EFF Action Center

The House of Representatives just passed a dangerous bill that gives broad and easily abused new powers to the executive branch would allow the Secretary of Treasury to strip a U.S. nonprofit of its tax-exempt status. Nonprofits would not have a meaningful opportunity to defend themselves, and could be targeted without disclosing the reasons or evidence for the decision. Even if they are not targeted, the threat alone could chill the activities of some nonprofit organizations. Over 130 civil liberties, religious, reproductive health, immigrant rights, human rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+, environmental, and educational organizations signed a letter opposing the bill as written. We most tell the Senate not to pass H.R. 9495, the so-called “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.”

AI-generated imitations raise legitimate concerns, and Congress should consider narrowly-targeted and proportionate proposals to deal with them. Instead, some Senators have proposed the broad NO FAKES Act, which would create an expansive and confusing new intellectual property right with few real safeguard against abuse.Tell the Senate to throw out the NO FAKES Act and start over.

Some members of Congress want to delete Section 230, the key law underpinning free speech online. Even though this law has protected millions of Americans’ right to speak out and organize for decades, the House is now debating a proposal to “sunset” the law after 18 months. Section 230 reflects values that most Americans agree with: you’re responsible for your own speech online, but, with narrow exceptions, not the speech of other people. This law protects every internet user and website host, from large platforms down to the smallest blogs. If Congress eliminates Section 230, we’ll all be less free to create art and speak out online.

The Senate is considering a bill that would help save some of the worst patents and empower patent trolls. The PREVAIL Act, S. 2220, would sharply limit the public’s right to challenge patents that never should have been granted in the first place. UPDATE: On Nov. 21, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 in favor of PREVAIL. We will continue to oppose this misguided bill. Help us by telling your members of Congress to oppose it when it comes up for another vote.

The Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying (PRESS) Act is a long overdue federal shield law that provides protections to journalists against government surveillance and forced disclosure of confidential sources. Journalists shouldn’t be forced to choose between protecting their confidential sources or going to prison. But the reality is that both Democratic and Republican administrations have secretly subpoenaed reporters’ emails and phone records to hunt down their sources. That chills essential newsgathering and whistleblowing, and it needs to stop now.

The Senate may have a simple voice vote in the next week to move the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) quickly through the legislature, without debate, but any one senator can stop it with a hold. We need you to call your senator’s office today to tell them to stop KOSA. KOSA would censor the internet and would make government officials the arbiters of what young people can see online, and would likely lead to age verification.

Court after court has recognized that no one can own the text of the law. But the Pro Codes Act is a deceptive power grab that will help giant industry associations ration access to huge swaths of U.S. laws. Tell Congress not to fall for it.

The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act would lead to a second-class online experience for young people, mandated privacy-invasive age verification for all users, and in all likelihood, the creation of digital IDs for all U.S. citizens and residents. The bill will make it illegal for anyone under 13 to join a social media platform, and require parental consent, verified by the government, for anyone between the ages of 13 and 18 to do so. The world envisioned by the authors of this bill is one where everyone has less privacy and less power to speak out and access information online.

The Cooper Davis Act would turn some of the most popular online platforms into Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informants. The content-scanning tools that would likely be used have large error rates, and would sweep up innocent conversations, including discussions about past drug use or treatment. This bill contains no warrant requirement, no required notice, and limited user protections, and deserves to be defeated on the Senate floor.