Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Signatories stress that the Convention should only move forward if it pursues a specific goal of combating cybercrime without endangering the human rights and fundamental freedoms of those it seeks to protect, nor undermining efforts to improve cybersecurity for an open internet.

EFF will continue to advocate for affordable, future-proof internet access for all, and for an end of the use of artificial intelligence and automated systems for policing and surveillance.

Keyword warrants that let police indiscriminately sift through search engine databases are unconstitutional dragnets that target free speech, lack particularity and probable cause, and violate the privacy of countless innocent people.

In this report, EFF explores a new approach to tackling online harms leaving behind strategies based on ill-conceived bills and censorship-driven solutions.

“Unjustified takedowns during crises like the war in Gaza deprive people of their right to freedom of expression and can exacerbate humanitarian suffering” – EFF

Police can use these surveillance tools to see the devices of people who attended a protest, follow them home, and target them for more surveillance, harassment, and retribution.

The UK’s recently-passed Online Safety Bill (OSB) promises to make the UK “the safest place” in the world to be online. In reality, the OSB will lead to a much more censored, locked-down Internet for British users.

“Broadly scoped, ambiguous, and nonspecific international cooperation measures with few conditions and safeguards are simply a recipe for disaster that can put basic privacy and free expression rights at risk” – EFF