Tell Congress: We Can't Afford More Bad Patents

1 week 1 day ago

Congress is pushing two bills that would bring back some of the worst patents and empower patent trolls.

The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), S. 2140, would throw out crucial rules that ban patents on many abstract ideas. Courts will be ordered to approve patents on things like ordering food on a mobile phone or doing basic financial functions online. If PERA Passes, the floodgates will open for these vague software patents that will be used to sue small companies and individuals. This bill even allows for a type of patent on human genes that the Supreme Court rightly disallowed in 2013.

A second bill, the PREVAIL Act, S. 2220, would sharply limit the public’s right to challenge patents that never should have been granted in the first place.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Tell Congress: Access To Laws Should Be Fully Open

1 week 6 days ago

Court after court has recognized that no one can own the text of the law. But the Pro Codes Act is a deceptive power grab that will help giant industry associations ration access to huge swaths of U.S. laws. Tell Congress not to fall for it.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Tell Congress: Stop the TikTok Ban

2 weeks 1 day ago

Congress is fast-tracking a bill that would effectively ban TikTok in the US, but do little for its alleged goal of protecting our private information and the collection of our data by foreign governments. Tell Congress: Instead of giving the President the power to ban entire social media platforms based on their country of origin, our representatives should focus on what matters—protecting our data no matter who is collecting it.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Tell Congress: Absent Major Changes, 702 Should Not be Renewed

1 month ago

We all deserve privacy in our communications, and part of that is trusting that the government will only access them within the limits of the law. But it's now clear that the government hasn’t respected any limits on the intelligence community or law enforcement. When it comes to Section 702, a law that continues to allow spying on Americans, they've ignored our rights.

This April, Section 702 is set to expire, and the current administration will try everything in their power to renew it. We think it’s time for 702 to end entirely and that any future programs must start from scratch in order to protect the privacy of digital communications. EFF will continue to fight to make sure that any bill that does renew Section 702 closes the government’s warrantless access to U.S. communications, minimizes the amount of data collected, and increases transparency. Anything less than that would signal a continued indifference, or contempt, to our right to privacy.

Tell Congress it’s time they protect our privacy!

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Tell Congress: They Must Defeat HPSCI’s Horrific Surveillance Bill

1 month ago

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) has introduced the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023–an absolutely awful bill that ignores years of abuse and unconstitutional surveillance in order to renew a mass surveillance law with no real changes, reforms, or new oversight.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is set to expire on December 31, 2023, and there is currently a race to see what bill will renew Big Brother’s favorite surveillance law. Any reauthorizations must come with significant reforms in order to protect the privacy of people’s communications. To that end, the choice is clear - we urge all Members to vote NO on the Intelligence Committee’s bill, H.R.6611, the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Tell Congress To Pass the PRESS Act Now

1 month 3 weeks ago

The Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying (PRESS) Act is a long overdue federal shield law that provides protections to journalists against government surveillance and forced disclosure of confidential sources.

Journalists shouldn’t be forced to choose between protecting their confidential sources or going to prison. But the reality is that both Democratic and Republican administrations have secretly subpoenaed reporters’ emails and phone records to hunt down their sources. That chills essential newsgathering and whistleblowing, and it needs to stop now.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
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1 hour 55 minutes ago
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