EFF Joins HOPE 2020

EFF staff members will present some of our latest work at 2600 Magazine's biennial Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference beginning this weekend. HOPE is a diverse hacker event that has drawn thousands of tinkerers, security researchers, activists, artists, and makers since 1994. In a departure from the infamous Hotel Pennsylvania in New York, this first-ever virtual edition of HOPE will run an epic 9 days from July 25 through August 2.

EFF's presentations will cover diverse online rights topics including facial recognition, government surveillance powers, digital identity standards and specifications, security dangers in Amazon's Ring, and much more. HOPE registrants will also be able to participate in free-form question and answer sessions with EFF and members of the Electronic Frontier Alliance.

HOPE keynote speakers include EFF's Executive Director Cindy Cohn speaking on August 2nd at 2pm EST, as well as author and EFF Special Advisor Cory Doctorow on July 25 at 4pm EST.

EFF Presentations

Meet the EFA: A Discussion on Grassroots Organizing for Digital Privacy, Security, Free Expression, Creativity, and Access to Knowledge nash Sunday July 26 at 1pm EST on the Public Talk Stream Founded by EFF, the Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA) is a grassroots network of community and campus organizations across the United States. Join representatives from the EFF, and EFA affiliated groups, for this panel discussion on community-based tech advocacy, and working within your community to educate and empower neighbors in the fight for data privacy and digital rights.

Reform or Expire? The Battle to Reauthorize FISA Programs India McKinney, Andrew Crocker Monday July 27 at 4pm EST on the Public Talk Stream On March 15, 2020, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act - a surveillance law with a rich history of government overreach and abuse - expired. Along with two other PATRIOT Act provisions, Section 215 lapsed after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a broader set of reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

In the week before the law expired, the House of Representatives passed the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act, which would have extended Section 215 for three more years, along with some modest reforms. After negotiations, the Senate passed a slightly amended version of the bill, but after a veto threat from the President, the House of Representatives failed to pass it. The bill currently remains expired, but the question remains - for how long? And what will reform look like?

In this discussion, India and Andrew will explain the political factors behind this unusual legislative journey, as well as the policy implications of these proposals.

Mobile First Digital Identities and Your Privacy Alexis Hancock Tuesday July 28 at 8pm EST on the Public Talk Stream "Mobile First" is more than a web developer's mantra chanted from 2010. It also means that many people now visit websites and use services from their mobile devices more than on laptops and desktops. Recently, several proposals and published models for establishing big parts of our lives through our mobile devices have been discussed. Big proposals include mobile driver's licenses, mobile health credentials, and other forms of digitized documentation such as university degrees. Recently published and proposed standards include the W3C's verifiable credentials data model and the ISO's 18013-5 mobile driver's license compliance. This talk discusses the privacy concerns that surround these ideas, test cases, and the trajectory of digitized identification.

Ring's Wrongs: Surveillance Capitalism, Law Enforcement Contracts, and User Tracking &l