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It's been a year full of challenges, but also important victories for digital freedoms. From EFF’s new lawsuit against OPM and DOGE, to launching Rayhunter (our new tool to detect cellular spying), to exposing the censorship of abortion-related content on social media, we’ve been busy! But we’re not the only ones leading the charge. 

On September 10 in San Francisco, we presented the annual EFF Awards to three courageous honorees who are pushing back against unlawful surveillance, championing data privacy, and advancing civil liberties online. This year’s awards went to Just Futures Law, Erie Meyer, and the Software Freedom Law Center, India. 

If you missed the celebration in person, you can still watch it live! The full event is posted on YouTube and the Internet Archive, and a transcript of the live captions is also available.  

WATCH NOW

SEE THE EFF AWARDS CEREMONY ON YOUTUBE

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn opened the evening by reflecting on our victories this past year and reiterated how vital EFF’s mission to protect privacy and free speech is today. She also announced her upcoming departure as Executive Director after a decade in the role (and over 25 years of involvement with EFF!). No need to be too sentimental—Cindy isn’t going far. As we like to say: you can check out at any time, but you never really leave the fight. 

Cindy then welcomed one of EFF’s founders, Mitch Kapor, who joked that he had been “brought out of cold storage” for the occasion. Mitch recalled EFF’s early days, when no one knew exactly how constitutional rights would interact with emerging technologies—but everyone understood the stakes. “We understood that the matter of digital rights were very important,” he reflected. And history has proven them right. 

Honoring Defenders of Digital Freedom

The first award of the night, the EFF Award for Defending Digital Freedoms, went to the Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC.IN). Presenting the award, EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene emphasized the importance of international partners like SFLC.IN, whose local perspectives enrich and strengthen EFF’s own work. 

SFLC.IN is at the forefront of digital rights in India—challenging internet shutdowns, tracking violations of free expression with their Free Speech Tracker, and training lawyers across the country. Accepting the award, SFLC.IN founder Mishi Choudhary reminded us: “These freedoms are not abstract. They are fought for every day by people, by organizations, and by movements.” 

SFLC.IN founder Mishi Choudhary accepts the EFF Award for Defending Digital Freedoms

Next, EFF Staff Attorney Mario Trujillo introduced the winner of the EFF Award for Protecting Americans’ Data, Erie Meyer. Erie has served as CTO of the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and was a founding member of the U.S. Digital Service. Today, she continues to fight for better government technology and safeguards for sensitive data. 

In her remarks, Erie underscored the urgency of protecting personal data at scale: “We need to protect people’s data the same way we protect this country from national security risks. What’s happening right now is like all the data breaches in history rolled into one. ‘Trust me, bro’ is not a way to handle 550 million Americans’ data.” 

Erie Meyer accepts the EFF Award for Protecting Americans’ Data

Finally, EFF General Counsel Jennifer Lynch introduced the EFF Award for Leading Immigration and Surveillance Litigation, presented to Just Futures Law. Co-founder and Executive Director Paromita Shah accepted on behalf of the organization, which works to challenge the ways surveillance disproportionately harms people of color in the U.S. 

“For years, corporations and law enforcement—including ICE—have been testing the legal limits of their tools on communities of color,” Paromita said in her speech. Just Futures Law has fought back, suing the Department of Homeland Security to reveal its use of AI, and defending activists against surveillance technologies like Clearview AI. 

Just Futures Law Executive Director Paromita Shah accepted the EFF Award for Leading Immigration and Surveillance Litigation

Carrying the Work Forward

We’re honored to shine a spotlight on these award winners, who are doing truly fearless and essential work to protect online privacy and free expression. Their courage reminds us that the fight for civil liberties will be won when we work together—across borders, communities, and movements. 

Join the fight and donate today

A heartfelt thank you to all of the EFF members worldwide who make this work possible. Public support is what allows us to push for a better internet. If you’d like to join the fight, consider becoming an EFF member—you’ll receive special gear as our thanks, and you’ll help power the digital freedom movement. 

And finally, special thanks to the sponsor of this year’s EFF Awards: Electric Capital.

  Catch Up From the Event

Reminder that if you missed the event, you can watch the live recording on our YouTube and the Internet Archive. Plus, a special thank you to our photographers, Alex Schoenfeldt and Carolina Kroon. You can see some of our favorite group photos that were taken during the event, and photos of the awardees with their trophies. 

