Each December we take a moment to publish a series of blog posts that look back at the things we’ve accomplishes in fighting for your rights and privacy the past 12 months. But this year I’ve been thinking not just about the past 12 months, but also over the past 25 years I’ve spent at EFF.  As many folks know, I’ve decided to pass the leadership torch and will leave EFF in 2026, so this will be the last time I write one of these annual reviews.  It’s bittersweet, but I’m filled with pride, especially about how we stick with fights over the long run.   EFF has come a long way since I joined in 2000.  In so many ways, the work and reputation we have built laid the groundwork for years like 2025 – when freedom, justice and innovation were under attack from many directions at once with tech unfortunately at the center of many of them.  As a result, we launched our Take Back CRTL campaign to put the focus on fighting back.  In addition to the specific issues we address in this year-end series of blog posts, EFF brought our legal expertise to several challenges to the Trump Administration’s attacks on privacy, free speech and security, including directly bringing two cases against the government and filing multiple amicus briefs in others.  In some ways, that’s not new: we’ve worked in the courts to hold the government accountable all the way back to our founding in1990.   In this introductory blog post, however, I want to highlight two topics that attest to our long history of advocacy.  The first is our battle against the censorship and privacy nightmares that come from requirements that internet users to submit to  age verification. We’ve long known that age verification technologies, which aim to block young people from viewing or sharing information that the government deems “harmful” or “offensive,” end up becoming  tools of censorship.  They often rely on facial recognition and other techniques that have unacceptable levels of inaccuracy and that create security risks.  Ultimately, they are surveillance systems that chill access to vital online communities and resources, and burden the expressive rights of adults and young people alike.  The second is automated license plate readers (ALPR), which serve as a mass surveillance network of our locations as we go about our day.  We sued over this technology in 2013, demanding public access to records about their use and ultimately won at the California Supreme Court.  But 2025 is the year that the general public began to understand just how much information is being collected and used by governments and private entities alike, and to recognize the dangers that causes. Our investigations team filed another public records requests, revealing racist searches done by police. And 12 years later after our first lawsuit, our lawyers filed another case, this time directly challenging the ALPR policies of San Jose, California.  In addition, our activists have been working with people in municipalities across the country who want to stop their city’s use of ALPR in their communities.  Groups in Austin, Texas, for example, worked hard to get their city to reject a new contract for these cameras.   These are just two issues of many that have engaged our lawyers, activists, and technologists this year. But they show how we dig in for the long run and are ready when small issues become bigger ones.    The more than 100 people who work at EFF spent this last year proving their mettle in battles, many of which are nowhere near finished. But we will push on, and when those issues breach public consciousness, we’ll be ready.     We can only keep doggedly working on these issues year after year because of you, our members and supporters. You engage on these issues, you tell us when something is happening in your town, and your donations power everything we do. This may be my last end-of-the-year blog post, but thanks to you, EFF is here to stay.  We’re strong, we’re ready, and we know how to stick with things for the long run. Thanks for holding us up.     This article is part of our Year in Review series. Read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2025.

