Transparency

Knowing “what the government is up to” is often the first step in ensuring that the government respects the civil liberties of its citizens. Transparency is especially important given the government’s increasingly secretive use of new technologies for law enforcement and national security purposes. From cell phone location tracking, the use of surveillance drones, secret interpretations of electronic surveillance law, and the expanding use of biometrics, EFF wants to hold the government accountable and uphold your digital rights. To that aim, EFF’s transparency work is dedicated to using federal and state freedom of information laws, the courtroom, and our megaphone to shine light on government activities. One of the major tools we use is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a federal law that gives people the right to request information kept by federal government agencies. Our team of FOIA lawyers also submit requests on a variety of digital civil liberties issues and often take cases to court when we believe the government is unduly withholding information. But anyone can make a request under FOIA, and you can go here to learn how you can submit your own. While emerging technologies give the government new tools that threaten citizen civil liberties, technology also has the potential to create a more democratic relationship between public institutions and the citizens they serve. Today, a broad range of new tools are allowing the public to more closely examine government and corporate entities and to hold them accountable for deception, censorship, and corruption. In addition to using freedom of information laws to shed light on government actions, EFF also wants to highlight technologies that help the transparency process —whether it’s making it easier to file and track FOIA requests, websites dedicated to whistleblowing, or open government initiatives that can improve access to information.

Transparency Highlights

Legal Case

FISC Orders on Illegal Government Surveillance

EFF has sued the Department of Justice (DOJ), demanding answers about illegal email and telephone call surveillance at the National Security Agency (NSA). The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008 gave the NSA expansive power to spy on Americans’ international email and telephone calls. However, last month, a government...

Deeplinks Blog | March 11, 2018

The Foilies 2018

Recognizing the Year’s Worst in Government TransparencyGovernment transparency laws like the Freedom of Information Act exist to enforce the public’s right to inspect records so we can all figure out what the heck is being done in our name and with our tax dollars. But when a public agency ignores,...

Legal Case

Automated License Plate Readers- ACLU of Southern California & EFF v. LAPD & LASD

EFF and the ACLU of Southern California each sent California Public Records Act requests to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department seeking documents about each agency's use of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) systems—sophisticated cameras mounted on squad cars and street poles that read...

Transparency Updates

Legal Case

Entropic Communications, LLC v. Charter Communications, Inc.

When patent holders use public courts to try to enforce their rights, they do not get to fully shut out the public from those disputes. EFF has repeatedly intervened in patent litigation seeking to vindicate the public's presumptive rights to access court proceedings and records in patent disputes, particularly those...

A redacted document labeled The Foilies hangs on a fishing hook inside a fishbowl

Deeplinks Blog byDave Maass, Aaron Mackey, Beryl Lipton, Brendan Gilligan, Hannah Diaz | March 10, 2024

The Foilies 2024

For Sunshine Week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock compile the year's worst and most ridiculous responses to public records requests and other attempts to thwart public access to information, including through increasing attempts to gut the laws guaranteeing this access—and we issue these agencies and officials tongue-in-cheek "awards" for...

hands holding a phone showing a heavily censored news article

Deeplinks Blog byMario Trujillo, David Greene | March 7, 2024

Victory! EFF Helps Resist Unlawful Warrant and Gag Order Issued to Independent News Outlet

Over the past month, the independent news outlet Indybay has quietly fought off an unlawful search warrant and gag order served by the San Francisco Police Department. Today, a court lifted the gag order and confirmed the warrant is void. The police also promised the court to not seek another...

How to Fix the Internet - Audrey Tang - Open Source Beats Authoritarianism

Deeplinks Blog byJosh Richman | February 27, 2024

Podcast Episode: Open Source Beats Authoritarianism

What if we thought about democracy as a kind of open-source social technology, in which everyone can see the how and why of policy making, and everyone’s concerns and preferences are elicited in a way that respects each person’s community, dignity, and importance? ...

Deeplinks Blog byAaron Mackey | January 3, 2024

Victory! Police Drone Footage is Not Categorically Exempt From California’s Public Records Law

Video footage captured by police drones sent in response to 911 calls cannot be kept entirely secret from the public, a California appellate court ruled last week.The decision by the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District came after a journalist sought access to videos created by Chula...

Pages

●« first ●︿ previous ●1 ●2 ●3 ●4 ●5 ●6 ●7 ●8 ●9 ●… ●next ﹀ ●last » Back to top

Follow EFF:

●mastodon ●facebook ●instagram ●x ●Blue Sky ●youtube ●flicker ●linkedin ●tiktok ●threads Check out our 4-star rating on Charity Navigator.

Contact

●General ●Legal ●Security ●Membership ●Press

About

●Calendar ●Volunteer ●Victories ●History ●Internships ●Jobs ●Staff ●Diversity & Inclusion

Issues

●Free Speech ●Privacy ●Creativity & Innovation ●Transparency ●International ●Security

Updates

●Blog ●Press Releases ●Events ●Legal Cases ●Whitepapers ●EFFector Newsletter

Press

●Press Contact

Donate

●Join or Renew Membership Online ●One-Time Donation Online ●Giving Societies ●Corporate Giving and Sponsorship ●Shop ●Other Ways to Give ●Copyright (CC BY) ●Trademark ●Privacy Policy ●Thanks