Access Now receives a 2026 EFF Award

We’re deeply honored to receive a 2026 EFF Award for our work defending and extending digital rights for people and communities at risk around the world. It’s especially humbling to be celebrated alongside the outstanding organizations 7amleh, DeFlock, and New Media Rights. This award also belongs to our partners, our community, and our donors who stand with us year after year, making our work possible. As the global fight for digital rights continues, your donation can help keep our work going. Read more via EFF

Exposing the silent spyware scourge

Spyware infections target Serbian student activists and opposition politicians

It’s an activist’s worst nightmare: finding out that your phone has been infected with spyware, without having clicked on or downloaded anything. But that’s become reality for pro-democracy students and opposition politicians in Serbia speaking out against government failures ahead of key elections. Learn what the SHARE Foundation, the Citizen Lab, and Amnesty International discovered about the attacks, and what you should know about protecting yourself. Read more via the Citizen Lab

Apple spyware: what your threat notification really tells you

Some victims of the spyware attacks in Serbia received an Apple threat notification, alerting them to an invisible infection. But what do these notifications actually mean? In a new episode of the Somewhere on Earth podcast, Access Now’s Mohammed Al-Maskati explains how a security team launches a forensic investigation, and why changing your everyday digital habits can help reduce risk. Tune in via Somewhere on Earth

A crack in the wall of spyware impunity

UK Supreme Court opens door for spyware victims to sue foreign states

The abuse of commercial spyware threatens human rights and democracy everywhere. But now a landmark ruling could make it easier for spyware victims in the UK to hold foreign governments accountable. In a new piece for Lawfare, Access Now’s Natalia Krapiva and the Citizen Lab’s Siena Anstis and Kate Pundyk break down the ruling, explaining how it clears a major legal barrier for victims of cross-border spyware attacks and could help others hold governments accountable for transnational digital repression. Read more via Lawfare

Mind the (AI regulation) gap

Hey EU, your new rules for ChatGPT don’t cover chat

The European Commission has designated OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a very large online search engine (VLOSE) under its Digital Services Act (DSA). This will increase transparency about how the chatbot is designed, the human rights risks its use entails, and how those risks are mitigated. Yet the designation does not address everything ChatGPT does. Access Now’s Daniel Leufer talks to POLITICO about what this implies for scrutiny of ChatGPT’s design decisions, as well as the broader regulatory landscape for AI. Read more via POLITICO

WATCH: “Is ChatGPT sharing your data?”

As regulators continue grappling with the risks posed by AI tools, it’s important to understand how to protect yourself if you choose to use them. Privacy International’s new video walks through practical measures to minimize the privacy and security risks of using ChatGPT, such as preventing your chats from being used to train the model, reviewing which third-party apps can access your data, deleting your old conversations, and enabling two-factor authentication. Watch now via Privacy International

The dangers of dataveillance

EFF and allies on Brazil’s elections: privacy protections are crucial to electoral integrity

The data you share with digital services can be used to manipulate you — and that’s especially dangerous during elections. Ahead of Brazil’s elections next month, we’ve joined EFF and Data Privacy Brasil in calling for stronger privacy and data protection safeguards to protect electoral integrity. Our recommendations explain how mass collection of data and the growing use of AI tools can fuel political microtargeting and distort public debate, an issue that extends across the region and requires urgent action. Read more via EFF

How mass surveillance from online advertising puts journalists at risk

The use of AI tools is also deepening the harmful impact of dataveillance on press freedom. A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) examines how the online advertising industry has created a vast ecosystem for collecting, trading, and analyzing personal data that can be repurposed to track journalists’ movements, reveal sensitive details about their lives, and potentially expose their sources — making it harder for them to do their work safely. Here are CPJ’s tips for protecting yourself from advertising technology. Read more via CPJ

Rights organizations call for an end to requiring telecom users in Egypt to provide biometric data

After people discovered that mobile phone lines had been registered in their names without their knowledge or consent, Egypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) began requiring customers to hand over their biometric data to register, recover, or manage a mobile line. The problem: this would unnecessarily expose millions of people to privacy risks. We joined 18 rights organizations in urging NTRA to withdraw the measure and address the weaknesses in operators’ systems, rather than collecting more sensitive data from everyone. Read more via EIPR

Your rights, your RightsCon

It’s time to build your RightsCon Continues Summit schedule!

We’re excited to announce that the RightsCon Continues Summit platform (online, September 22) is now live, with 50+ sessions, meetups, and fireside chats aimed at bringing digital rights communities together to discuss resilience, cross-sector collaboration, and movement building. Browse sessions and speakers, start building your schedule, and if you haven’t registered for the summit yet, now’s your chance. Want to connect with us in person? The RightsCon team is meeting our community where you are: we’ll be at FIFAfrica in Port Louis, Mauritius (September 28-October 1), MozFest in Barcelona, Spain (October 28-30), and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Nairobi, Kenya (December 15-18). Read more via Access Now

You spoke, we listened

In our reader survey a few months ago, several of you said that as much as you enjoy the Access Now Express newsletter, you simply don’t have time to read it weekly. So we’re trialling a new cadence by sending it to your inboxes every other Friday, rather than every week. Let us know what you think — whether you love it or hate it — by emailing [email protected].

Opportunities and other highlights

APPLY: Tech Policy Press Fellowship

Tech Policy Press is accepting applications for its 2027 fellowship, a year-long, part-time program for mid-career journalists, researchers, and public policy professionals working at the intersection of technology and democracy. Selected fellows will join a global, interdisciplinary cohort and pursue independent reporting and analysis, connecting with experts across fields. Learn more and apply by September 24. Read more via Tech Policy Press