 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 13, titled, Congress Needs to Get Real. This issue was published in October 2023 and I'm your host, Membership Advocate Christian Romero. Let's start with our top feature. First up, the federal government's privacy watchdog concedes. 702 must change. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has released its much-anticipated report on Section 702, a legal authority that allows the government to collect a massive amount of digital communications around the world and in the U.S. It agreed with EFF and organizations across the political spectrum that the program requires significant reforms if it is to be renewed before its December 31, 2023 expiration. Of course, EFF believes that Congress should go further, including letting the program expire in order to restore the privacy being denied to anyone whose communications cross international boundaries. Next up, Get Real, Congress. Censoring search results or recommendations is still censorship. For the past two years, Congress has been trying to revise the Kids Online Safety Act, also known as COSA, to address criticisms from EFF, human and digital rights organizations, LGBTQ plus groups, and others, that the core provisions of the bill will censor the internet for everyone and harm young people. All of those changes fail to solve COSA's inherent censorship problem. As long as the duty of care remains in the bill, it will still force platforms to censor perfectly legal content. And for our last feature, Young People Fight Back. Congress seems hell-bent on surveilling, censoring, and digitally isolating America's young people, but they are fighting back in DC, on Discord, and across the country. We're offering a special neon membership level for anyone under 18 who is in the digital rights fight. Help support our activists, technologists, and attorneys defend digital privacy, digital creativity, and internet freedom for everyone. And don't worry, we won't ask to verify your age. Over 18, you can also gift a neon membership. Now, let's roll through some EFF updates. First on the list, California takes some big steps for digital rights. California often sets the bar for technology legislation across the country. This year, the state enacted several laws that strengthen our consumer digital rights. Californians now enjoy the right to repair. SB 244, authored by California Senator Susan Eggman, makes it easier for individuals and independent repair shops to access materials and parts needed for maintenance on electronics and appliances. Another significant win comes with the signing of SB 362, also known as the CA DELETE Act, which was authored by California Senator Josh Becker, and builds on the state's landmark data privacy law and its data broker registry to make it easier for anyone to exert greater control over their privacy. Next up, this bill would revive the worst patents on software and human genes. Most high-tech patent lawsuits are brought by patent trolls, companies that exist not to provide products or services, but primarily have a business using patents to threaten others' work. And some politicians are proposing to make that bad situation worse. The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, SB 2140, also known as PARA, sponsored by Senators Tom Tillis and Chris Coons would be a huge gift to patent trolls, a few tech firms that aggressively license patents, and patent lawyers. For everyone else, it would be a huge loss. That's why we're opposing it and asking our supporters to speak out. Next up, how to turn off Google's Privacy Sandbox ad tracking and why you should. Google has rolled out Privacy Sandbox, a Chrome feature first announced back in 2019 that, among other things, exchanges third-party cookies, the most common form of tracking technology, for what the company is now calling Topics. While there have been some changes to how this works since 2019, Topics is still tracking your internet use for Google's behavior advertising. Firefox and Safari are better browser options if you'd prefer more privacy, but if you're sticking with Chrome, we'll show you how to get out of the sandbox. Next up, the state of Chihuahua is building a 20-story tower in Ciudad Juarez to surveil 13 cities and Texas will also be watching. Chihuahua state officials and a notorious Mexican security contractor broke ground last summer on the Sentinel Tower, an ominous 20-story high-rise in downtown Ciudad Juarez that will serve as a central node of a new AI-enhanced surveillance regime, with tentacles reaching into 13 Mexican cities and a data pipeline that will channel intelligence all the way to Austin, Texas, the monstrous project will be unlike anything seen before along the US-Mexico border, and that's saying a lot considering the last 30-plus years of surging technology on the US side of the border. And for our last update, cities should act now to ban predictive policing and stop using ShotSpotter too. Sound thinking, the company behind ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot detection technology that is rife with problems, is reportedly buying Geolitica, the company behind Predpool, a predictive policing technology known to exacerbate inequalities by directing police to already massively surveilled communities. Sound thinking acquired the other major predictive policing technology, HunchLab, in 2018. This consolidation of harmful and flawed technologies means it's even more critical for cities to move swiftly to ban harmful tactics of both these technologies. Now, let's go through some announcements. First up, EFF's 2022 annual report. Get the bird's-eye view of what EFF has been up to, 2022 by the numbers. 17 legal and legislative victories, 78 press mentions per day, 20 amicus briefs filed, 76 electronic frontier alliance members, 16.2 million unique page views on EFF.org, 154 countries where how to fix the internet podcast was downloaded, 489,400 effector newsletter subscribers, nearly one in five EFF members live outside the US, and 34% of members are sustaining donors. Next up, Tor University Challenge. EFF is conducting 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've got our Watchers t-shirt. Don't miss out on our new member t-shirt for 2023. Donate at the copper level or above to receive our new Watchers t-shirt. And now let's go through some mini-links. First one from Defense Radio podcast, the uncertain future of an eavesdropping law. Quote, it's actually really hard to spy on the entire world and do it within the rule of law in a way that never allows any misuse. It's a hard and expensive thing to do, and they're not doing it very well. EFF Cindy Cohn said. Next up from the register, FCC plans to restore net neutrality rules tossed out under Trump. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman, Jessica Rosen-Wursel, said that she intends to seek a vote to restore U.S. net neutrality rules that were nixed by the Trump administration. EFF's Corinne McSherry explains why this is good for internet users across America and sets a good example for the world. Next from House Beautiful, who has your security camera footage? EFF's Matthew Gariglia warns how some security camera companies could be sharing your footage with law enforcement without your knowledge, much less your permission. Quote, your footage could be used to enable police harassment or surveillance of neighbors, pedestrians, or your family without you even knowing. This last mini-link comes from Forbes. A Hollywood-backed non-profit's app promises to identify sex traffickers, but critics say an endangered survivor. Quote, an app built to flag people into binary filings of good or bad based on their often completely legal association with sex work is really, really stupid, said EFF's Daily Barnette. Quote, clumsy work like this tends to make trafficking worse and consensual sex work more dangerous. And that's it. Thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, be sure to sign up for the email version of EFF, which includes links to in-depth coverage of these stories and more. See past issues and subscribe at EFF.org slash EFF. That's EFF.org slash EFF E-C-T-O-R. Thanks for your support, and I hope you'll join us for the next issue of EFF.