 Welcome to Effector 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 Effector Volume 35, Issue 8, titled, This Pride, Support LGBTQ Plus Rights, Both Online and Offline. This issue was published on Friday, June 30th, 2023, and I'm your host, Membership Advocate, Christian Romero. Let's start with our top features. First up, around the world, threats to LGBTQ Plus speech deepen. Globally, an increase in anti-LGBTQ Plus intolerance is impacting individuals and communities both online and off. The digital rights community has observed an uptick in censorship of LGBTQ Plus websites, as well as troubling attempts by several countries to pass explicitly anti-LGBTQ Plus bills restricting freedom of expression and privacy. This pride, and all year round, we urge you to join us in taking a stand to support the freedom of LGBTQ Plus individuals and communities everywhere. Next up, student monitoring tools should not flag LGBTQ Plus keywords. One of the more dangerous features of student monitoring tools like GoGuardian, Gaggle, and Bark is their flagging functionality. The tools scan webpages, documents in students' cloud drives, emails, video content, and more for keywords about topics like sex, drugs, and violence. We call on all student monitoring tools to remove LGBTQ Plus terms from their blocking and flagging lists to ensure that young people's privacy isn't violated and to ensure that sexual and gender identity is not penalized. Next, let's go through some updates. First, what Reddit got wrong. After weeks of burning through users' goodwill, Reddit is facing a moderator strike and an exodus of its most important users. It's the latest example of a social media site making a critical mistake. Users aren't there for the services, they're there for the community. Building barriers to access is a war of attrition. Next up, a year since Dobbs, the fight for reproductive privacy and information access continues. A year ago, the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling overturned Roe v. Wade. This decision deprived millions of people of a fundamental right. In the past year, EFF staff have worked with Reproductive Justice and Civil Liberties organizations to protect and advocate for the digital rights of people seeking or supporting reproductive care. Next up, we have a victory. New Jersey Court rules police must give defendant the facial recognition algorithms used to identify him. In a victory for transparency and police use of facial recognition, a New Jersey appellate court ruled that a state prosecutor who charged a man for armed robbery after the technology showed he was a possible match for the suspect must turn over detailed information about the face scanning software used, including how it works, its source code, and its error rate. Next up, tell Congress, COSA will censor the internet but won't help kids. The Kids Online Safety Act, COSA, would censor the internet and make government officials the arbiters of what young people can see online. It will likely lead to age verification, handing more power and private data to third-party identity verification companies like Clear or IDME. Tell your senator and representative to vote no on this bill. And for our last update, podcast episode, Who Inserted the Creepy? Best-selling author Dave Eggers, whose newest novel, The Eyes and the Impossible, was published in May, speaks with EFF Cindy Cohen and Jason Kelly about why he hates Zoom so much, how and why we get sucked into digital worlds despite our own best interests, and painting the darkest version of our future so we can steer away from it. And now for some announcements. First up, New Stay Golden hooded sweatshirt. Snag our new, heavier weight hoodie with raglan sleeves and gunmetal zipper from our shop or when you donate at the titanium level or above. Next, EFF at Black Hat USA. EFF is once again excited to be back in Las Vegas for Black Hat USA from August 5th to 10th. If you are interested in submitting a talk to Black Hat, you can contact info at EFF.org about any legal concerns regarding your talk or any sensitive info sec research you are conducting. Last up, betting on your digital rights. EFF Benefit Poker Tournament at DEFCON 31. The EFF Benefit Poker Tournament is back for DEFCON 31. Your buy-in is paired with a donation to support EFF's mission to protect online privacy and free expression for all. Seating is limited, so reserve your spot today. The first 50 people to sign up and attend the event will receive a limited bronze challenge coin celebrating the event. And finally, we have some mini-links. First up, from MyVPN, Virginians have become the latest state to require age verification for online porn. EFF's Jason Kelly discusses how centralized databases are vulnerable to hacking and potential tracking. And unscrupulous websites could set up their own age verification prompts that are really a ruse to gather personal information. Next up, from context, as U.S. cities seek more data in public, can they win trust in tech? Giving people information about where sensors are in their communities is a long way from participatory governance about whether the sensors should be there in the first place. EFF's Karen Gula warns. Next up, from The Messenger, bake retailers are picking your brain and selling what you tell them. High-speed broadband access should be considered an essential resource like clean water or affordable electricity. EFF's Ernesto Falcon says federal funding is poised to make a significant impact on what he describes as digital red lining. Next up, from Capital News, Illinois, Illinois expands use of police surveillance drones. Communities should be involved in determining appropriate use of police technologies. EFF's Barrel Lipton calls for municipal, local conversation about surveillance. Our last mini-link comes from Wired. The Reddit blackout is Breaking Reddit. Like with Twitter, it's not a big collapse when social media websites start to die, but it's a slow attrition unless they change their course. EFF's Rory Mir makes the case. 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. 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 Effect. That's EFF.org slash EFF ECT. You can 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 EFF.