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

Deeplinks Blog byCindy Cohn | December 21, 2023

2023 Year in Review

Digital rights started as a niche, future-focused issue that we would struggle to explain to nontechnical people. Now it's deeply embedded into all of our lives. This movement is possible thanks to the strong partnership of EFF's members, supporters, and all of you who stood up and took action to...

Press Release | November 1, 2023

EFF to Supreme Court: Reverse Dangerous Prior Restraint Ruling Upholding FBI Gag on X’s Surveillance Transparency Report

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the Supreme Court today to review and reverse a dangerous ruling allowing the Justice Department to censor X’s ability to publish information about government requests for the platform’s private user data, a decision that undermines at least a hundred years of...

Press Release | September 12, 2023

Appeals Court Upholds Public.Resource.Org’s Right to Post Public Laws and Regulations Online

SAN FRANCISCO—Technical standards like fire and electrical codes developed by private organizations but incorporated into public law can be freely disseminated without any liability for copyright infringement, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Tuesday’s ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...

Deeplinks Blog byBeryl Lipton | September 11, 2023

Arkansas Lawmakers Could Wreck A 50-Year-Old FOIA Law This Week

Arkansas residents right now are facing a sudden and serious attempt to block their access to important government information. In a special session of the state legislature, announced Friday by Gov. Sarah Sanders and convened Monday morning, lawmakers are expected to discuss making major amendments to the Arkansas...

Deeplinks Blog byDavid Greene, Andrew Crocker, Josh Richman | September 8, 2023

EFF Urges Appeals Court to Re-hear Case over Trump’s X Account

A federal appeals court undermined more than a century of First Amendment law by upholding a gag order that kept X—formerly known as Twitter—from discussing the government’s demand for Donald Trump’s account data, EFF argued in a brief urging a re-hearing. The amicus brief filed Friday in the U.S....

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