The US legal profession was just one of the pillars of American democracy that was targeted in the early days of the second Trump administration. At EFF, we were proud to publicly and loudly support the legal profession and, most importantly, continue to do our work challenging the government’s erosion of digital rights—work that became even more critical as many law firms shied away from pro bono work. For those that don’t know: pro bono work is work that for-profit law firms undertake for the public good. This usually means providing legal counsel to clients who desperately need but cannot afford it. It’s a vital practice, since non-profits like EFF don’t have the same capacity, resources, or expertise of a classic white shoe law firm. It’s mutually beneficial, actually, since law firms and non-profits have different experience and areas of expertise that can supplement each other’s work. A little more than a month into the new administration, President Trump began retaliating against large law firms who supported had investigations against him or litigated against his interests, representing clients either challenging his policies during his first term or defending the outcome of the 2020 election among other cases. The retaliation quickly spread to other firms—firms lost government contracts and had security clearances stripped from their lawyers. Twenty large law firm were threatened by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over their DEI policies. Individual lawyers were also targeted. The policy attacking the legal profession was memorialized as official policy in the March 22, 2025 presidential memo Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court. Although many of the targeted firms shockingly and regrettably capitulated, a few law firms sued to undo the actions against them. EFF was eager to support them, joining amicus briefs in each case. Over 500 law firms across the country joined supportive amicus briefs as well. We also thought it critically important to publicly state our support for the targeted law firms and to call out the administration’s actions as violating the rule of law. So we did. We actually expected numerous law firms and legal organizations to also issue statements. But no one else did. EFF was thus the very first non-targeted legal organization in the country, either law firm or nonprofit, to publicly oppose the administration’s attack on the independence of the legal profession. Fortunately, within the week, firms started to speak up as well. As did the American Bar Association. In the meantime, EFF’s legal work has become even more critical as law firms have reportedly pulled back on their pro bono hours since the administration’s attacks. Indeed, recognizing the extraordinary need, we ramped up out litigation, including cases against the federal government, suing DOGE for stealing Americans’ data, the state department for chilling visa-holders’ speech by surveilling and threatening to surveil their social media posts, and seeking records of the administration’s demands to online platforms to remove ICE oversight apps. And we’re going to keep on going in 2026 and beyond. This article is part of our Year in Review series. Read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2025.

In 2024, EFF wrote our initial blog about what could go wrong when police let AI write police reports. Since then, the technology has proliferated at a disturbing rate. Why? The most popular generative AI tool for writing police reports is Axon’s Draft One, and Axon also happens to be the largest provider of body-worn cameras to police departments in the United States. As we’ve written, companies are increasingly bundling their products to make it easier for police to buy more technology than they may need or that the public feels comfortable with.  We have good news and bad news.  Here’s the bad news: AI written police reports are still unproven, untransparent, and downright irresponsible–especially when the criminal justice system, informed by police reports, is deciding people’s freedom. The King County prosecuting attorney’s office in Washington state barred police from using AI to write police reports. As their memo read, “We do not fear advances in technology – but we do have legitimate concerns about some of the products on the market now... AI continues to develop and we are hopeful that we will reach a point in the near future where these reports can be relied on. For now, our office has made the decision not to accept any police narratives that were produced with the assistance of AI.”  In July of this year, EFF published a two-part report on how Axon designed Draft One to defy transparency. Police upload their body-worn camera’s audio into the system, the system generates a report that the officer is expected to edit, and then the officer exports the report. But when they do that, Draft One erases the initial draft, and with it any evidence of what portions of the report were written by AI and what portions were written by an officer. That means that if an officer is caught lying on the stand – as shown by a contradiction between their courtroom testimony and their earlier police report – they could point to the contradictory parts of their report and say, “the AI wrote that.” Draft One is designed to make it hard to disprove that.  In this video of a roundtable discussion about Draft One, Axon’s senior principal product manager for generative AI is asked (at the 49:47 mark) whether or not it’s possible to see after-the-fact which parts of the report were suggested by the AI and which were edited by the officer. His response (bold and definition of RMS added):  “So we don’t store the original draft and that’s by design and that’s really because the last thing we want to do is create more disclosure headaches for our customers and our attorney’s offices—so basically the officer generates that draft, they make their edits, if they submit it into our Axon records system then that’s the only place we store it, if they copy and paste it into their third-party RMS [records management system] system as soon as they’re done with that and close their browser tab, it’s gone. It’s actually never stored in the cloud at all so you don’t have to worry about extra copies floating around.” Yikes!  All of this obfuscation also makes it incredibly hard for people outside police departments to figure out if their city’s officers are using AI to write reports–and even harder to use public records requests to audit just those reports. That’s why this year EFF also put out a comprehensive guide to help the public make their records requests as tailored as possible to learn about AI-generated reports.  Ok, now here’s the good news: People who believe AI-written police reports are irresponsible and potentially harmful to the public are fighting back.  This year, two states have passed bills that are an important first step in reigning in AI police reports. Utah’s SB 180 mandates that police reports created in whole or in part by generative AI have a disclaimer that the report contains content generated by AI. It also requires officers to certify that they checked the report for accuracy. California’s SB 524 went even further. It requires police to disclose, on the report, if it was used to fully or in part author a police report. Further, it bans vendors from selling or sharing the information a police agency provided to the AI. The bill also requires departments to retain the first draft of the report so that judges, defense attorneys, or auditors could readily see which portions of the final report were written by the officer and which portions were written by the computer. In the coming year, anticipate many more states joining California and Utah in regulating, or perhaps even banning, police from using AI to write their reports.  This article is part of our Year in Review series. Read other articles about the fight for digital rights in 2025.