9月5日の夜、東京・永田町にある国会正門前に、250人の市民が集まった。テーマは、「差別排外主義」や「不法滞在者ゼロプラン」により加速する強制送還への抗議だ。（藤ヶ谷魁）

令和7年度消防防災科学技術賞受賞作品の決定

電波法関係審査基準の一部を改正する訓令案に係る意見募集の結果の公表

5Gの整備状況（令和6年度末）の公表

情報通信行政・郵政行政審議会　電気通信事業部会（第159回）

無線設備規則等の一部を改正する省令案等に係る意見募集

特定信書便事業の現況

10月は「木材利用促進月間」です

村上総務大臣閣議後記者会見の概要

「地上基幹放送の中継局を廃止する際の視聴継続措置の実施及び 公表義務に関する望ましい対応についてのガイドライン」の公表

万国郵便連合（UPU）国際事務局長選挙の結果

2020年基準 消費者物価指数 全国 2025年(令和7年)8月分

情報通信審議会　情報通信技術分科会　電波有効利用委員会　無線設備の認証の在り方検討作業班（第2回）

The San Francisco Police Department is the latest California law enforcement agency to get caught sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with out-of-state and federal agencies. EFF and the ACLU of Northern California are calling them out for this direct violation of California law, which has put every driver in the city at risk and is especially dangerous for immigrants, abortion seekers, and other targets of the federal government.

This week, we sent the San Francisco Police Department a demand letter and request for records under the city’s Sunshine Ordinance following the SF Standard’s recent report that SFPD provided non-California agencies direct access to the city’s ALPR database. Reporters uncovered that at least 19 searches run by these agencies were marked as related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). The city’s ALPR database was also searched by law enforcement agencies from Georgia and Texas, both states with severe restrictions on reproductive healthcare.

ALPRs are cameras that capture the movements of vehicles and upload the location of the vehicles to a searchable, shareable database. It is a mass surveillance technology that collects data indiscriminately on every vehicle on the road. As of September 2025, SFPD operates 415 ALPR cameras purchased from the company Flock Safety.

Since 2016, sharing ALPR data with out-of-state or federal agencies—for any reason—violates California law (SB 34). If this data is shared for the purpose of assisting with immigration enforcement, agencies violate an additional California law (SB 54).

In total, the SF Standard found that SFPD had allowed out-of-state cops to run 1.6 million searches of their data. “This sharing violated state law, as well as exposed sensitive driver location information to misuse by the federal government and by states that lack California’s robust privacy protections,” the letter explained.

EFF and ACLU are urging SFPD to launch a thorough audit of its ALPR database, institute new protocols for compliance, and assess penalties and sanctions for any employee found to be sharing ALPR information out of state.

“Your office reportedly claims that agencies outside of California are no longer able to access the SFPD ALPR database,” the letter says. “However, your office has not explained how outside agencies obtained access in the first place or how you plan to prevent future violations of SB 34 and 54.”

As we’ve demonstrated over and over again, many California agencies continue to ignore these laws, exposing sensitive location information to misuse and putting entire communities at risk. As federal agencies continue to carry out violent ICE raids, and many states enforce harsh, draconian restrictions on abortion, ALPR technology is already being used to target and surveil immigrants and abortion seekers. California agencies, including SFPD, have an obligation to protect the rights of Californians, even when those rights are not recognized by other states or the federal government.

See the full letter here: https://www.eff.org/files/2025/09/17/aclu_and_eff_letter_to_sfpd_9.16.2025-1.pdf

　　　　　　●片山夏子さん 　取材ままならぬ現場　原発事故から何も学ばぬ　取材を始めたのは震災の翌日、３月１２日から。いくつも部署は変ったが、原発取材を続けた。　福島第一原発は非常に特殊な現場だ。原発を推進し事故の責任を問われる東電の許可をないと全く取材ができない。　最初に取材したのは原子力保安院と東電の記者会見で感じたのは「人が見えない」ことだった。次に爆発したら現場の人は生きて帰ってこられるのか。７０人ぐらい残っていた東電社員の家族はどういう思いなのか。疑問が募った。　２..