Deeplinks Blog posts about Anonymity
In an attack on ad-blocking software, the Newspaper Association of America filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission last week, asking the agency to ban a variety of functions, including “evading metered subscription systems and paywalls,” and ad substitution. NAA also called into question new business models that aim to replace online advertising. Newspapers are concerned about the effects that ad-blockers may have on their revenues and their ability to understand and market to their readership. But some of what NAA is asking for would threaten important and widely used privacy software, like Tor and EFF’s own Privacy Badger, and chip away at Internet users’ ability to control their own browsing experience.
With the goal of keeping tabs on sex offenders, the state of Illinois has veered way off course. Its offender registration statute requires individuals to report every nook and cranny of their online activities to law enforcement—or face jail time. Every Internet site they visit, every online retailer account they create, and every news story comment they post must be reported to police.
EFF and the ACLU of Illinois today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to strike down these onerous requirements of the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). The rules violate free speech rights guaranteed to all people—even unpopular people—under the Constitution.
Today, Verizon reached an agreement with the FCC to acquire affirmative consent before injecting their UIDH tracking header into their customers' web activity on non-Verizon owned sites. This is exactly what we asked them to do in November 2014, and is a huge win for Internet privacy. ISPs are trusted carriers of our communications. They should be supporting individuals' privacy rights, not undermining them.
In response to feedback from activist groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Facebook announced Tuesday that it would change some aspects of its real names policy. As it currently stands, the policy requires users to register what Facebook calls their “authentic identity,”—or how friends and family know them—in order to use the social network. The policy also allows users to report other users registered under alias names and gives Facebook the ability to suspend any accounts where the identity of a user is found to be “fraudulent.” This abuse system has been used to silence a broad range of users, from drag queens to Vietnamese pro-democracy activists.
Facebook has responded to an October 5 open letter from a global coalition, including EFF, about its broken “authentic name policy.” Facebook’s response is a step in the right direction. It's also not the last change to the policy we’ll see, since Facebook notes “we’re making changes now and in the future.” Facebook says it “want[s] to reduce the # of people asked to verify ID.” Facebook and the Nameless Coalition share that goal, and these suggestions will help achieve it. But they still leave some users out in the cold.
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