 Welcome to Affector from the Electronic Friends Here Foundation. This is the audio edition of EFF's email newsletter geared towards keeping you on the bleeding edge of your digital rights. Check the show notes for links to all of our stories. This is Affector Volume 34, Issue 1, titled, 10 Years After the Internet Blackout. This issue was published on Thursday, January 20th, 2022, and I'm your host, Member Outreach Assistant Christian Romero. Let's start with some top features. First up, it's Copyright Week 2022. Ten years later, how has SOPA and PIPA shaped online copyright enforcement? Ten years ago, a diverse coalition of internet users, nonprofit groups, and internet companies defeated the Stop Online Piracy Act, SOPA, and the Protect IP App, PIPA. Bills that would have forced internet companies to blacklist and block websites accused of hosting copyright infringing content. These were bills that would have made censorship very easy, all in the name of copyright enforcement. This collective action showed the world that the word of a few major companies who control film, music, and television can't control internet policy for their own good. We celebrate Copyright Week every year on the anniversary of the internet blackout that finally got the message across. Team Internet will always stand up for itself. And for our next feature, Victory, Google Disables 2G Feature for New Android Smartphones. Last year, Google quietly pushed a new feature to its Android operating system, allowing users to optionally disable 2G at the modem level in their phones. This is a fantastic feature that will provide some protection from cell site simulators, an invasive police surveillance technology employed throughout the country. We applaud Google for implementing this much needed feature, but now Apple needs to implement this feature as well, for the safety of their customers. Okay, now we have some EFF updates. First up, Saudi Human Rights activist, represented by EFF, Sue Spyromaker Darkmatter for violating U.S. anti-hacking and international human rights laws. EFF filed a lawsuit in December on behalf of prominent Saudi human rights activist, Lujane Alhathlau, against spying software maker Darkmatter Group, and three of its former executives, for illegally hacking her iPhone to secretly track her communications and whereabouts. Next up, we've got a new episode for how to fix the internet, algorithms for a just future. Modern life means leaving digital traces wherever we go, but those digital footprints can translate to real-world harms. The websites you visit can impact mortgage offers, car loans, and job options you see advertised. EFF Cindy Cone and Danny O'Brien joined Vincent Lay, legal counsel for the Green Lightning Institute to discuss our digital privacy and how U.S. laws haven't kept up with safeguarding our rights when we go online, as well as some ideas and examples about how we can turn the tables and use algorithmic decision-making to help bring more equity rather than less. Next up, nearly 130 public interest organizations and experts urged the United Nations to include human rights safeguards in proposed UN cybercrime treaty. EFF and Human Rights Watch, along with nearly 130 organizations and academics working in 56 countries, regions, or globally, urged members of the ad hoc committee responsible for drafting a potential United Nations cybercrime treaty to ensure human rights protections are embedded in the final product. The first session of the ad hoc committee is scheduled to begin on January 17th. Next up, court orders authorizing law enforcement to track people's air travels in real-time must be made public. The public should get to see whether a court that authorized the FBI to track someone's air travel in real-time for six months also analyzed whether the surveillance implicated the Fourth Amendment. EFF argued in a brief file this week. And here's our last update. Fact checking, COVID-19 misinformation, and the British Medical Journal. Fact checking should not mean that users must be exposed to a whole new ecosystem consisting of new actors with new processes and rules. Facebook and other technology companies cannot encourage processes that detach the checking of facts from the overall content moderation process. Instead, it must take on the task of creating systems that users can trust and depend on. Fortunately, the current system created by Facebook fails to achieve that. And now we have one announcement. Oral arguments Friday on motion for summary judgment in Williams v. San Francisco. On Friday, January 21st, 2022, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU of Northern California will ask a California state court to find that the San Francisco police department violated city law when it used a network of non-city surveillance cameras to spy on Black-led protests in 2020 against police violence in the wake of George Floyd's murder. You can watch live at 9.30 a.m. Pacific Time. We also have one EFF staff update to share. In 2020, a majority of non-management staff at the Electronic Frontier Foundation signed union cards. Joining the IFPTE, also known as the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 20, a local also known as the ESC. The executive team at EFF voluntarily recognized the union. We look forward to collaborating together in the best interests of EFF and its employees. Moving on, we have some job openings. First up, senior speech and privacy activist. Help EFF spearhead our work on corporate threats to speech and privacy online. We're looking for a full-time advocate and researcher to join our activism team as a senior speech and privacy activist. Next, associate director of community organizing. EFF is looking for a full-time energetic and enthusiastic organizer and manager to join our activism team and direct our grassroots Electronic Frontier Alliance network. And for our last job opening, EFF is looking for a system administrator to help build and maintain the organization's digital infrastructure as part of the technical operations department. And finally, we have a couple mini-links to share. First up, from the San Francisco Standard, San Francisco police illegally use surveillance cameras at the George Floyd protests. The courts must stop them. San Franciscans pushed for civil liberties in a landmark privacy ordinance, which EFF and the ACLU of Northern California are proud to defend against unfettered police spying on protesters. Next, from the Lawfare Podcast, working towards transparency and accountability and content moderation. EFF civil liberties director David Green joined the Lawfare Podcast to discuss the Santa Clara Principles 2.0 and the future of online content moderation. Next, from the Washington Post, academics want to preserve video games. Copyright laws make it complicated. DMCA section 1201 hurts preservation, repair, security, and innovation, but does nothing to prevent copyright infringement. Next, from People's Dispatch. After recurrent delays, trial of software developer and activist Ola Bini is set to begin. Free software developer Ola Bini's trial resumes this week. And EFF and other organizations are closely following the case and hope that due process can finally have its day in court. And this last mini-link comes from the markup. College Prep software Naviance is selling advertising access to millions of students. Naviance, a college and career readiness software provider, used by 10 million students yearly to submit applications, is also a targeted ad platform that allows admissions departments at colleges to target students purportedly by race. And that's it. We've made it to the end. Thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, be sure to sign up for the email version of AFFECTOR, which includes links to in-depth coverage of these stories and more. See past issues and subscribe at EFF.org slash AFFECTOR. Before we end this issue of the newsletter, I just want to let you know that EFF is a member-supported non-profit organization and you can help us protect digital privacy, security, and free expression for everyone. Donate to EFF today and even grab a bit of gear by heading over to EFF.org slash AFFECTOR. You can become a member for as little as $25 or even sign up as a monthly or annual donor. Thank you for your support and I hope you'll join us for the next issue of AFFECTOR.