Stop the OS Surveillance Mandate

🔔REMINDER: If you are in the USA (#America), be sure to contact your legislators (including lawmakers and senators) and representatives to repeal or amend mandatory OS-level/app store level age assurance laws & bills. We need to protect our #DigitalFreedom and #Privacy. #DigitalRights

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Florida’s social media law, which can now come into effect, bans accounts for children under 14, even with parental permission.

The @cancivlib.bsky.social, @openmedia.org, and other privacy advocates are speaking out on the dangers of Bill C-22, which invites backdoors to encryption. If you’re Canadian, the Senate needs to hear from you now.

Here's what you should be doing.

And here's what corporations should be doing.

Have you lost an account, or been wrongly blocked by an age check? Are you a parent who had trouble giving consent? Tell EFF how new social media restrictions are affecting you by emailing us at agegates@eff.org.

TOMORROW: Join us online, in New Haven, or in Boston for #EncryptFest, a joint event with @fsf.org! Our @profdiggity.com will be interviewing @henryfisher.bsky.social from @techlore.tech at 1:00pm EDT Register: my.fsf.org/civicrm/even...

Spyware vendors are using ads to breach mobile devices, even if you never click. New research shows journalists have become targets. Read our newsletter to learn more — and subscribe:

There is no amount of data collection, surveillance, or censorship that will get a child off a screen. Parents must be willing to set and enforce boundaries for their children.

An appeals court has allowed Florida and Georgia to start enforcing online age gates. Some young people will lose accounts, and everyone faces new privacy risks. Here’s what to know, and what to do next.

The Vulnerability Apocalypse is here, and computer security is about to get a whole lot worse. Here's what you can do.

Corporations made trillions of dollars off of a foundation of open-source software like PHP; the vulnerability apocalypse could destroy that foundation. It's time for corporations to pull their weight.

EFF’s @cooperq.com discussed this with @nytimes.com’s @nytwirecutter.bsky.social today. “Maintenance of these critical systems depends on a small number of volunteers working on this in their free time,” he said, calling for more investment in open-source projects.

On Wednesday, the state of New Mexico fined social media giant Meta $25B for violating consumer privacy during the 2010s Cambridge Analytica scandal. EPIC continues to advocate for stronger data privacy standards online and robust enforcement against companies that violate consumer privacy rights.

If you're going to BSidesPDX, be sure to stop by the EFF table where you can catch up on our work, renew your membership, and check out digital rights merch including stickers, liquid-core dice, and more. www.eff.org/event/eff-b...

More than 4 million people already use EFF’s free tracker-blocking extension to stop companies from spying on them online. Safari users can now install Privacy Badger and join them in the fight against online tracking. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Canada’s dangerous C-22 surveillance bill is now before the Senate. It will force tech companies to build surveillance into their products, threatening everyone’s security and privacy. There’s still time to speak out.

CDT’s Eric Null in the Record: "The message from these state actions is evident: companies must be accurate and clear about how they process and treat data.”

Companies are happy to let a general misconception flourish which frames security as inherently opposed to interoperability. This narrative is wrong.

EPIC wrote an amicus brief along with @techjusticelaw.bsky.social and scholars urging the Ninth Circuit to reject Big Tech’s claim that addictive, surveillance-based feeds are protected speech. ⬇️

For #GED2026, CDT released new polling reports on public attitudes toward encryption and government surveillance in France, Poland, Ireland, and Sweden.

Helping youth navigate the internet can be a daunting task, but here’s a new guide to help you get started.

Sick of paying subscription fees to all the major tech companies for software you don’t even enjoy using? Now’s the perfect time to hunt down alternatives. www.eff.org/pages/i-wan...

EFF’s Privacy Badger is now available on Safari for macOS! Whether you want to protect yourself from data brokers or don’t want Big Tech profiting off your browsing, Privacy Badger is here to help. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

You can join the movement against online tracking by installing Privacy Badger, telling your friends and family about it, or by supporting Privacy Badger today. supporters.eff.org/donate/supp...

Today is #GlobalEncryptionDay! 📱 Encryption is a critical piece of the cybersecurity puzzle, keeping messages and data safe. But what happens when platforms hosting encrypted messaging services are under attack? Learn how the commercial spyware industry threatens these platforms in our new blog:

Age verification is not child protection. It is _______. #StopOSSpies #NoAgeSignals #StopKillingTheInternet #NoAgeVerification

VICTORY! EFF, our co-counsel and our clients have won our lawsuit against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. A judge agreed OPM violated the law when it disclosed millions of federal employee records to DOGE agents. The court will decide the remedy at a later date.

