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The Fight Against Government Face Surveillance: 2019 Year in Review Vendors woo law enforcement with a seemingly inexhaustible flow of new spy tech. This places concerned community members, civil society, and lawmakers in a seemingly Sisyphean struggle of trying to keep up with new technological threats to privacy, and to shepard the adoption of enforceable policy to protect essential civil liberties. If 2018 was the year of communities standing together in the fight for democratic control over whether or not police may acquire surveillance technology, 2019 was the year that many of these same communities led the charge to ban government face surveillance.  TAKE ACTION END FACE SURVEILLANCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY Local Bans  In May of this year, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to ban local government use of face surveillance technology. San Francisco’s ban was enacted with overwhelming support from the City’s Board of Supervisors as part of the city’s Sto

Consumer Data Privacy in California: 2019 Year in Review The California Consumer Privacy Act ( CCPA ) was enacted in 2018 and goes into effect in 2020. Throughout 2019, EFF and our privacy coalition allies beat back numerous attempts by big business to block this important law before it goes into effect. We did so in the California Legislature , in Congress, and in the administrative rule-making process. We will keep doing so in 2020. In fact, we will work to make CCPA even stronger. What is CCPA? CCPA gives consumers three legal rights against businesses. First, consumers have a right to know , that is, to learn what personal information a business has collected about them. This includes access to specific pieces of data. It often includes “portability,” meaning the ability to obtain the data in a usable format. It also includes disclosure of the categories of data sources, the categories of data destinations, and the purpose of collection. Second, consumers have a right to del

The Fight Against Government Face Surveillance: 2019 Year in Review Vendors woo law enforcement with a seemingly inexhaustible flow of new spy tech. This places concerned community members, civil society, and lawmakers in a seemingly Sisyphean struggle of trying to keep up with new technological threats to privacy, and to shepard the adoption of enforceable policy to protect essential civil liberties. If 2018 was the year of communities standing together in the fight for democratic control over whether or not police may acquire surveillance technology, 2019 was the year that many of these same communities led the charge to ban government face surveillance.  TAKE ACTION END FACE SURVEILLANCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY Local Bans  In May of this year, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to ban local government use of face surveillance technology. San Francisco's ban was enacted with overwhelming support from the City's Board of Supervisors as part of the cit

Consumer Data Privacy in California: 2019 Year in Review The California Consumer Privacy Act ( CCPA ) was enacted in 2018 and goes into effect in 2020. Throughout 2019, EFF and our privacy coalition allies beat back numerous attempts by big business to block this important law before it goes into effect. We did so in the California Legislature , in Congress, and in the administrative rule-making process. We will keep doing so in 2020. In fact, we will work to make CCPA even stronger. What is CCPA? CCPA gives consumers three legal rights against businesses. First, consumers have a right to know , that is, to learn what personal information a business has collected about them. This includes access to specific pieces of data. It often includes “portability,” meaning the ability to obtain the data in a usable format. It also includes disclosure of the categories of data sources, the categories of data destinations, and the purpose of collection. Second, consumers have a right to del

At the end of every year, I make it a point to review our blog readership detail to see which topics you, our audience, find the most interesting. The Schneider Electric and APC blogs continue to be recognized in the marketplace as a great source of thought leadership and information on data center solutions ; perspectives from hundreds of global bloggers creates a rich platform for exchanging ideas. In 2019, four topics in particular stood out to our readers. My bet is that many of you will be able to glean solid insights from these trending topics for your own organization. 1. Sustainability Efforts Ramp Up with Renewables Blog posts that covered how to leverage renewable energy garnered a lot of attention. In fact, many colocation and service providers are moving quickly to implement renewables in order to drive down their energy costs. In particular, this blog features the new marketplace initiatives that are now influencing the growth of renewable energy systems. As you wou

Protecting the Legal Foundation of the Internet: 2019 in Review When someone says something unlawful online, they should be the one held responsible for it, not the website or platform where they said it. Section 230 —the most important law protecting free speech online—reflects that common-sense principle. This year, EFF defended Section 230 in Congress, the courts, and on the Internet. In 2018, Congress passed SESTA/FOSTA , the only change to Section 230 in its 23-year history. SESTA/FOSTA includes broadly-worded provisions aimed at holding websites liable for sex trafficking. This has given platforms little choice but to become more restrictive in what types of posts they allow , censoring innocent people in the process. Faced with the impossible task of complying with the law, some forums have shut down altogether . SESTA/FOSTA also cast legal doubt over important harm reduction activities in the sex work community, putting sex workers in direct danger . Misguided attempts to

Activists Worldwide Face Off Against Face Recognition: 2019 Year in Review We’ve all heard the expression, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” We might hope that what we do and where we go will only be known to those who were there in person. Yet maintaining such anonymity and privacy in public spaces is becoming ever more difficult. 2019 has marked the year where a growing digital rights network around the world is pushing back against governments and companies’ use of face recognition technologies in public spaces. This year, in an attempt to prevent people from having their movement and actions meticulously tracked, these activists took action against face recognition in countries all over the world. Ban on Mass Use of Face Recognition Digital rights activists have long argued that face recognition constitutes mass surveillance when used to track the movements of entire populations in public spaces by matching faces obtained from CCTV cameras, drones or other device

Protecting the Legal Foundation of the Internet: 2019 in Review When someone says something unlawful online, they should be the one held responsible for it, not the website or platform where they said it. Section 230 —the most important law protecting free speech online—reflects that common-sense principle. This year, EFF defended Section 230 in Congress, the courts, and on the Internet. In 2018, Congress passed SESTA/FOSTA , the only change to Section 230 in its 23-year history. SESTA/FOSTA includes broadly-worded provisions aimed at holding websites liable for sex trafficking. This has given platforms little choice but to become more restrictive in what types of posts they allow , censoring innocent people in the process. Faced with the impossible task of complying with the law, some forums have shut down altogether . SESTA/FOSTA also cast legal doubt over important harm reduction activities in the sex work community, putting sex workers in direct danger . Misguided attempts to

Activists Worldwide Face Off Against Face Recognition: 2019 Year in Review We’ve all heard the expression, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” We might hope that what we do and where we go will only be known to those who were there in person. Yet maintaining such anonymity and privacy in public spaces is becoming ever more difficult. 2019 has marked the year where a growing digital rights network around the world is pushing back against governments and companies’ use of face recognition technologies in public spaces. This year, in an attempt to prevent people from having their movement and actions meticulously tracked, these activists took action against face recognition in countries all over the world. Ban on Mass Use of Face Recognition Digital rights activists have long argued that face recognition constitutes mass surveillance when used to track the movements of entire populations in public spaces by matching faces obtained from CCTV cameras, drones or other device