. Critics warn it might not work and could raise privacy and rights concerns. The effort builds on a surge in privately made guns; a study group will assess feasibility before any mandate takes effect.
The Supreme Court has ruled that geofence warrants—used to identify suspects by collecting location data from people in a crime scene area—are subject to Fourth Amendment protections. The justices have affirmed that location data collected by third parties still warrants a warrant, focusing on privacy expectations in the digital age. The decision sends the case back to lower courts for further analysis.