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FBI is building a tattoo tracking AI to identify criminals
AI-powered image recognition is all the rage these days, but it could have a sinister side too. Since 2014, the National Institute of Standards and Technology started working with the FBI to develop better automated tattoo recognition tech, according to a study by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The idea here is to basically develop profiles of people based on their body art. The EFF says that because tattoos are a form of speech, "any attempt to identify, profile, sort or link people based on their ink raises significant First Amendment questions."
FBI chiefs want databases exempt from privacy protections
The FBI has hatched a plan to prevent its colossal database of fingerprints and mugshots from falling under the auspices of the Privacy Act. The bureau wants a series of exemptions from the law, including the requirement to tell people, when asked, that they're listed on the system. The feds also want to remove the requirement for people listed on the database to be able to correct any errors in their file. Naturally, the EFF and 44 other privacy groups have protested the move, sending a letter to the Department of Justice asking for an extension on the 21-day consultation period to debate the issue properly.
Lawsuit asks Justice Department to reveal decryption orders
Do you want to know whether or not US officials have ever forced a company to decrypt data to aid in an investigation? So does the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The civil liberties group has sued the Department of Justice to make it reveal whether or not it has ever used secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders to make companies decrypt communications. The EFF had used a standard Freedom of Information Act request beforehand, but didn't get anything. FISC says that what "potentially responsive" documents it found are exempt from disclosure, since they were created before the USA Freedom Act took effect.
EFF scores a blow against the government's domestic spying
Before we knew that the National Security Agency was getting its jollies by spying via Prism, there was Jewel vs. NSA. That case, filed by Electronic Frontier Foundation, has gotten a boost from California judge Jeffrey White who's has granted discovery to the EFF -- something the EFF says it's been barred from since 2008. Not up on your legalese? Don't worry. Discovery is the step in a court case that allows all parties involved to go into trial with as much information as possible, without either party being able to keep secrets from one another. Unless said information would result in self-incrimination, it's a fact-finding stage.
Judge tells Apple to help FBI access San Bernardino shooters' iPhone
After a couple shot 14 people in San Bernardino, CA before being killed themselves on December 2nd, the authorities recovered a locked iPhone. Since then, the FBI has complained it is unable to break the device's encryption, in a case that it has implied supports its desire for tech companies to make sure it can always have a way in. Today the Associated Press reports that a US magistrate judge has directed Apple to help the FBI find a way in. According to NBC News, the model in question is an iPhone 5c, but Apple has said that at least as of iOS 8 it does not have a way to bypass the passcode on a locked phone.
T-Mobile's CEO does damage control, apologizes to the EFF
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has published an open letter on the company's website, and it smells like an attempt at damage control after getting some real backlash. As you might know, he's been making good use of his colorful vocabulary to defend his company over accusations that it's throttling YouTube videos these past few weeks. In the process, he lambasted Google and accused the Electronic Frontier Foundation of being a paid mouthpiece.
T-Mobile CEO: Calling Binge On 'throttling' is 'bullshit'
T-Mobile CEO John Legere took to YouTube this morning with a video where he, essentially, criticizes YouTube. Legere defended his company's Binge On service (again), saying, "There are people out there saying we're 'throttling.' That's a game of semantics and it's bullshit." Spoilers: He's talking about YouTube. Here's the background: Binge On allows certain customers to stream video from participating services, including Netflix and Hulu, without eating into their data plans. However, Binge One is an opt-out service and all videos for participating customers stream at 480p by default. This includes YouTube videos, even though Google isn't a Binge On partner. YouTube calls Binge On "throttling," while a T-Mobile spokesperson in December called it "mobile optimization" or "downgrading."
EFF: T-Mobile's video 'optimization' is just throttling
We wouldn't blame you for doubting T-Mobile's claim that Binge On 'optimizes' mobile video instead of throttling it -- that sounds like a classic euphemism. And it looks like your skepticism may be well-warranted, if you ask the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It recently conducted tests suggesting that the cap-free viewing option throttles every video download and stream to 1.5Mbps, no matter which service you're using or how good your connection might be. While T-Mobile says it's shrinking videos to 480p, the EFF shows that the carrier is simply reducing the bandwidth to make most videos play at 480p. If a service doesn't have a low-bandwidth option, you get stuttering and other hiccups.
Tor's new executive director is a digital privacy legend
Tor's anonymizing internet technology is already vital to whistleblowers, human rights advocates and others who value their digital privacy. It only makes sense that the project team should hire a privacy champion to help lead its efforts, doesn't it? Sure enough, Tor is doing just that: it's appointing Electronic Frontier Foundation veteran Shari Steele as its executive director. She led the EFF's efforts to fund Tor a decade ago, and spurred online security initiatives like HTTPS Everywhere. There's no doubt that she knows what Tor can do to protect your data, then.
The EFF claims that Google spies on school kids
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a complaint alleging that Google is being a bit creepy when it comes to school kids' personal information. The search engine stands accused of data-mining the users of the Chromebooks that are handed out in schools as well as those using Google Apps for Education. It's doubly galling because, if true, Google has broken a promise that it made in January to not to exactly that. The firm, along with many others, signed the Student Privacy Pledge, barring it from vacuuming-up student data that wasn't for educational purposes.