Mayer launched Dazzle after shuttering her photo and contact management startup Sunshine.

Drafted is now nearly five months old, and it's everything Atmos wasn't.

In this episode, the Common Core Diva Lynne Taylor joins me as we discuss the status quo’s spark (Specialized Propaganda Attacks Reality & Kills), which are specific plans against religious kickbacks. We’ll address the rise of satanism as an excuse to combat “Christian nationalism” and how it is connected to “education”. Visit CommonCoreDiva.com Encyclopedia Britannica …

They don’t miss. Several weeks ago, the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony took place in Washington, D.C., which recognized the King of Country Music alongside cultural icons like KISS, Sylvester Stallone, Broadway actor Michael Crawford, and disco legend Gloria Gaynor. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the building was recently renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center, and while President Donald Trump didn’t participate in the Kennedy Center Honors during his first term, he has become much more involved with the organization in his second term, even appointing country artist Lee Greenwood to the board. President Trump appointed himself as chair, while revamping the organization by bringing in an entirely new (not woke) group to run the Kennedy Center. Many of us probably mostly know of the Kennedy Center, formerly known as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, because of the annual Kennedy Center Honors event that inducts a new group of artists and entertainers each year. Located in Washington, D.C., it’s a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, and notable country acts who have been honored over the years include legends like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, George Jones and many more. Of course, several country acts were there to celebrate The King, including Miranda Lambert who did a flawless rendition of “Run,” as well as Brooks & Dunn, who performed “Amarillo by Morning.” “Amarillo by Morning” was released in 1982, becoming a hit from his Strait from the Heart record after it peaked at #4 on the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Songs, and has obviously remained a timeless country standard ever since. Perhaps his most popular song of all time. Strait previously called it his “most favorite song,” and while he has 60 #1 hits to his name, but shockingly, this wasn’t one of them… which is a cryin’ shame, but I digress: “My most favorite song I’ve ever recorded, and it was big in the dance halls, people always requested it. This one’s called ‘Amarillo By Morning.’ I love singing it.” Ronnie Dunn is truly one of the most talented vocalists in the genre even still, and I loved hearing them on such a classic like this. Both Brooks & Dunn and Miranda did an incredible job with their performances, and I think they picked the perfect people to honor the music and legacy of one of the genres most iconic artists. It’s really not easy to cover George Strait and do it really well, but Brooks & Dunn are beyond pros who will probably find themselves as honorees at the Kennedy Center one day, so I’m not surprised that they absolutely nailed it. The full ceremony will air tonight on CBS, in addition to streaming in Paramount+, and while this is only a portion of their performance, it’s perfection and I can’t wait to see the full video: View this post on Instagram “Amarillo by Morning” The post Brooks & Dunn Deliver Incredible Performance Of “Amarillo By Morning” For George Strait At The Kennedy Center Honors first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Dream collaboration. Cody Jinks has always had a love for the legends and outlaws who paved the way for artists like him. Last year, Jinks honored one of his musical heroes by releasing a tribute record to Lefty Frizzell, titled Cody Jinks Sings Lefty Frizzell. When the album was released, he shared that one of the first songs he ever learned to play was “The Long Black Veil.” Lefty’s music holds a special place in his heart because of that, in addition to how he inspired so many of Cody’s other musical heroes: “The first song my Dad taught me to play on guitar was Lefty’s, ‘The Long Black Veil.’ My favorite country singer/songwriter, Merle Haggard, was a Lefty fan. If you trace my country music lineage, you can hear a little Lefty in some of my stuff. I loved making this project!” Jinks has also shared his love for Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, and he believes Merle Haggard is a “triple threat” for his ability to play, write, and sing like no other. While it’s clear the Jinks has a love for the men who pioneered the genre, he recently disclosed his admiration for one of country music’s leading ladies. Earlier this year, Jinks sat down for an episode of the Like A Farmer podcast, but more recently, the podcast released a short segment of Jinks playing the “Give ‘Em the Boot” game presented by Tecovas. The game asked the Texas native some rapid-fire questions about his Mount Rushmore of country music and more. One of the questions asked during the game asked Jinks who he’d love to collaborate with today, and his answer might surprise you. “It’s a no brainer for me at this point in my career… Reba. I think that would be my, that would be the coolest because it would kill a bunch of stones, it would be a legend, and my favorite… Reba was actually the first cassette tape. ‘Whoever’s In New England’ cassette tape was the first cassette tape I saved and bought my own money with in 19…what year did that come out? ’88 or whatever year that came out. ’87, ’88, or ’89, I want to say. But yeah, man, Reba. Yeah, she’s awesome. I love Reba.” After agreeing with Cody Jinks that collaborating with Reba McEntire would be legendary, host Pat Spinosa notes that she’s still in her prime at 70. Spinosa shares how incredible her performance was earlier this year at the Music City Rodeo and that she’s still a head-turner. Jinks hilariously agrees: “She’s still hot. I know, like, way to go, Reba.”  No lies detected. A Cody Jinks and Reba collaboration would be legendary. I’d love to hear Jinks Texas twang with the Oklahoma native’s classic country sound… crossing my fingers that this will happen one day. The post Cody Jinks Says That He’d Love To Collaborate With Reba McEntire: “It’s A No-Brainer For Me” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A whole lot of history. It’s safe to say that 2025 was another incredible year for country music. Despite country radio still being lightyears behind the current trends, nearly all corners of the genre had their chance to shine, whether online, at awards shows or on the charts. Of course, Morgan Wallen continued his dominance, not only being named Billboard’s Top Artist of 2025, all-genre but also being crowned the highest-selling artist in country music history by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) earlier this week. Even more meaningful, for longtime fans of the independent and alternative country scene, 2025 was one of the most stacked years to date. With Turnpike Troubadours, Colter Wall, Charley Crockett, Tyler Childers, Whiskey Myers, Colby Acuff and more releasing stellar, career-defining albums throughout the year, it’s safe to say that country fans of every shape and size received their fair share of projects to chew on. This isn’t even mentioning Eric Church’s experimental gem of an album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, Kip Moore’s return to form on the sprawling, Solitary Tracks or even Lainey Wilson’s continued success and status as country music’s “it girl” en route to her CMA Entertainer of the Year win last month. Ultimately, 2025 will be a year many country fans will look back on fondly. With that being said, as the year begins to draw to a close in the following weeks, it’s time to look ahead to 2026. And judging by the early slate of albums, it looks like we’re in for another great year in the genre. Even ignoring all the stellar releases both in the mainstream and the independent scene, 2025 was a year chock full of long-time records being broken throughout the year. From Zach Bryan breaking the U.S. concert-attendance record to Morgan Wallen becoming the highest-selling country artist of all time, here are five notable records broken by country artists throughout 2025. Concerts Zach Bryan Breaks The U.S. Concert-Attendance Record From the moment Zach Bryan announced his September 27th show at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor back in February, music journalists and fans of the “Something in the Orange” singer quickly picked up on the fact that he had a real shot at history with the show. This, of course, was due to the fact that Michigan Stadium, also known as the Big House, is the largest stadium in America, and the third-largest stadium in the world, with an official capacity of 107,601 – although it’s hosted events with up to 115,000 before. Because of this, Bryan was all but primed to break the King himself, George Strait’s record of 110,905 fans in attendance at his June 2024 concert at Texas