EFFector
EFFector is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's bi-weekly podcast covering digital rights news. Each episode features EFF lawyers, activists, and technologists discussing the organization's work to defend privacy and free speech online. It serves as the audio companion to their email newsletter, with subscriptions available at eff.org/effector.
Episodes
The Government Is Using AI to Surveil Social Media. Here's How We're Fighting Back.
No one should have to think twice before posting a meme criticizing the government. But a mass surveillance program known as "Catch and Revoke" was created to make millions do just that.EFF and other defenders of free speech are fighting back. On this episode, we're talking to EFF's Lisa Femia about how the government is using AI to suppress protected speech online—and the important lawsuit she an
Hey Siri, How Do I Limit AI Data Access?
With the launch of iOS 27, Apple is rolling out a variety of new AI features to its familiar voice assistant, Siri. But how are AI tools like these handling our data? And what can we do to make sure our private information stays private?On this episode, we're talking to EFF's Thorin Klosowski about the privacy complications of AI phone features—and how to limit what data Siri AI can access.EFFecto
Everybody Hates Flock. Now What?
Around the country and across the political spectrum, people are pushing back against Flock cameras. After years of license plate readers quietly proliferating on our streets, dozens of communities have terminated their Flock contracts in the last month alone.Joining them are Texas and Florida, which recently announced state action stepping back from these surveillance systems. On this episode, we
How Mobile Apps Can Leak Your Location to Advertisers
Your location isn't just a pin on a map. Once collected, this information can expose some of the most intimate details about your life. The value of this information to advertisers and others has turned the location data business into a multi-billion dollar industry.
But how do data brokers even know where we are? And what can we do to take back our privacy? A new EFF report highlights how locati
Health Data Is Personal. Fitness Trackers Should Keep It That Way.
Watches, bands, and rings—if you want to digitally monitor your fitness, more companies than ever are selling devices to do it. And more Americans than ever now own at least one wearable health device. But what are the companies that make fitness trackers doing to protect our sensitive data from prying eyes? A lot less than they could be, it turns out.
EFFector is a podcast by the Electronic Front
Congress's New Push to Age-Gate the Internet
The effort to age gate the internet is back in Washington—and now it has a new name. Recently passed by the House of Representatives, the KIDS Act is a sprawling package of proposals to control what we can see and say online.
Supporters claim the KIDS Act is needed to protect minors online. But if lawmakers really want to make the internet safer, why are they encouraging surveillance instead of pr
Domestic Spying Takes an L
The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect Americans from unreasonable searches by their government. But in some cases, there has been a glaring loophole if the FBI wants to read your emails. Sold to the public as a foreign surveillance tool, Section 702 is a law that has let intelligence agencies spy on millions of Americans’ private conversations without a warrant.
Despite years of revelations
Mass Surveillance to Stop... Loud Music?
Across the country, surveillance companies have spun a vast web of tens of thousands of license plate cameras. Known as ALPR networks, these are mass surveillance systems that allow police to track your car's every move. The people selling this tech want you to believe that it's for your safety, but how are authorities really using license plate readers?
Over the past year, we've learned that lice
A Big Win for Encrypted Messaging
When it comes to keeping our texts, chats, and other digital messages safe from prying eyes, we have a powerful tool: end-to-end encryption. Used correctly, end-to-end encryption turns our conversations online into secret messages that can only be decoded by their intended recipients. For years, we've been urging tech companies to bring this privacy-protecting tool to more of the apps and platform
California's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Social Media Ban
We'd all like the internet to be a better place—for kids and adults alike. But in the name of online safety, governments around the world are racing to impose a dangerous new system of control.
Following Australia's lead, California is now looking to ban anyone under 16 from accessing social media. That means putting much of the internet behind an age gate—a checkpoint that forces every user, rega
When Homeland Security Wants Names, Will Google Have Your Back?
When we use the internet, we're entrusting tech companies with some of our most private information. These companies have promised they'll keep our data safe. But what happens when the government comes knocking at their doors?
In April 2025, ICE sent Google an administrative subpoena requesting the data of Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a Ph.D. candidate studying in the U.S. on a student visa. The next
How License Plate Readers Are Normalizing Mass Surveillance
All across the country, police have convinced communities to pay for mass surveillance systems like license plate readers, claiming they will help stop the most serious crimes. But once these ever-watchful electronic eyes are installed in your city, it's not just violent criminals they're recording—it's everyone.
Time and time again, we've seen police surveillance suffer from "mission creep." Tec
Who's Really Watching What Smartglasses See?
Thanks to smartphones, almost everybody these days is carrying a little video camera around in their pocket, all the time. But the next time a stranger films you in public, you might not be able to tell they're recording at all. In fact, their camera might look just like an ordinary pair of glasses.
After years of tech industry experiments, smartglasses with embedded cameras and microphones have
How Targeted Advertising Gives Your Location to the Government
We've all had the unsettling experience of seeing an ad online that reveals just how much advertisers know about our lives. You're right to be disturbed. Those very same online ad systems have been used by the government to warrantlessly track peoples' locations, new reporting has confirmed.
This week, we're talking about how advertising surveillance enables government surveillance. We're also dis
Introducing EFFector From the Electronic Frontier Foundation
The digital world isn't just a place you visit on your phone. It's the battleground where tomorrow's civil liberties will be won—or lost. Each episode of the EFFector podcast will fill you in on the most important news in digital rights, highlighting key developments in the fight for a world where technology supports freedom, not tyranny.
For 35 years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been t
