2011-04-13 EFF Petition: Who Has Your Back?

Petition from EFF

On Monday, April 11, 2011, EFF launched a petition to the largest Internet companies asking them to stand with their users and be transparent in their practices. Here's a chart showing how they think each of the companies is doing right now — a gold star indicates that the company is doing a stellar job, a half-star indicates they are taking steps in the right direction. This page will be updated as companies change their practices in response to public demand.

Details on what they are asking for:

1. Promise to inform users when their data is sought by the government
Internet companies should promise to tell users when their data is being sought by the government and give users a chance to defend themselves, unless prohibited by law — like Twitter promises to do and did in the Wikileaks investigation.

3. Be transparent about when you hand over data to the government
Companies should publish reports on how often they provide user data to governments worldwide, like Google does. These reports should include all demands that can be disclosed under the law. Companies should also make public the policies they have about sharing data with the government such as guides for law enforcement, like Twitter does.

3. Fight for users' privacy rights in the courts and in Congress
Companies should resist overbroad demands, like Yahoo did recently, and should disclose no more information than required by law. Internet companies should support efforts to modernize electronic privacy laws to defend users in the digital age, like the Digital Due Process Coalition members do.

Click here to sign the EFF petition

For WL Central coverage of the Wikileaks Twitter case, click here.