David Greene

the most free speech-hostile administration in history. and for a purpose - total and indefinite power and corruption.

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Zero Knowledge Proofs Alone Are Not a Digital ID Solution to Protecting User Privacy In the past few years, governments across the world have rolled out digital identification options, and now there are efforts encouraging online companies to implement identity and age verification re...

Zero‑Knowledge Proofs let users prove they are over 18 without exact birth dates, but they don’t stop verifiers from collecting information like your IP address. These alone aren’t enough to protect privacy and shouldn’t be pushed forward without proper protections in place.

We did!

How the Grateful Dead built the internet Before the internet took over the world, psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead were among the first – and most influential – forces at the dawn of online communication.

Dead & Co are playing for free in SF this weekend, so now is as good a time as any to revisit the contributions of Deadheads to the early development of the internet: www.bbc.co.uk/future/arti...

It's true! I said this! And much more about bad age-restrictions on the general internet will force all users to show their papers.

YouTube’s selfie collection, AI age checks are concerning, privacy experts say Any YouTuber wrongly labeled a teen must provide an ID, credit card, or selfie.

The more pressure platforms and websites face to age-gate services, the more radically it could change people's relationships with the internet, EFF’s @davidgreene.bsky.social told @arstechnica.com. arstechnica.com/tech-policy...

The UK's new tech law triggers upheaval

“We’re seeing that regardless of where you implement these laws and these measures, users are still frustrated,” EFF's Paige Collings told @politico.com.

YouTube video by Taylor Lorenz Age Verification Will Kill Free Speech Online

I did an hour long beginner’s breakdown on why age verification is extremely dangerous, bad, and leading to mass censorship, with tech policy expert @ericgoldman.bsky.social. What’s happening in the UK can and will happen here if we don’t fight it!

Trump officials float plans for easier medical data-sharing : Apple, Google, AI biggies, and for-profit insurance all eagerly rubbing their hands

"Any initiative that proposes to collect sensitive data, particularly vast amounts of health information and medical records, must ensure that no one uses that information in ways people don't expect," EFF’s @htsuka.bsky.social told @theregister.com. www.theregister.com/2025/07/31/...

this is so sad and tragic and the US will be a lesser nation and a weaker democracy because of it

cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

Alabama Notifying Adult Sites of New Tax Set to Take Effect Sept. 1 The Alabama Department of Revenue has begun sending notices to adult site operators about a new 10% tax on their revenues, set to be enforced starting Sept. 1.

“In a post-Paxton world where the meaning of the First Amendment is seemingly up for grabs, it's unclear.” @alisonboden.bsky.social

AL law imposes age verification + a content-based tax on websites that offer a "substantial" amount of sexual material harmful to minors. www.xbiz.com/news/291195/...

great article by @ashleybelanger.bsky.social

YouTube’s selfie collection, AI age checks are concerning, privacy experts say Any YouTuber wrongly labeled a teen must provide an ID, credit card, or selfie.

Wherein I explain that if YouTube's AI gets a user's age wrong, it will be their burden to prove how old they are, with very few privacy protections for the data collected -- and that is creepy and inhibiting and risky arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying Rayhunter is a new open source tool we’ve created that runs off an affordable mobile hotspot that we hope empowers everyone, regardless of technical skill, to help search out cell-site simulators (CSS...

At EFF we spend a lot of time thinking about the tech used by police and authorities to spy on you while you’re going about your everyday life, like cell-site simulators (CSS). Rayhunter is an open source tool we’ve created that we hope empowers everyone to help search out CSS around the world.

You Went to a Drag Show—Now the State of Florida Wants Your Name EFF has long warned about this kind of mission creep: where a law or policy supposedly aimed at public safety is turned into a tool for political retaliation or mass surveillance. Going to a drag show...

A bar hosted a drag show. Now Florida wants a list of names.