A&M University’s Kyle Field, in College Station, Texas. And when Bryan stepped on stage, along with the likes of John Mayer, Joshua Slone and Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen, he officially broke the record, performing to a crowd of 112,408 people. Sales Morgan Wallen Becomes The Highest-Selling Country Artist For years, it seemed as if Garth Brooks‘ status as the highest-selling country artist would never be beaten. With nine diamond-certified albums, an additional 31 platinum certifications and 32 gold records to boot, the “Friends in Low Places” singer has sold a staggering 162.5 million units throughout his career as of today. Like any statistic/record, as it is with sports, they’re meant to be broken, however. And Luke Combs did just that back in October. Grabbing a hefty 34 certifications, Combs would surpass Brooks by only one million units (163.5), in turn, receiving diamond certifications for hits such as “Beautiful Crazy,” “When It Rains It Pours” and “Hurricane.” Though it was an incredible accomplishment for Combs, anyone who has been paying attention to chart success and streaming numbers knew that it was inevitable that reigning Billboard Artist of the Year and all-around superstar, Morgan Wallen, was bound to smash this record and then some. And he did just that on December 16th. Not only did the Tennessee native become the highest-selling country artist of all time according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), but he was also crowned the third-highest-selling artist in history, all-genre. Receiving a mind-blowing 80 new certifications last week, Wallen has now sold over 240 million units in his career, third only to global superstars Taylor Swift (247.5 million) and Drake (331.5 million). Additionally, he has now sold the second-most singles by any artist in history and has totaled an incredible 26 million albums sold. Notably, Wallen is also now the first country artist in history to own five separate certified-Diamond songs with “Heartless” (10x platinum), “Whiskey Glasses” (13x platinum), “Chasin’ You” (10x platinum), “Wasted On You” (12x Platinum) and “Last Night” (12x platinum), all selling over 10 million units. Carrie Underwood Becomes The Highest-Selling Female Country Artist Though it was undoubtedly overshadowed by Morgan Wallen breaking the all-time record, Carrie Underwood made her mark on the genre’s history back in October by officially becoming the highest-selling female country artist of all time, selling over 95 million units and passing Shania Twain’s previous record of 61.5 million. This came immediately after Underwood received 14 brand new certifications from the RIAA, including career staples such as “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” “Last Name,” “All American Girl” and “Temporary Home” all receiving certifications ranging from platinum to 3x platinum. Notably, “Before He Cheats” became just the 17th country song in history (at the time) to sell over 10 million units and earn a diamond certification. Reflecting on the accomplishment, she would thank the fans for their continued support of her music over the past two decades and note how blessed she feels upon obtaining the record. “Accomplishments like this are more than I would have ever dared to dream of when I was starting out. I owe everything to the fans, who have literally voted for me from the beginning of my career and have showed up and given me so much love for over 20 years. I feel truly blessed.” A legendary run. Charts Morgan Wallen Charts Most Songs In A Single Week On The Billboard Hot 100 When it was first revealed that Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem would contain a staggering 37 songs, it seemed as if all cards were on the table in terms of potential records set to be broken. And, of course, we already know that it helped him become the highest-selling country artist of all time. However, before that, I’m The Problem helped Wallen break his own record on Billboard that he set just two years prior upon the release of One Thing At A Time. With 36/37 songs on I’m The Problem as well as his collaboration with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help,” all charting on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, Wallen broke his own record of 36 songs charted on the chart in a single week with 37. Of course, this is nothing short of mind-boggling given the fact that he occupied 37% of the all-genre chart. Awards Shows Kacey Musgraves Becomes Highest-Awarded Female Artist Across Country Categories At The Grammys