I'm posting the Electronic Frontier Foundation's entire latest EFFector newsletter below; as a recipient I think that's permitted. A bit of good stuff here, including google coming out with a 2g blocker which will interfere with Stingray and similar tech.

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EFFector 34.1
Ten Years After the “Internet Blackout”
In our 781st issue:

UPDATES
ANNOUNCEMENTS
JOB OPENINGS
MINILINKS
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Top Features
It’s Copyright Week 2022: Ten Years Later, How Has SOPA/PIPA Shaped Online Copyright Enforcement?
Ten years ago, a diverse coalition of internet users, non profit groups, and internet companies defeated the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), bills that would have forced internet companies to blacklist and block websites accused of hosting copyright-infringing content. These bills would have made censorship very easy, all in the name of copyright enforcement. This collective action showed the world that the word of a few major companies that control film, music, and television can’t control internet policy for their own good. We celebrate Copyright Week every year on the anniversary of the internet blackout that finally got the message across: Team Internet will always stand up for itself.

VICTORY: Google Releases “disable 2g” Feature for New Android Smartphones
Last year Google quietly pushed a new feature to its Android operating system allowing users to optionally disable 2G at the modem level in their phones. This is a fantastic feature that will provide some protection from cell site simulators, an invasive police surveillance technology employed throughout the country. We applaud Google for implementing this much needed feature. Now Apple needs to implement this feature as well, for the safety of their customers.

EFF Updates
Audio Version of EFFector Newsletter
We're piloting an audio version of EFFector's Newsletter. We hope you enjoy it!

Saudi Human Rights Activist, Represented by EFF, Sues Spyware Maker DarkMatter For Violating U.S. Anti-Hacking and International Human Rights Laws
EFF filed a lawsuit in December on behalf of prominent Saudi human rights activist Loujain AlHathloul against spying software maker DarkMatter Group and three of its former executives for illegally hacking her iPhone to secretly track her communications and whereabouts.

How to Fix the Internet Episode: Algorithms for a Just Future
Modern life means leaving digital traces wherever we go. But those digital footprints can translate to real world harms: the websites you visit can impact the mortgage offers, car loans, and job options you see advertised. EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien join Vinhcent Le, Legal Counsel for the Greenlining Institute, to discuss our digital privacy and how U.S. laws haven’t kept up with safeguarding our rights when we go online, as well as some ideas and examples about how we can turn the tables—and use algorithmic decision-making to help bring more equity, rather than less.

Nearly 130 Public Interest Organizations and Experts Urge the United Nations to Include Human Rights Safeguards in Proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty
EFF and Human Rights Watch, along with nearly 130 organizations and academics working in 56 countries, regions, or globally, urged members of the Ad Hoc Committee responsible for drafting a potential United Nations Cybercrime Treaty to ensure human rights protections are embedded in the final product. The first session of the Ad Hoc Committee was scheduled to begin on January 17th, but has been briefly delayed.

Court Orders Authorizing Law Enforcement To Track People’s Air Travels In Real Time Must Be Made Public
The public should get to see whether a court that authorized the FBI to track someone’s air travels in real time for six months also analyzed whether the surveillance implicated the Fourth Amendment, EFF argued in a brief filed this week.

Fact-Checking, COVID-19 Misinformation, and the British Medical Journal
Fact-checking should not mean that users must be exposed to a whole new ecosystem, consisting of new actors, with new processes, and new rules. Facebook and other technology companies cannot encourage processes that detach fact checking from the overall content moderation process. Instead, it must take on the task of creating systems that users can trust and depend on. Unfortunately, the current system created by Facebook fails to achieve that.

Announcements
Oral Arguments Friday on Motion for Summary Judgment in Williams v. San Francisco
On Friday, January 21, 2022, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU of Northern California will ask a California state court to find that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) violated city law when it used a network of non-city surveillance cameras to spy on Black-led protests in 2020 against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. You can watch live at 9:30 AM PT.

Human Rights and Web3 for Activists
This is the first of a series of events, presented by Amnesty International and Fight for the Future, that brings together representatives of human rights organizations to present and discuss their current orientations and thoughts around emerging Web3 technologies like blockchain, the metaverse, and more. This month’s event on Tuesday the 25th at 12:00 PM PT includes representatives of Access Now, DWeb, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, and Internet Archive.

EFF Staff Update
In 2020, a majority of non-management staff at the Electronic Frontier Foundation signed union cards, joining the IFPTE (International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers) Local 20, a local also known as the ESC. The executive team at EFF voluntarily recognized the union. We look forward to collaborating together in the best interests of EFF and its employees.

Job Openings
Associate Director of Community Organizing
EFF is looking for a full-time energetic and enthusiastic organizer and manager to join our Activism team and direct our grassroots Electronic Frontier Alliance network.

Senior Speech and Privacy Activist
Help EFF spearhead our work on corporate threats to speech and privacy online! We're looking for a full-time advocate and researcher to join our Activism team as a Senior Speech and Privacy Activist.

System Administrator
EFF is looking for a System Administrator to help build and maintain the organization’s digital infrastructure as part of the Technical Operations Department.

MiniLinks
San Francisco Police Illegally Used Surveillance Cameras at the George Floyd Protests. The Courts Must Stop Them (San Francisco Standard)
San Franciscans pushed for civil liberties in a landmark privacy ordinance, which EFF and ACLU of Northern California are proud to defend against unfettered police spying on protesters.

Working Toward Transparency and Accountability in Content Moderation (Lawfare Podcast)
EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene joined the Lawfare podcast to discuss the Santa Clara Principles 2.0 and the future of online content moderation.

After recurrent delays, trial of software developer and activist Ola Bini set to begin (People’s Dispatch)
Free software developer Ola Bini's trial resumes this week, and EFF and other organizations are closely following the case and hope that due process can finally have its day in court.

College Prep Software Naviance Is Selling Advertising Access to Millions of Students (The Markup)
Naviance, a "college and career readiness software provider" used by 10 million students yearly to submit applications, is also a targeted ad platform that allows admissions departments at colleges to target students purportedly by race.

Academics want to preserve video games. Copyright laws make it complicated. (Washington Post)
DMCA Section 1201 hurts preservation, repair, security, and innovation—but does nothing to prevent copyright infringement.

Supported by Members
You, along with tens of thousands of supporters around the world, enable EFF to conduct fierce, uncompromising work for the public interest. Whether defending free speech online or challenging unconstitutional surveillance, your participation makes a difference. Donor support brings legal and technological expertise into crucial battles about online rights and protects users. Every donation gives those who value freedom online a stronger voice. Thank you for safeguarding digital rights. Check out our FAQ for information on memberships, donations, shop orders, corporate giving, matching gifts, and other ways to give. https://www.eff.org/pages/membership-faq

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit defending online civil liberties. We promote digital innovation, defend free speech, fight illegal surveillance, and protect rights and freedoms for all as our use of technology grows. Find out more at https://eff.org.

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