{"slug": "cheers-to-the-winners-of-effs-18th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night", "title": "Cheers to the Winners of EFF’s 18th Annual Cyberlaw Trivia Night!", "summary": "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) held its 18th Annual Cyberlaw Trivia Night in San Francisco, where three teams tied for first place for the first time in the event's history. Team Shady Docket won the tiebreaker by correctly estimating that OpenAI received 146 government information requests in the first half of 2025, beating out second-place Nicky’s Angels and third-place Betamaxxers. The annual event, judged by outgoing EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn, incoming Executive Director Nicole Ozer, and Techdirt founder Mike Masnick, tests attorneys on tech-related legal knowledge including intellectual property, privacy, and artificial intelligence.", "body_md": "On a warm June evening in San Francisco, attorneys and other legally-minded friends of EFF gathered for our 18th Annual Cyberlaw Trivia Night, an annual test of tech-related legal knowledge, and the ability to remember some deeply obscure facts under pressure.\n\nReturning Quizmaster Kurt Opsahl once again guided competitors through six rounds of trivia covering everything from intellectual property and free speech to privacy, security, and artificial intelligence. Teams wrestled with questions about geofence warrants, AI copyright disputes, the SOPA/PIPA internet blackout, Section 230, and even [a Senate hearing featuring a contestant](https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/27/the-missouri-v-biden-settlement-is-a-fake-victory-for-a-case-they-lost/) who was herself present at cyberlaw trivia.\n\nThe judges’ table made it obvious that 2026 was a notable year. Weighing in on the toughest close calls were three folks with a deep history at our org: outgoing [EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn](https://www.eff.org/press/releases/executive-director-cindy-cohn-will-step-down-after-25-years-eff) and [new Executive Director Nicole Ozer](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/05/welcome-new-eff-executive-director-nicole-ozer) both sat at as judges, joined by new cyberlaw judge Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt and a [recipient of an EFF Award in 2020](https://www.eff.org/press/releases/whistleblower-chelsea-manning-techdirt-founder-mike-masnick-and-free-expression).\n\nThe food was hot, the drinks were cold, and the competition was fierce. Teams including Shady Docket, Byte Club, Flock U, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Precedent, Nicky's Angels, and Betamaxxers battled through six rounds of challenging questions.\n\nWhen a question about Afroman's successful legal battle against Ohio sheriff's deputies came up, members of Byte Club offered to do more than name his most popular album: they offered to perform a *rendition* of “[Lemon Pound Cake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xxK5yyecRo)” (also the album name—tricky!) for the judges. This won no sway with the 3-judge Cyberlaw Judiciary, and the offer was politely declined.\n\nThe teams racked their collective law-noggins about some of the details of recent legal battles over digital rights, and a round entitled “You Can Call Me AI.” After the IP round, which rewarded folks in the audience who could answer details about the server test, the trivia moved onto newsier questions, with questions about ICE apps, anti-ICE apps, recent defamation cases involving our sitting president, and the slogan of a mineral company that you might've heard on terrestrial radio anytime between the early aughts and this week.\n\nYou don't have to wear a morning coat to win Supreme Court arguments, but knowing [who did for 4 years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Clement) might have helped you win the IP round.\n\nBy the end of regulation play, the cyberlaw trivia competition was closer than we could have imagined. For the first time in Cyberlaw Trivia history, three teams finished *tied* for first place, sending the contest to two tiebreaker questions.\n\nThe final question noted that Google had received more than 287,000 government information requests in the first half of 2025, and asked teams to estimate how many were received by OpenAI during the same period. Every team guessed over, but it was the victors, Shady Docket, who guessed the lowest: 260. (The real answer is 146.)\n\nAs Shady Docket team member Erin Simon explained after the win: \"As much as we love EFF, what we love even more is crushing other trivia teams.\"\n\nIn second place were Nicky’s Angels. Rounding out the virtual podium in 3rd were the Betamaxxers, who jumped ahead early with a home-run run in the Free Speech round, getting every question correct.\n\nEach summer, EFF's Cyberlaw Trivia Night brings together the legal community that helps defend privacy, free expression, innovation, and digital rights. We want to especially thank this year Morrison Foerster, Fenwick, Wilson Sonsini, and Public Resource for supporting EFF's legal intern program.\n\nAre you an attorney interested in defending civil liberties in the digital world? Consider [joining](https://www.eff.org/about/opportunities/volunteer) EFF's Cooperating Attorneys list. This network helps EFF connect people to legal assistance when EFF is unable to provide direct assistance.\n\nFighting for first place at EFF’s Cyberlaw Trivia Night helps us fight for your rights online! Sponsor one of our annual events and join the movement for digital privacy, free speech, and innovation. Please visit [eff.org/thanks](http://eff.org/thanks) or contact [tierney@eff.org](mailto:tierney@eff.org) for more information.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cheers-to-the-winners-of-effs-18th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night", "canonical_source": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/cheers-winners-effs-17th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night", "published_at": "2026-06-08 19:12:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-11 18:48:17.260405+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["EFF", "Kurt Opsahl", "Cindy Cohn", "Nicole Ozer", "Mike Masnick", "Techdirt"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cheers-to-the-winners-of-effs-18th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cheers-to-the-winners-of-effs-18th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cheers-to-the-winners-of-effs-18th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cheers-to-the-winners-of-effs-18th-annual-cyberlaw-trivia-night.jsonld"}}