 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 of Volume 36, Issue 3, titled, Privacy Isn't Dead, Far From It. This issue was published in March 2024 and I'm your host, Membership Advocate Christian Romero. Let's start with our top feature. Privacy Isn't Dead, Far From It. Privacy is a process, not a single thing. We are always negotiating what levels of privacy we have. We might not always have the upper hand, but we are often able to negotiate. This is why we see some fictional dystopias and think, thank God that's not my life. As long as we can do this, we are winning. So don't give in to privacy nihilism. Instead, share and celebrate the ways we're winning. And now, let's roll through some EFF updates. First up, Season 5 of How to Fix the Internet is here. Open source beats authoritarianism with Audrey Tang. EFF's award-winning podcast is back and you won't want to miss this. What if we thought about democracy as a kind of open source social technology, in which everyone can see the how and why of policymaking, and everyone's concerns and preferences are elicited in a way that respects each person's community, dignity, and importance. This is what Audrey Tang has worked towards as Taiwan's first digital minister, a position the Free Software Programmer has held since 2016. She has taken the best of open source and open culture and successfully used them to reform her country's government. Tang speaks with EFF Cinecoen and Jason Kelly about how Taiwan has shown that openness not only works, but can outshine more authoritarian competition, wherein governments often lock up data. Next up, Don't Fall for the Latest Changes to the Dangerous Kids Online Safety Act. The authors of the Dangerous Kids Online Safety Act, also known as COSA, unveiled an amended version, but it's still an unconstitutional censorship bill that continues to empower state officials to target services and online content they do not like. We are asking everyone reading this to oppose this latest version and to demand that their representatives oppose it, even if you have already done so. Next up, EFF helps news organizations push back against legal bullying from cyber mercenary group. Recent months saw a campaign of bullying and censorship seeking to wipe out stories about the mercenary hacking campaigns of a company, app and technology in general, and the company's co-founder, Rajat Kher, in particular. These efforts follow a familiar pattern, obtain a court order and a friendly international jurisdiction and then misrepresent the force and substance of that order to bully publishers around the world to remove their stories. EFF is helping to push back on that effort, which seeks to transform a very limited and preliminary Indian court ruling into a global takedown order. Next up, is the Justice Department even following its own policy in cybercrime prosecution of a journalist? After the FBI raided his home last year, freelance journalist Tim Burke has been arrested and indicted, in connection with an investigation into leaks of unerred footage from Fox News. This raid raised questions about whether Burke was being investigated for First Amendment protected journalistic activities, and EFF joined a letter at the time calling on the Justice Department to explain whether and how it believed Burke had actually engaged in wrongdoing. The government has now charged Burke, but questions remain, including whether the prosecution is consistent with the DOJ's much-vaunted policy for charging criminal violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. And for our last update, we flew a plane over San Francisco to fight Proposition E. Here's why. Proposition E, which San Franciscans will be asked to vote on in the March 5th election, is so dangerous that last weekend we chartered a plane to inform our neighbors about what the ballot measure does and urge them to vote no on it. If you were in Dolores Park, Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, or anywhere in between on Saturday, there's a chance you saw it, with a huge banner flying through the sky. No surveillance state, vote no on Prop E. And now, we've got some announcements. First up, the climate fight is digital at Bioneers. Register now for the Bioneers 35th Anniversary Conference this March 28th through 30th in Berkeley, California, and get a 15% discount on registration by using the code Biospeaker at checkout. With climate activists subject to surveillance and censorship, and giant companies controlling the ways information and knowledge flow throughout the world, the fight to save our climate is now inextricably entwined with digital rights. EFF has helped environmental activists protect their emails from Chevron, express themselves in protest web pages and other digital actions, understand the surveillance they are under, and develop security self-defense practices to protect themselves. EFF Executive Director, Cindy Cohen, will keynote Bioneers on Thursday, March 28th, explaining these and other efforts, and also why EFF's push for open access to scientific information, sensible limitations on patents, FOIA work, and more are critical tools for the fight to prevent climate unraveling. Later that day, Cindy will moderate a panel on how to fight for fair and free digital landscape. Featuring EFF Senior Staff Technologist Cooper Quinton, Staff Attorney Mario Trujillo, Managing Director of Advocacy Nathan Nash Sheard, and Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton. Next up, NSA spying shirts are back just in time to tell Congress to reform Section 702. Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act was supposed to enable overseas surveillance of specific targets, but has become a backdoor way of mass spying on the communications of people in the U.S. Now, Section 702 is up for renewal, so we decided our shirts should reflect the ongoing fight. For the first time in a decade, our popular NSA spying shirts are back with an updated EFF logo and design. The image of the NSA's glowering red-eyed eagle using his talents to tap into your data depicts the collaboration of telecommunication companies with the NSA, a reference to our HepticV AT&T, and JuulV NSA warrantless wiretapping cases. Every purchase helps EFF's lawyers and activists stop the spying and unplug Big Brother. And for our last announcement, EFF at Scale 21X. EFF is excited to be back in Pasadena, California, from March 15th through 17th for Scale 21X. Stop by the EFF booth to chat with some of our team to learn about the latest news in defending digital freedom for all. You can even pick up a special gift as a token of our thanks when you take advantage of our membership specials and donate. Plus, EFF members in the Pasadena area are invited to join us for a speakeasy meetup on March 15th. And now let's talk about a few job openings. First up, staff attorney, intellectual property. For this position, we're looking for candidates with experience litigating copyright issues. Experience with or a strong interest in patent law, artificial intelligence, unfair competition, and administrative or trade secret litigation is preferred but not required. The ideal candidate will have at least three years of litigation experience, though some qualified candidates may have more. That experience should include devising and carrying out case strategy and handling day-to-day projects and deadlines. Next up, we've got staff attorney, civil liberties. Responsibilities for this position include managing all aspects of litigation, developing and communicating EFF policy positions, counseling clients on non or pre litigation matters, communicating EFF positions to the public, and providing organizational, administrative, and other support. Requirements include a law degree, California bar admission, and at least three years of litigation experience and more. And now it's time to go through some mini-links. First up, from Mercury News. Opinion, gutting key internet law won't truly protect children online. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are talking about changing a key law that ensures every American is able to speak online. Bipartisan consensus is a rare thing in politics these days. Unfortunately, they're wrong. EFF's Aaron Mackie wrote. Next up, from PBS NewsHour. Supreme Court hears cases involving free speech rights on social media. I think we can all agree that content moderation as a process is really problematic. EFF's David Green said. I don't think the right solution is to give the government the ability to impose its own editorial viewpoints on private actors. I think that's a dangerous power to hand the government. Next up, from The Wall Street Journal. Forget passwords and badges. Your body is your new security key. Even the best technology makes mistakes. EFF's Haley Tugeyama said. If the software confuses someone's identity, it will be important that workers have the right to appeal. The stakes are particularly high with biometric data, she says. No one can issue me a new face. No one can issue me new fingerprints. And so, if that information is hacked, for example, and in a format where other people can use it, that's the whole game. Next up, from Cisco Series Defense in Depth Podcast. When is data an asset and when is it a liability? Collecting and retaining too much data is a big risk for both your organization and for the people to whom that data belongs. EFF's Mario Trujillo joined this podcast for chief information security officers to discuss embracing data minimization that doesn't clash with business needs. Next up, from Motherboard. Feds want to ban the world's cutest hacking device. Experts say it's a scapegoat. Banning Flipper Zero devices is a tantamount to banning a multi-tool because it can be used for vandalism. Or banning markers because they can be used for graffiti. EFF's Bill Buddington said, Moreover, tools like the Flipper Zero are used by security researchers involved in researching and hardening the security of systems like car fobs. Banning them will result in tangible harms. Our last mini-link comes from the markup. A virtual reality tour of the surveillance tech at the border. EFF's Dave Moss gave investigative reporter Monique O. Madan a virtual tour of surveillance technology along the U.S.-Mexico border from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas in just 90 minutes. 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 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. Thanks for your support, and I hope you'll join us for the next issue of Effector.