EFF and Civil Rights Coalition Urge Veto of New York's 'Stealth Crawler' Bill

• EFF and 18 civil rights groups urge New York Governor Kathy Hochul to veto Senate Bill 9934A, the "New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act."
• The bill threatens digital privacy, compromises internet architecture, and chills investigative journalism and security research.
• Critics argue the legislation harms free expression by deanonymizing and criminalizing automated access to public web data.

Concerns with S9934A

• Mandates that all web crawlers disclose their identity and specific purpose.
• Grants media organizations power to obtain judicial subpoenas to unmask automated traffic without requiring proof of misconduct or actual injury.
• Targets anonymity rather than the technical issue of overaggressive crawling that causes server stress.

Impact on Public-Interest Research

• Journalism: Investigations like those by The Markup and ProPublica rely on anonymous crawling to reveal anti-competitive practices and pricing biases without revealing their tools as researchers.
• Cybersecurity: Professionals use automated tools to monitor for malicious activity to protect digital infrastructure.
• Privacy Tools: Technologies like EFF’s Privacy Badger crawl sites anonymously to identify trackers, helping preserve user privacy.

Advocacy Position

• The coalition advocates for narrow technical solutions for server congestion, rather than broad policies that give publishers veto power over access to the open web.