You Shouldn’t Have to Make Your Social Media Public to Get a Visa The Trump administration is continuing its dangerous push to surveil and suppress foreign students’ social media activity. The State Department recently announced an unprecedented new requirement that...

The Trump administration’s new policy requiring applicants for student and exchange visas to set social media accounts to “public” for government review is a dangerous expansion of existing social media collection efforts. This policy gravely chills free expression.

don’t try to DM me on @bsky.app - apparently I’d need my passport just to read it.

The Online Safety Act isn’t working.

Outside the biggest platforms, some sites are entirely inaccessible. Cybersecurity company McAfee reports that more than 6,000 websites that host adult content have already implemented age assurance methods, but others have opted to geoblock their services in the UK. A wide variety of unrelated, innocuous websites have followed suit. That includes forums for owners of EV Renault vehicles, electronic music production, beaded jewelry patterns, and tech-focused blogs. Many smaller forums simply don’t have the resources to support third-party verification systems or risk millions of dollars in fines.

The UK is slogging through an online age-gate apocalypse www.theverge.com/analysis/714... by Jess Weatherbed @zombiewretch.bsky.social

ORG's list of sites that have shut down or geoblocked UK users www.blocked.org.uk/osa-blocks

#OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #openweb

A screenshot of the Map from the Atlas of surveillance, showing over 13,000 datapoints across the US

We just added 100 more Texas agencies using Flock Safety automated license plate readers to the Atlas of Surveillance. As police tech spreads, you can count on EFF to track it and fight for your rights.
www.atlasofsurveillance.org/

We are at a huge risk of normalizing age barriers, and procedures for getting through them, on the internet. If you find these creepy and invasive, do not get used to them Keep fighting them. Let the services who use them know that you hate them.

Due to age authentication mandates, we're witnessing the real-time destruction of the Internet as we know it. The barriers invade our privacy & block kids'--& adults'--access to material they are entitled to access.

My paper explains why none of this helps children ssrn.com/abstract=520...

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In related news, yesterday a San Francisco Superior Court judge awarded over $400,000 in attorneys fees to Poulson, Tech Inquiry, and Substack, all of which brought successful anti-SLAPP motions against a lawsuit brought by that same CEO trying to get his reporting taken down.

Just a reminder that many people warned the UK government how this would go, and they insisted we were all exaggerating and then smeared us as not caring about kids.

| Knight First Amendment Institute

Recent law grads — we're now hiring for legal fellows to begin in Fall 2025. Our First Amendment rights are under daily assault. I hope you'll consider applying to work with us at @knightcolumbia.org to push back.

knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...

You Went to a Drag Show—Now the State of Florida Wants Your Name If you thought going to a Pride event or drag show was just another night out, think again. If you were in Florida, it might land your name in a government database.That’s what’s happening in Vero

Going to a drag show should not mean you forfeit your anonymity. It should not open you up to surveillance. And it absolutely should not land your name in a government database. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

35 Years for Privacy, Free Speech, and a Brighter Future Through July 10, new monthly or annual Sustaining Donors get an EFF35 Challenge Coin! With your help, EFF is here to stay.

Support privacy and free speech with ease by starting a monthly or annual recurring donation! You'll be able to receive new gear every year, and have access to member perks like access to speakeasy events and more!

Huge win for justice against mercenary spyware!

Congratulations to @davidgreene.bsky.social & @eff.org colleagues

I write about Loujain's case and the @citizenlab.ca's investigations into it in my book, Chasing Shadows chasingshadowsbook.ca

One of the most courageous people I've ever met

ICYMI last night

Text of the docket from AlHathloul v. Dark Matter indicating that the court has denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the CFAA claims in the case.

NEWS: Loujain AlHathloul's spyware lawsuit against Dark Matter survives a motion to dismiss, and the CFAA claims will proceed in US courts. That is a huge win! Order is temporarily sealed -- we will publish more when it is unsealed. For background: www.eff.org/cases/alhath...