Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Online sports betting company DraftKings is using AI to target customers who are most likely to place losing bets and respond to gambling promotions. This kind of targeting is a form of online behavioral advertising, which is when companies personalize the ads they show you based on the data they’ve collected about you.     The more data a company has, the more personalized the ad can be. While DraftKings is using AI to supercharge the harmful effects of online behavioral advertising, EFF has long argued that all behavioral advertising should be banned.   Read more of EFF’s analysis at the link in the comments.

Voting is a right. But voting records are highly sensitive. Once you cast your vote, how does the technology in the voting booth and the policy of the country protect voting access and democracy? For decades, advocates have fought for strong cybersecurity standards at polling places and fought in court to protect the privacy of voting records.   As we head into the height of election season, join EFF's Hayley Tsukayama and Adam Schwartz, along with Mark Lindeman of Verified Voting, Derek Tisler of the Brennan Center for Justice, and Jonathan Mehta Stein of TechEquity to discuss the current state of election privacy and cybersecurity and find out more about what protects your vote after you submit your ballot.   Join the livestream online followed by live Q&A; register at the link in the comments.

The EU Commission draft law to restrict young people’s access to the internet that it presented last week will come at a high cost: It will put online services behind age gates, expand the use of intrusive age verification, and undermine the privacy of all users.    The EU Kids Act aims to protect children from risks associated with social media, video games, and AI systems by introducing age-based access rules, safety requirements, and stronger enforcement and oversight measures. It presents itself as building on the Digital Services Act and puts into “hard law” some of the safety-by-design measures specified in the non-binding DSA guidelines on minors’ protection.      The proposal is built around the following elements: social media age “delay”, safety by design, age assurance and parental responsibility, and strong enforcement.     But each of these measures are concerning. Read our full analysis at the link in the comments. 

EFF has thoughts about California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order on AI. Exerpt: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order is an opportunity for a needed, thoughtful conversation about artificial intelligence and its potential harms. Everyday Californians are feeling real anxiety about the risks of artificial intelligence, and as an organization that works to ensure technology empowers people, EFF welcomes this order as a way for the state of California to lead a much-needed dialogue that addresses these concerns.   "Nonetheless, the most immediate and current concerns with this technology are not about sci-fi scenarios concerning rogue super-intelligence. They are happening right now through biased algorithmic decision-making for employment or government benefits, AI-powered surveillance systems such as Flock cameras, and artificially inflated personalized pricing. People want state and federal leaders to act, and we urge Gov. Newsom to develop thoughtful policies to address those concerns. Today’s EO is a good start." Read the full statement at the link in the comments. 

EFF is honored to announce today that Alexander Macgillivray — a former White House official who also served in top legal capacities at Twitter and Google — has joined EFF’s Board of Directors.      Macgillivray - often known as "amac" - served in the Biden Administration as Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and earlier had held a similar position in the Obama Administration. Macgillivray was one of the co-authors of the Biden Administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and oversaw many of the Administration’s AI initiatives, such as organizing its AI CEO convening, leading its working group on federal AI policy, and overseeing the creation of the National AI Research and Development Strategic Plan and National AI Research Resource.   “One of the things I am currently focused on is positively impacting AI development," MacGillivray said. The EFF is uniquely situated for that purpose because it combines top-notch legal, technical and advocacy staff with a long history of fighting for people’s rights while encouraging the positive development of technology. I’m thrilled to be joining the board.”   Read more about amac at the link in the comments.

Here's a riddle: Why did a Goshen Police Department officer search 6,474 automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks, representing data from 82,413 cameras, on May 7, 2025? EFF’s analysis of Flock Safety’s ALPR search data obtained through public records requests has uncovered a disturbing trend. In the absence of judicial oversight, officers are inputting ridiculously unserious terms to justify their searches. With no warrant requirements, limited guardrails, and deficient audit processes, ALPR databases have fostered a culture of unrestricted access to everyone’s location information. Find the full blog linked in the comments. ⬇️

Centralized platforms bring real risks: surveillance, censorship, and a loss of user agency. Join Babette Ngene, Rory Mir, Bruce Schneier, and Mallory Knodel, to talk about the alternative on 9/17 at 11AM PT. Link to RSVP in the comments below.

The 2026 EFF Awards go to Access Now, 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, DeFlock, and New Media Rights. Four EFF allies, four fights, one goal: tech that serves freedom and justice for everyone.    Access Now wins for “Fostering Change in Human Rights and Technology.” For years, they’ve worked hard to be the team companies and lawmakers can't ignore when tech policy and human rights collide.   7amleh wins for “Defending and Advancing Digital Access and Rights Across the MENA Region.” Where speaking up online can carry real risks, they’ve built the infrastructure to protect digital rights.    DeFlock wins for “Exposing the ALPR Surveillance Network.” Police across the US quietly built a mass license plate tracking system. DeFlock turned that invisible surveillance web into something residents can see and fight. And New Media Rights wins for “Helping Creators Fight Back Against IP Bullies.” When creators are threatened with bogus copyright claims, New Media Rights is in their corner fighting to ensure they’re not silenced. Thank you to this year’s winners for advancing digital rights worldwide, defending access in crisis zones, empowering communities against surveillance, and enabling creators to fight back. Read more about them at the link in the comments.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted unlawful investigations into dozens of individuals who have documented ICE activities in their communities, social media users who criticized the government, and international students who attended a protest. A favored tool in these speech chilling investigations are administrative subpoenas sent to technology companies, requesting basic subscriber data about their users. For example, from 2018 to 2020, ICE sent nearly 500 administrative subpoenas to Meta, Google, and Twitter (now X), according to documents obtained by Just Futures Law. In just the second half of 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent 21 administrative subpoenas to Reddit, according to its Transparency Report. Find the non-comprehensive list of DHS subpoenas that we gathered going back to 2025 linked in the comments below. If you know of other subpoenas that are not on this list, please reach out to info@eff.org. While the government has abused the subpoena process in other areas, particularly to hospitals, this list focuses on DHS and ICE subpoenas to technology companies for user data.