“Just switch to Linux” used to be advice reserved for super-nerds on obscure forums, but these days it’s far less intimidating. Give it a try. www.eff.org/pages/i-wan...

👩‍💻Ending your work-day closing down Microsoft & Google apps wishing you could find alternatives that support your workflow? There are many artists, activists, technologists & other workers who resonate with the urge to get off Big Tech for a myriad of reasons. We can help! fftf.link/degoogling-w...

Federal consolidation of our data leads to mistakes, abuses, and a lack of trust in institutions meant to protect us. But we all deserve to live in a world where our data is not combined and weaponized against us. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about removing access to an infringing work–that already exists via the DMCA. It is about making an entire website inaccessible for everyone trying to visit it. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

A safer internet for children is an important goal. But the EU’s proposed Kids Act must not come at the expense of fundamental rights or democratic process, writes CDT Europe’s @ashaoallen.bsky.social Allen in @techpolicypress.bsky.social Policy Press.

The American Copyright Protection Act would let copyright owners seek court orders forcing ISPs, DNS providers, and VPNs to block Americans’ from accessing to entire websites. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

EU policymakers claim that their Kids Act will keep the internet safe by treating every user as a child unless they age-verify. They are incorrect - this is a prohibitive proposal that puts all online services behind age gates. We urge the EU Parliament to reject it. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Despite its name, the DEFEND IP Act would instead incentivize censorship, overblocking, and bad faith attempts to block access to a website. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

A new site-blocking bill in Congress has procedural improvements. But it also explicitly reaches VPNs and broadens what kind of websites can be targeted. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Join EFF Executive Director Nicole Ozer and EFF Board Member Bruce Schneier as they discuss recent developments in artificial intelligence, how much we should worry about them, and how societies should think about balancing the risks and potential benefits of AI. www.eff.org/event/how-m...

In the past two years, the federal government has unlawfully consolidated databases containing our most sensitive information. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Site-blocking isn’t just theoretically dangerous. Italy’s system blocked hundreds of innocent websites. Spain’s swept up domains belonging to Greenpeace and Harvard. Now Congress wants to bring this to the U.S. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

With VPNs “Germans can bypass controls on "hate speech",the Chinese can work around restrictions on Winnie the Pooh memes, and people in places like Utah can ignore intrusive age-verification rules.” So this is great news reason.com/2026/10/07/f...

As long as authoritarian governments work to censor & surveil us for ultimate control, VPNs remain vital tools. That’s why we’re fighting to defend them.

Last year we mobilized thousands of VPN users & privacy advocates like you to press world leaders for VPN defense. This year we added thousands more to the list of action takers. www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2026-10...

The social media ban is coming. That means every adult having to show their ID to get online. Age verification puts privacy at risk. Curbs freedom of expression. And simply doesn't work to keep kids safe online. The government needs to change course. But the clock is ticking. Sign the petition ⬇️

As election season heats up, join EFF's Hayley Tsukayama and Adam Schwartz, along with Verified Voting, the Brennan Center for Justice, and TechEquity for a look at the current state of election privacy. 10/8 at 11AM PT, live Q&A included. eff.org/livestream-...

Trump has been threatening free speech with surveillance programs aimed at intimidating people his administration doesn't like. As of yesterday the lawsuit three labor unions filed against the Departments of State & Homeland Security for this is moving forward. www.eff.org/press/releas...

Play Retro Gadgets, Quantum Odyssey, Replicube, SOLAS 128 and more in Humble's new Programming Puzzles Bundle. Pay what you want and direct some of the proceeds to EFF, too! www.humblebundle.com/games/progr...

The big tech companies want you to believe that their default software offerings are the only option, but spoiler alert, there’s a wide array of fantastic software out there. www.eff.org/pages/i-wan...

#savespeech #fightchatcontrol #stopEUKIDSAct Apparently the debate on "protecting kids online" occured in Parliament in the EU. No transcript yet. Sounds like its a tyg of war on either side. If someone can cliffnotes this, please lend a hand bsky.app/profile/prog... bsky.app/profile/prog...

A new site-blocking bill in Congress has procedural improvements. But it also explicitly reaches VPNs and broadens what kind of websites can be targeted. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...