Aaron Mackey
Frank Stanton Legal Fellow
Aaron joins EFF after moving from Washington, D.C. where he worked on speech, privacy, and freedom of information issues at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown Law. Aaron graduated from Boalt Hall in 2012, where he worked for EFF while a student in the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic. Prior to law school, Aaron was a journalist at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Arizona. He received his undergraduate degree in journalism and English from the University of Arizona in 2006, where he met his amazing wife, Ashley. They have two young children and a low-riding, sweet 9-year-old lab-corgi mix, Bailey.
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Deeplinks Posts by Aaron
Top Canadian Court Permits Worldwide Internet Censorship
A country has the right to prevent the world’s Internet users from accessing information, Canada’s highest court ruled on Wednesday. In a decision that has troubling implications for free expression online, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a company’s effort to force Google to de-list entire domains and...As a Provider Fought a Secret Surveillance Order, Court Denied It Access to Relevant Law
The U.S. government’s foreign surveillance law is so secretive that not even a service provider challenging an order issued by a secret court got to access it. That Kafkaesque episode —denying a party access to the law being used against it—was made public this week in a...EFF to Court: Holding Twitter Responsible for Providing Material Support to Terrorists Would Violate Users’ First Amendment Rights
A lawsuit claiming that Twitter provides material support to terrorists by providing accounts to users who discus or promote terrorism threatens the First Amendment rights of Internet users and Twitter, EFF told a federal appellate court in a brief filed on Wednesday. The brief [.pdf] also argues that...Why We're Suing the FBI for Records About Best Buy Geek Squad Informants
Law Enforcement Should Not Be Able to Bypass the Fourth Amendment to Search Your Devices Sending your computer to Best Buy for repairs shouldn’t require you to surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. But that’s apparently what’s been happening when customers send their computers to a Geek Squad repair facility in...Courts Must Allow Online Platforms to Defend Their Users' Free Speech Rights, EFF Tells Court
Online platforms must be allowed to assert their anonymous users’ First Amendment rights in court, EFF argued in a brief filed Monday in a California appellate court. The case, Yelp v. Superior Court , concerns whether online review website Yelp has the legal right to appear in court and make...The Foilies 2017
Recognizing the Year’s Worst in Government Transparency A thick fog is rolling in over Sunshine Week (March 12-18), the annual event when government transparency advocates raise awareness about the importance of access to public records. We are entering an age when officials at the highest levels seek to...FBI Throws Up Digital Roadblock to Transparency
Beginning March 1, FBI Will No Longer Accept FOIA Requests Via Email It’s well documented that the FBI is keen on adopting new technologies that intrude on our civil liberties. The FBI’s enthusiasm for technology, however, doesn’t extend to tools that make it easier for the...EFF to Court: Don’t Undermine Legal Protections for Online Platforms that Enable Free Speech
EFF filed a brief in federal court arguing that a lower court’s ruling jeopardizes the online platforms that make the Internet a robust platform for users’ free speech. The brief , filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argues that 47 U.S.C. § 230, enacted...Still Looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Join EFF to FOIA Early and Often
An Updated Transparency Law Means New Language For Your Records Requests As the sun sets on the Obama presidency, let’s make sure the light shines brightly anew on the incoming administration. In 2016, Congress passed the biggest update to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the nation’s transparency...Congress Gives FOIA a Modest but Important Update For Its 50th Birthday: 2016 in Review
Year after year, federal agencies worked behind the scenes to thwart any attempt to reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In 2016, Congress finally came through and successfully amended the 50-year-old transparency statute with the goal of improving our ability to oversee our government. For FOIA’s golden...