It should go without saying that Kacey Musgraves has quietly put up one of the most impressive careers in the genre, especially from an all-genre and awards show perspective. This was put on full display back in February when she won her eighth-career Grammy award for Best Country Song for “The Architect.” With the win, she passed Carrie Underwood (6) for most Grammy wins across the four major country categories (Best Country Song, Best Country Album, Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Duo/Group Performance) present at the show. Brooks & Dunn Win The Most CMA Awards In History There were certainly a ton of different storylines throughout this year’s CMA Awards last month. From Ella Langley’s big night that included four wins and Lainey Wilson becoming just the second female artist ever to bring home back-to-back Entertainer of the Year Awards to fan-favorites, Zach Top and The Red Clay Strays, scoring their first-ever CMA wins, there were plenty to choose from. One, for whatever reason, that flew under the radar was the fact that Brooks & Dunn broke their tie with Chris Stapleton en route to becoming the most awarded artist(s) in CMA History with a staggering 20 wins. This, of course, was thanks to them winning their 16th Duo of the Year award (another CMA record), beating out the likes of Dan + Shay, Brothers Osborne and The War And Treaty.The post Notable Records Broken By Country Artists In 2025 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Dwight Yoakam was so believable in his role… you might have missed him. Hope you are having a happy holiday season so far, and you end up having a very merry Christmas. In my opinion, the best way to spend the days leading up to the big day is to watch an inordinate amount of Christmas movies. I’m talking around the clock, every second of the day… it can really get you in the Christmas spirit. And everyone has their favorite, right? Some people love The Grinch (some people hate it), others prefer a classic like It’s A Wonderful Life. But if you ask me, I really enjoy those tried-and-true Christmas comedies that are out there. One of the best ones has to be the 2008 film Four Christmases. Now I’m guessing I don’t need to include too many plot points for the movie. You’ve probably seen the film that stars Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, and has the pair accidentally fall into a situation where they have to spend Christmas going to four different houses (instead of going on a tropical vacation). The premise itself is funny, but the pacing of the movie is so fast that there’s probably some roles that don’t get as much shine as they deserve. One of those characters that could use some more recognition is “Pastor Phil,” who was actually played by country artist Dwight Yoakam. Obviously, the singer-songwriter is known for his unique sound that meshed together country, rockabilly, and bluegrass. Everyone knows that his catalogue features hits like “Fast as You,” “Guitars, Cadillacs,” and “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” but not everyone realizes that he’s had a pretty impressive acting career too. Besides Four Christmases, Yoakam’s other notable roles are in the Billy Bob Thornton directed film Sling Blade, and the classic comedy Wedding Crashers. His performance in Sling Blade as an abusive boyfriend named Doyle Hargraves even earned him a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. So long story short, Yoakam is just as talented as an actor (and filmmaker) as he is an artist and songwriter. And I’d argue that his role as Pastor Phil in Four Christmases is up there with some of his best work. Yoakam was in his early 50s when he played the over-the-top, eccentric pastor at the church that Vaughn and Witherspoon’s character got dragged to for Christmas. The country singer played quite the believable “maybe not in it for the right reason” preacher, and arguably stole a lot of scenes that he was in. It’s funny to think that some people – even country music fans – might watch the movie and not realize that a country music great was featured prominently in the story (he even returns later in the film when the couple stops at their fourth and final house for the day). And don’t even get me started on the hilarity of the “Nativity Scene” portion of the comedy. Looking back on this scene now… there’s a good chance The Righteous Gemstones got some inspiration from Dwight Yoakam’s Pastor Phil: The post People Are Just Now Realizing That Dwight Yoakam Starred In This Beloved Christmas Movie first appeared on Whiskey Riff.