EFF's new website keeps an eye on social media censorship
Facebook, Instagram and other social media websites had been in hot water many, many times in the past for purging content other users deem inappropriate. In order to pinpoint the exact reasons for those takedowns and to determine trends in content removals, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a website that tracks censorship across social media outlets. The EFF has built the platform called Online Censorship along with data-driven design company Visualizing Impact. It has resources, such as articles that talk about unjust removal of posts, but it relies on user reports to gather the data it needs.
License plate readers can be a security nightmare
The fact that automated license plate recognition (ALPR) systems can store data for years is apparently not the only disturbing thing about them. Some of them are exposed online and are easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a browser, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has confirmed. The EFF investigated over 100 cameras in five various locations across the country starting this spring and discovered that most of the vulnerable ones were manufactured by a company called PIPS, which is now owned by 3M. The degree of vulnerability differed across locations: in extreme cases, you can view the camera's live feed online and even pull up its control panel.
Have your say on the FCC's plan to lock down WiFi routers
You may know that you can replace your WiFi router's software with an open source version like DD-WRT or Tomato to make it more secure or powerful. However, the US wireless regulator (FCC) only seems to have figured that out recently, and is not happy with your ability to boost the signal power excessively on such devices. As such, it proposed changes to regulations, with one document suggesting it may ban or restrict third-party software altogether. That caught the eye of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which created an online petition asking the FCC to make changes.
EFF's browser extension that blocks spying ads officially launches
After more than a year of testing, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is releasing Privacy Badger 1.0, a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that prevents ads and sites from tracking your activity on the web. The EFF says over a 250,000 users have used the early versions of the extension, following a call for testers last May. So how does it work? Privacy Badger blocks so-called super cookies and browser fingerprinting, both of which can be used to track your browsing habits across multiple sites. It works together with the Do Not Track setting in browsers, which also allows you to opt out of ad tracking, but requires services to honor that setting. Together, they should both offer some peace of mind if you're worried about increasingly powerful web ads, but don't want to stop ads entirely with services like AdBlock.
A chat with Black Hat's unconventional keynote speaker
The most interesting thing about Black Hat 2015 keynote speaker Jennifer Granick isn't her gender -- though she appears against a backdrop of historically male keynotes. It's that Granick is director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. She previously held the same position at the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- and is known for defending some of the more notorious criminal hackers around, including Kevin Poulsen, Aaron Swartz, Jerome Heckenkamp and the hackers in the Diebold Election Systems case. Being the keynote speaker at the Black Hat conference means she's about to go front and center with the very organizations and government entities her clients have hacked. Granick is joining a colorful catalog of former keynoters who tend to represent the interests of the international cybersecurity conference's corporate-enterprise and government attendees.
EFF is building a stronger 'Do Not Track' browser setting
Despite "Do Not Track" being a standard option on Firefox, Chrome and Safari (but not Microsoft Edge), many unscrupulous advertisers are still secretly tracking the browsing habits of internet users. That's why the Electronic Frontier Foundation has teamed with Adblock, Medium, Mixpanel and DuckDuckGo to create a stronger standard.
Emailing your members of Congress just got much easier
It's supposed to be easier to email Congresspeople than it is to pick up the phone, but that's not always how it works in practice. Just ask anyone who has navigated convoluted web forms just to voice opposition to a bill, for starters. You won't have to put up with those technical hurdles after today, though. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's new Democracy.io site helps you email House and Senate representatives without having to dig around their sites. You can even email all of your politicians at once, if there's a concern that stretches across both legislative branches. There's no guarantees that officials will listen when you fire off your messages, but you'll at least get to say that you exercised your civic responsibility. [Image credit: TTarasiuk, Flickr]
Podcasts are safer after the EFF helps gut a patent troll
Personal Audio has been threatening the podcast world for a while -- the longtime patent troll claims that it invented the concept of podcasting, and has insisted that some bigger productions (such as Adam Carolla's) either cough up licensing money or face lawsuits. You may not have to worry about your favorite series going off the air in the future, though. US patent officials have nixed some of the core claims of Personal Audio's "podcasting patent" after the Electronic Frontier Foundation pointed out podcast-like shows that were running before the patent even existed. Some aspects of episodic online audio are just too obvious to be patentable, according to the finding.
Publishers are fighting to keep abandoned games dead
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group that defends civil liberties in the digital world, is facing off against the Entertainment Software Association, the organization that represents most major video game publishers in the US. The EFF wants to allow players to put abandoned games back online and has asked the US Copyright Office for an exemption from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This would allow players to legally modify the code of online games that are no longer supported by publishers, in the hope of reconnecting these titles to new, third-party servers. This includes games like Battlefield 1942, Star Wars: Battlefront, SOCOM 4, Resistance: Fall of Man and Mario Kart Wii. Many modern games rely on servers to function; if Activision pulled the plug on Destiny, for example, even its single-player campaign would disappear, since the entire game needs an online connection.
Verizon finally offers a way to avoid its 'supercookie' tracker
Hey there Verizon subscribers, remember that whole "supercookie" ordeal from not too long ago? Well, it looks like it's time to put that mess behind us because the ability to wholly opt out of said tracking system is finally available, according to The New York Times. That's right, the undeletable, unique identifier header is basically a thing of the past once you either opt out on Big Red's website or call 1-866-211-0874. Seems pretty good, right? It is, but it's a half-measure -- this sort of thing should be opt-in, not the other way around. Privacy advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation are pushing Verizon to reverse that, or, hopefully, discontinue the supercookie program altogether. Given how big our digital footprints can get, having an automatic way to shrink them even just a little would probably come as welcome news for practically anyone. [Image credit: Getty Images]
