 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 10, titled, Shielding Us All from Prying Eyes. This issue is published in August 2023 and I'm your host, Membership Advocate Christian Romero. Let's start with our top features. First up, Deja Vu. The FBI proves again it can't be trusted with Section 702. At this point, it's crystal clear that the FBI doesn't believe that either our rights or the limitations that Congress has placed upon the Bureau matter when it comes to the vast amount of private communications data about us collected under FISA Section 702. Matthew Cariglia makes the case for either letting the flawed law expire this year, or radically rewriting it to protect Americans' rights once and for all. And for our last feature, the impending privacy threat of self-driving cars. Self-driving cars are becoming a more common sight in some U.S. cities and each of those cars is sucking in vast quantities of visual and other information, creating a possibility for people's movements to be tracked, aggregated, and retained by companies, law enforcement, or bad actors. Matthew Cariglia explains how the sheer mass of data poses a potential threat to civil liberties and privacy for pedestrians, commuters, and other people that rely on public roads and walkways in cities. And now let's go through some EFF updates. First up, the Electronic Frontier Foundation to present annual EFF awards to Alexandria Asanova-Elbekyan Library Freedom Project and Signal Foundation. EFF is honored to announce that Alexandra Asanova-Elbekyan Library Freedom Project and Signal Foundation will receive the 2023 EFF awards for their vital work in helping to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people. The EFF awards recognize specific and substantial technical, social, economic, or cultural contributions in diverse fields, including journalism, art, digital access, legislation, tech development, and law. See the announcements for information on our award ceremony on September 14th in San Francisco. Next up, the U.S. government wants to control online speech to protect kids. COSA is fundamentally a censorship bill. Politicians are justifying it by harping on something we all know, that there's content online that's inappropriate for kids. But instead of letting tricky questions about what online content is appropriate at what age be decided by parents and families, politicians are stepping in to override us. Next up, forensic genetic genealogy searches, what defense attorneys need to know. Read EFF General Counsel Jennifer Lynch's white paper on forensic genetic genealogy, the police practice of accessing consumer-facing genetic genealogy websites to try and identify the source of crime scene DNA samples. And for our last update, government needs both the ability to talk to social media platforms and clear limits. EFF argues in brief to appellate court. Weighing in on one of the year's most thought-provoking legal cases, EFF argues that government input into social media platforms' decisions about user content raises serious First Amendment concerns and the government should be held accountable for violations. But not all such communications are improper. EFF's amicus brief was filed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Missouri v. Biden, a lawsuit brought by Louisiana, Missouri, and several individuals alleging that federal government agencies and officials illegally pushed social media platforms to censor content about COVID safety measures and vaccines, elections, and Hunter Biden's laptop, among other issues. And now, let's go through some announcements. EFF awards ceremony. We hope you can join us for the EFF awards ceremony at 6.30 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at the Regency Lodge in San Francisco, hosted by renowned science fiction author, activists, journalists, and EFF special advisor Cory Doctorow. The ceremony will be recorded and a video will be made at a later date. Next up, TOR University Challenge. EFF has launched the TOR University Challenge, a campaign urging higher education institutions to support free, anonymous speech by running a TOR network relay. Universities answering this call to defend private access to an uncensored web will receive prizes while helping millions of people around the world and providing students and faculty a vital learning experience. Tell your alma mater to join the network today. And for our last update, we have our new Watchers t-shirt. We are excited to launch our new member t-shirt for 2023. Donate at the copper level or above to receive our new Watchers t-shirt. And finally, let's roll through some mini-links. First up, from Gaslit Nation podcast, Cindy Cohen of the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Big Brother. EFF Cindy Cohen joins Gaslit Nation hosts Andrea Tulupa and Sarah Kenzior for an in-depth chat about corporate surveillance and other prying tech eyes that are trying to harvest as much data as possible about you. Next up, from The Washington Post, US tech companies say UK Privacy Bill poses serious threat to communication. EFF's Andrew Crocker explains how the online safety bill, now nearing approval in parliament, poses a dire threat to encryption that will reverberate around the world. Next up, from Orange County Register, Opinion. Congress should repeal Section 702, a key tool for unconstitutional mass surveillance. A federal law has enabled massive, secret, and unconstitutional surveillance of the private communications of innocent Americans expires at the end of 2023. And Congress should allow it to die according to this excellent Southern California news group editorial. Our last mini-link comes from Engadget. Is decentralization the future of social media? For enthusiasts, the rise of decentralized platforms represents an opportunity for a more open web, a chance to tear down some of the walled gardens that have become the norm on mainstream social media platforms. EFF's Ross Shulman weighs in. We 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 Effector, which includes links to in-depth coverage of these stories and more. See past issues and subscribe at EFF.org slash Effector. Before we end this issue of the newsletter, I 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 become a member for as little as $25, or even sign up as a monthly or annual donor. Thanks for your support, and I hope you'll join us for the next issue of EFFECTOR.