The Justice Department has obtained three warrants to search the Facebook accounts of people associated with protests of Donald Trump’s inauguration and an anti-Trump Facebook page they used to organize the demonstrations. In addition to private lists of people who planned to attend Facebook events created by the…
The US Department of Justice is rescinding its request for IP logs that would have revealed visitors to a website used to plan a protest during Donald Trump’s inauguration.
A web hosting provider has revealed the US Justice Department’s efforts to obtain records about an activist website established to coordinate “mass protests to shut down the inauguration of Donald Trump.”
In its next term, the US Supreme Court will take up a landmark case concerning law enforcement’s ability to track cellphones without a warrant.
Two extremely similar cases involving locked iPhones in two neighboring Florida counties ended up with two conflicting judgments this week. Both suspects claimed that they couldn’t remember their passcodes which prevented police from obtaining evidence. In one case, the judge slapped the suspect with contempt and…
In May 2006, Aaron Swartz wrote a blog post titled “The Book That Changed My Life.” The book in question, Understanding Power, is a series of transcribed discussions with the MIT linguist Noam Chomsky in which Chomsky analyzes and explains the ways in which political power is wielded, acquired, and guarded. “Reading…
Copyright law is complicated, but one thing is clear: The Digital Millennium Copyright Law was not designed to enable censorship. Unfortunately, the owners of Ashley Madison are using—and abusing—DMCA takedown notices to do just that in order to keep its hacked data off the web.
Do you like privacy? You’re going to hate this news. A federal court just ruled that law enforcement doesn’t need a warrant to obtain cell tower location data. This is just a year after the same federal court ruled that it did need a warrant, a move some called the biggest privacy wins in recent memory. Now it is a…
Did you know that it’s illegal to tinker with the code in your in-car computer? Thanks to the nuances of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), you’re not even supposed to inspect the inner workings of your vehicle’s circuitry. This is absurd, which is why the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is fighting for…
The United States has been waiting too long for federal law banning revenge porn. The wait will be over soon. In the coming weeks, Congresswoman Jackie Speier will introduce a bill that would make revenge porn a federal crime—finally.
In the South Carolina prison system, accessing Facebook is an offense on par with murder, rape, rioting, escape and hostage-taking.
On Thursday, the government is expected to propose new net neutrality rules that would treat the internet more like a public utility. According to several reports, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal will reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. This is great…
So there's good news, and there's bad news. The good news is that Obama mentioned a sprawling set of cybersecurity initiatives at the State of the Union tonight. The bad news is that they suck.
Facebook is often criticized over privacy concerns, but the social network just made a historic move in the name of security and anonymity. The social network just created a dedicated Tor link that ensures people who visit the site from the anonymous web browser won't be mistaken for botnets. This is a big deal,…
Delaware sure likes being first. The first state to ratify the Constitution just became the first state to enact a broad law that gives families the right to inherit digital assets the same way that they'd inherit physical assets. Now, it's up to the other 49 states to follow suit.
Are you worried about Barack Obama reading all your emails and listening to all your phone calls? Beefing up your privacy settings is one thing, but fighting in the greater war to protect your Constitutional rights is another. You should do the latter, y'know, to be a good American. Here's how to get started.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998, is a fundamental piece of legislation which forms the foundation of US law regarding digital rights. It's far from perfect for consumers—but it also has a massive impact on the progress of research, too.
One of the greatest benefits of 3D printing technology - the ability to make replacements or parts for household objects like toys, utensils and gadgets - may be denied to US citizens thanks to the granting of a sweeping patent that prevents the printing of unauthorised 3D designs. It has all the makings of the…
