 Welcome to Affector from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This is the audio edition of EFF's email newsletter geared towards keeping you on the bleeding edge of your digital rights. This is Affector, Volume 35, Issue 15, titled, Privacy First. This issue was published in November 2023, and I'm your host, membership advocate, Christian Romero. Let's start with our top feature. First up, to address online harms we must consider Privacy First. Every year we encounter new, often ill-conceived bills written by state, federal, and international regulators to tackle a broad set of digital topics ranging from child safety to artificial intelligence. These scattershot proposals to correct online harm are often based on censorship and news cycles. Instead of this chaotic approach that rarely leads to the passage of good laws, we propose another solution in a new report. Privacy First, a better way to address online harms. In this report, we outline how many of the internet's ills have one thing in common. They're based on the business model of widespread corporate surveillance online. Dismantling the system would not only be a huge step forward to our digital privacy, it would also raise the floor for serious discussions about the internet's future. Next up, debunking the myth of anonymous data. Today, almost everything about our lives is digitally recorded and stored somewhere. Each credit card purchase, personal medical diagnosis, and preference about music and books is recorded and then used to predict what we like and dislike, and ultimately who we are. Sometimes companies say our personal data is anonymized, implying a one-way ratchet where it can never be disaggregated or re-identified. But this is not possible. Anonymous data rarely stays this way. And for our last feature, introducing Badger Swarm. A new project helps Privacy Badger block even more trackers. EFF has introduced Badger Swarm, a new tool for Privacy Badger that runs distributed Badger set scans in the cloud. Badger Swarm helps us continue updating and growing Privacy Badger's tracker knowledge as well as continue adding new ways to catch trackers. Thanks to continually updating Badger Swarm-powered training, Privacy Badger comes packed with its largest block list yet. Let's move on to some EFF updates. First up, EFF urges FTC to address American resellers of malware on Android TV set-top boxes. The Federal Trade Commission must act to halt sales by Amazon, AliExpress, and other resellers of Android television set-top boxes and mobile devices manufactured by Allwinner and Rockchip that have been pre-infected with malware before ever reaching consumers. EFF urged in a letter to FTC commissioners. Next up, platforms must stop unjustified takedowns of posts by and about Palestinians. Social media is a crucial means of communication in times of conflict. It's where communities connect to share updates, find help, locate loved ones, and reach out to express grief, pain, and solidarity. Unjustified takedowns during crises like the war in Gaza deprives people of the right to freedom of expression and can exacerbate humanitarian suffering. Next up, EFF to Supreme Court. Fifth Amendment protects people from being forced to enter or hand over cell phone passcodes to the police. EFF has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling undermining Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination and to find that constitutional safeguards prevent police from forcing people to provide or use passcodes from their cell phones so officers can access the tremendous amount of private information on phones. Next up, to best serve students, schools shouldn't try to block generative AI or use faulty AI detection tools. Generative AI gained widespread attention earlier this year, but one group has had to reckon with it more quickly than most – educators. Teachers and school administrators have struggled with two big questions – should the use of generative AI be banned or should a school implement new tools to detect when students have used generative AI? EFF believes the answer to both of these questions is no. And for our last update, on his 42nd birthday, Allah Abdel Fada's family files UN petition for his release. Allah Abdel Fada, a prominent Egyptian-British coder, blogger, activist, and one of the most high-profile political prisoners in the entire Arab world, recently spent a 10th consecutive birthday in prison. But we are newly optimistic for his release. Allah's family and international council acting on his behalf filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations, requesting urgent action over his continuing and unjust imprisonment in Egypt. And now, let's go through some announcements. First up, help shape the future of digital rights. Participate in the EFF community survey. We value that our success in defending digital rights, innovation, and essential freedoms is possible because of your support, confidence, and readiness to take action. Over the years, our community and the people impacted by our work has broadened. But EFF's dedication to listening to you, your concerns, and what drives your commitment has stayed the same. Please help us by participating in our survey. Just 10 minutes of your time will help EFF better understand our community and the members that power our work. Next up, we want you, U.S. federal employees, to stand for digital freedoms. U.S. federal employees and retirees can support the digital freedom movement through the combined federal campaign, the largest and most successful annual charity campaign for U.S. federal employees and retirees. Last year, 175 members of the CFC community raised over $34,000 for EFF's lawyers, activists, and technologists. But in a year with many threats popping up to our rights online, we need your support now more than ever. And for our last announcement, speaking freely is back. EFF's series of interviews with free speech thought leaders has returned. Cindy Cohen interviewed Agustina Del Campo, director at the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information at the University of Palmero and Buenos Aires, Argentina. To discuss how, though free speech has a bad rap these days, it is inherent in any advocacy agenda aimed at challenging and changing the status quo and existing power dynamics. And Jillian York interviewed David Cayet, a clinical professor of law at the University of California Irving, co-director of the University's Fair Elections and Free Speech Center, and independent board chair of the Global Network Initiative. And now, we've got one job opening. Assistant Director of Federal Affairs. As the Assistant Director of Federal Affairs, you are responsible for helping EFF advocate for digital civil rights and liberties at the federal government level. You have extensive knowledge of Capitol Hill and how congressional offices work and think. You know how to talk to Hill staff. You know how to manage multiple ongoing projects and communication threads, and you enjoy building a rapport with people across diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences. And now it's time to go through some mini-links. This first one comes from TechCrunch. Children's Tablet has malware and exposes kids' data EFF researcher finds. TechCrunch had an exclusive look into the research done by EFF's Alexis Hancock, which found that a children's tablet that her daughter had received as a birthday present had a slew of security and privacy issues that could have put her daughters and other children's data at risk. Next up from Bloomberg News, Cruz's emails with SF police ranged from clubby to contentious. Hundreds of pages of emails between the driverless car company Cruz and the San Francisco Police Department show how contentious, and at times collaborative, their relationship has been since the autonomous vehicle firm offered its robo-taxi service to the public last year. The trove of emails unearthed by EFF and shared exclusively with Bloomberg News offers a rare glimpse into the interaction between a company at the cutting edge of transportation technology and the law enforcement tasked with making sure its cars operate safely. Next from the Washington Post, Haley walks back declaration that all social media users must be verified. After facing considerable blowback, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley walked back her declaration that all people should be required to verify their identities to use social media platforms after previously calling anonymous accounts a national security threat. EFF's David Green explained that cracking down on anonymity could also harm vulnerable individuals including whistleblowers, political dissidents, and victims of domestic violence. Last from G-Zero, patching the system podcast, would the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty hurt more than it helps? EFF's Katita Rodriguez joins Nick Ashton Hart, head of delegation to the Cybercrime Convention Negotiations for the Cybersecurity Tech Accord and moderator Ali Wine of the Eurasia Group to discuss a treaty that covers too broad a scope of crime and could fail to protect free speech and other human rights across borders while not even having the intended effect of combating cybercrime. And that's it. Thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, be sure to sign up for the email version of Effector, which includes links to in-depth coverage of these stories and more. See past issues and subscribe at EFF.org slash Effector. Thanks for your support and I hope you'll join us for the next issue of Effector.