Aaron Mackey
@aaron_d_mackey
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staff attorney @eff #foiafiend views are my own
Joined March 2015
Every year some government agencies, officials and private companies fight back against the public’s right to know. We're looking for your nominations for the 2024 Foilies, “awards” that highlight intransigence, secrecy and other transparency-thwarting
muckrock.com
Despite our holiday wishlist, every year some government agencies, officials and private companies fight back against the public’s right to know, which is why we are looking for your nominations for...
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Lawyers! Come work with me - @eff is hiring a civil liberties attorney with 3-5 years experience. Reach out if you want to talk about the job - applications due by June 30.
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The FISC’s refusal to enforce the Fourth Amendment is yet another reason the surveillance enabled by Section 702 needs to be ended or drastically reformed. https://t.co/QVJ9sHuglS
eff.org
The latest evidence that Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) must be ended or drastically reformed came last month in the form of a newly unsealed order from the Foreign
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When California's police standards body claimed copyright protections trumped transparency over use-of-force training, EFF sued–and won!
eff.org
After a two-year legal battle, the state agency that certifies police officers in California has agreed to EFF's demand that it stop using copyright concerns as a predicate to withhold law
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We commend @RepAnnaEshoo for her strongly worded letter condemning the mass police surveillance enabled by Fog Data Science. We hope that the @FTC will act quickly to stop the data broker industry that leads to these privacy invasions.
eff.org
In the week since EFF and the Associated Press exposed how Fog Data Science purchases geolocation data on hundreds of millions of digital devices in the United States, and maps them for easy-to-use
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Calling all law students! EFF is accepting applications for spring semester legal interns now through Nov. 15. Apply here:
eff.org
Applications are now open for the Summer 2026 Intern Class, with a deadline of February 15. See below for instructions and a link to the application. You are encouraged to apply early, as we will be
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EFF filed a lawsuit against Sacramento and its public utility for spying on entire neighborhoods' electricity usage, violating residents' privacy and targeting Asian communities. https://t.co/pfH9ywpj6j
The lawsuit claims Sacramento police used SMUD data to identify high electricity users, information that shaped marijuana enforcement operations.
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Victory! Federal court stops unprecedented, horrible Arizona law that criminalizes recording the police within eight feet.
azcentral.com
A federal judge in Arizona has, for now, halted the enforcement of a new state law that would ban people filming police at short range.
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A must-read from my colleagues' year-long investigation into a dangerous surveillance company.
#BREAKING A year-long investigation by EFF has uncovered Fog Data Science, a mass surveillance company that buys the geolocation of hundreds of millions of devices in the U.S. and maps them for police to search, often without a warrant. https://t.co/tbBFuNKsn8
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This important AP investigation is worth your time. It goes into a secretive law enforcement tool called Fog Reveal, which uses ad data to produce location records for police:
apnews.com
Local law enforcement agencies from suburban Southern California to rural North Carolina have been using an obscure cellphone tracking tool, at times without search warrants, that gives them the...
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You’ve never heard of Fog Data Science, but you should have. It’s the company turning your cell phone’s geolocation data into one of the most disturbing and wide-reaching surveillance systems ever used by police in the U.S. Read our investigation here. https://t.co/HCOlmM5daV.
eff.org
A data broker has been selling raw location data about individual people to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, EFF has learned. This personal data isn’t gathered from cell phone
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A win in our long-running fight to make secret law public.
After seven years, an act of legislation, and an EFF lawsuit, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has finally declassified 7 FISA court rulings that better illuminate how mass surveillance works. https://t.co/RapIgf11PC
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Nonprofits that share the data of supporters, clients, and visitors with third parties may be putting people in danger. This guide offers concrete steps to implement better privacy practices for your websites and email platforms.
eff.org
Read the blog post about why you should minimize data collection. Jump to Main Content ↓ Table of Contents:Principles for A Privacy-Protective Organization If you’re a small organization or just
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A lot of my work is aimed at getting access to these materials, but the First Amendment law is unsettled. Anyway, please don't read "pre-indictment" as some signal
eff.org
The public will learn how often federal investigators in Seattle obtain private details about your communications, such as who you called and when, as a result of a petition to unseal those records
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Of course, the DOJ advocates for maximum secrecy for search warrant materials during early stages. Which can frustrate public access into docs showing surveillance, because so many warrants don't lead to indictments.
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This part of the law is a mess, but several appellate courts have held that there is no 1A right of access to search warrant materials prior to an indictment. That's where the "pre-indictment" phrase comes from.
rcfp.org
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I have no insight into DOJ, but the "pre-indictment" language isn't sly. It's describing the law around when the public's First Amendment right of access attaches to search warrant materials. It doesn't imply that an indictment is or is not coming.
There's a sly reference, by quotation of a recent case, that this search took place in "the pre-indictment stage" of the case. See footnote 2.
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In a recent decision supporting the right to anonymity online, the Court cites 8 cases that EFF lawyers have worked on. Not bad for a 15-page decision!
eff.org
A recent District Court decision in In re DMCA 512(h) Subpoena to Twitter, Inc. is a great win for free speech. The Court firmly rejected the argument that copyright law creates a shortcut around the
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Federal court rules that there is no copyright loophole when trying to identify anonymous internet users
eff.org
Copyright law cannot be used as a shortcut around the First Amendment’s strong protections for anonymous internet users, a federal trial court ruled on Tuesday.The decision by a judge in the United
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