Anyone who has spent time following debates about speech and privacy regulation comes to recognize the striking parallels between these two policy arenas. In this paper we will highlight the common rhetoric, proposals, and tactics that unite these regulatory movements. Moreover, we will argue that, at root, what often animates calls for regulation of both…
Maine Supreme Court rules against ATV operator
A sharply divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that wardens don’t need a reason to stop operators of all-terrain vehicles, a finding that the Maine Civil Liberties Union believes strikes a blow to the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. But the ruling may have only limited impact, since it comes just a month before a new…
EFF’s recommendations for federal web privacy policy
Today, EFF and the Center for Democracy and Technology submitted comments to the Office of Management and Budget in response to the agency’s review of the policies governing the federal government’s use of cookies and other web technologies. The comments are an extension of recommendations we made in May, in which we suggested that the…
You deleted your cookies? Think again
More than half of the internet’s top websites use a little known capability of Adobe’s Flash plugin to track users and store information about them, but only four of them mention the so-called Flash Cookies in their privacy policies, UC Berkeley researchers reported Monday. Unlike traditional browser cookies, Flash cookies are relatively unknown to web…