Dave Maass

California Law Says Electronic Search Data Must Be Posted Online. So Where Is It?

Update 3:10pm, January 30: We have temporarily disabled access to data from 2022. We will provide more information soon. When it was passed in 2015, the California Electronic Communications Act (CalECPA) was heralded as a major achievement for…

From Camera Towers to Spy Blimps, Border Researchers Now Can Use 65+ Open-licensed Images of Surveillance Tech from EFF

The U.S.-Mexico border is one of the most politicized technological spaces in the country, with leaders in both political parties supporting massive spending on border security and the so-called "Virtual Wall." Yet we see little debate over the…

EFF's Atlas of Surveillance Database Now Documents 10,000+ Police Tech Programs

With this project, we are creating a searchable and mappable repository of which law enforcement agencies in the U.S. use surveillance technologies such as body-worn cameras, drones, automated license plate readers, and face recognition. It's one of…

A National Lab Is Promoting a "Digital Police Officer" Fantasy for Law Enforcement and Border Control

Researchers at a national laboratory are forecasting a future where police and border agents are assisted by artificial intelligence, not as a software tool but as an autonomous partner capable of taking the steering wheel during pursuits and…

Automated License Plate Readers Threaten Abortion Access. Here's How Policymakers Can Mitigate the Risk

Over the last decade, a vast number of law enforcement agencies around the country have adopted a mass surveillance technology that uses cameras to track the vehicles of every driver on the road, with little thought or respect given to the ways this…

La policía de San Francisco debe poner fin a la irresponsable relación con el Centro de Fusión del Norte de California

En un nuevo incumplimiento de las normas, el Departamento de Policía de San Francisco está colaborando con el centro de fusión regional sin que haya nada por escrito -ni acuerdos, ni contratos, ni nada- que regule la relación, según los nuevos…

San Francisco Police Must End Irresponsible Relationship with the Northern California Fusion Center

In yet another failure to follow the rules, the San Francisco Police Department is collaborating with the regional fusion center with nothing in writing—no agreements, no contracts, nothing— governing the relationship, according to new records…

Cómo los trabajadores de la salud reproductiva de California pueden proteger la información que envían al gobierno

Con la decisión del Tribunal Supremo de EE.UU. en el caso Dobbs, que revierte el derecho de acceso al aborto que se ha mantenido durante mucho tiempo, los trabajadores y voluntarios de las clínicas de salud reproductiva deben reevaluar los riesgos a…

How California Reproductive Health Workers Can Protect Information They Submit to the Government

With the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs reversing long-standing rights to abortion access, workers and volunteers for reproductive health clinics must reevaluate the risks they face (also known as a threat model) and take steps to safeguard…

La policía de San Francisco es condenada por violar la ley de registros públicos en relación con el reconocimiento facial y los documentos del Centro de Fusión

Por unanimidad, el organismo de apelación de registros públicos de San Francisco dictaminó anoche que el Departamento de Policía de San Francisco (SFPD) violó las leyes estatales y locales al no responder adecuadamente a las solicitudes de documentos…

San Francisco Police Nailed for Violating Public Records Laws Regarding Face Recognition and Fusion Center Documents

By unanimous vote, San Francisco's public records appeals body ruled last night that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) violated state and local laws when it failed to respond adequately to EFF's requests for documents about face recognition…

The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Tablet Advertising That Can Also Issue Discipline

This post is part of our series "The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Exploring the Future of Incarceration Technology." You can read more about the role of patents in our post, “The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Patents Aren't Products (Yet).”…

The Foilies 2022 : Recognizing the year’s worst in government transparency

Each year during Sunshine Week (March 13-19), The Foilies serve up tongue-in-cheek "awards" for government agencies and assorted institutions that stand in the way of access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock combine…

Recognizing the year’s worst in government transparency

The Foilies were compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Director of Investigations Dave Maass, Senior Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey, Frank Stanton Fellow Mukund Rathi, Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton, Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia)…

The Foilies 2022

Recognizing the year's worst in government transparency. The Foilies were compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Director of Investigations Dave Maass, Senior Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey, Frank Stanton Fellow Mukund Rathi, Investigative…

Twitter and Facebook Must Speak Out Against Ghana's Repulsive Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill

As the Ghanaian Parliament considers a bill that would criminalize being LGBTQI+ or an ally of LGBTQI+ people, and ban all speech on and offline that even remotely supports LGBTQI+ rights, Twitter and Facebook's parent company Meta must publicly…

The Atlas of Surveillance Turns the Dragnet on Police Tech: 2021 Year in Review

This past year, EFF's Atlas of Surveillance project mobilized hundreds of student journalists and volunteer researchers to turn the tables on police spying by building the largest ever public-facing database of police surveillance technology. As EFF…

EFF Continues Legal Fight to Release Records Showing How Law Enforcement Uses Cell-site Simulators

Four years ago, EFF set out on a mission to chase down the paper trail left behind when cops in California use cell-site simulators. This trail has led us to a California appellate court, where next spring we will face-off with San Bernardino County…

Have an Open Records Horror Story? Shine a Light by Nominating an Agency for The Foilies 2022

This post is crossposted at MuckRock and was co-written by Michael Morisy. We are now accepting submissions for The Foilies 2022, the annual project to give tongue-in-cheek awards to the officials and institutions that behave badly—or…

AP News in Brief at 11:03 p.m. EDT

Fauci: More 'pain and suffering' ahead as COVID cases rise Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots. Fauci, the…