# Govern the harms already happening

[Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/eff-concrete-present-harms)

The authors urge California to address discrimination and surveillance now. They support loss-of-control reporting, want third-party investigations available to smaller developers, and warn that government shutdown powers could be abused.

Headline and sourced paraphrase by Escape Meridian. Inclusion is not endorsement.

## Original source

Electronic Frontier Foundation · Deeplinks statement

Original source date: Sep 18, 2026 (2026-09-18).

Date basis: article:published\_time 2026-09-18T16:25:44-07:00.

HTML fetched 2026-09-23. The executive order was not fetched.

The date this reading was added to Escape Meridian is not recorded.

- [EFF Statement on California Governor's Executive Order on AI](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai)
- [Present harms versus rogue superintelligence](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai)

## Limits

An advocacy statement. Its examples do not establish a harm rate, and the executive order itself was not analyzed here.


## Editorial test, not a stated concession

If the order's concrete reporting duties reduced documented harms without cutting off smaller developers, the warning about design would get narrower.


## supports

EFF identifies current harms, supports incident reporting, and separately asks that smaller developers have access to third-party investigations.

- [Supporting source](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai)

## qualifies

The statement welcomes the order while warning that government-controlled shutdown powers could be used against protected speech.

- [Supporting source](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai)

## Source and contributor context

Rindala Alajaji, Tori Noble, Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, and Hayley Tsukayama · Listed authors of the EFF statement

Writing an EFF Deeplinks statement on a state executive order. This record does not split the sentences among them.

An advocacy statement about California policy. It does not establish the prevalence of the harms it names.

Declared interests are limited to the records linked here; absence of a record does not establish absence of an interest.

- [EFF statement byline](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai)
- [The page is an EFF statement. EFF's organizational role is advocacy.](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai)

## Assumptions

Editorial reconstruction: naming a present harm is not the same as measuring how often it occurs.


## Source media

Media retrieval status: found.

- [Article illustration · Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://www.eff.org/files/banner_library/icon-2026-ai-robot-v2.png)

## Questions between perspectives

Editorial comparison; no direct exchange established: Who, besides a state executive, can challenge an automated decision already affecting someone?

- [Related reading](/readings/ai-now-public-power)

## Terms and references

Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement.


## Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation advocates for digital rights through litigation, technical work and public policy.

- [Explore this context](/entities/electronic-frontier-foundation)
- [Reference](https://www.eff.org/)

## Corrections and challenges

[Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/)

[JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/eff-concrete-present-harms.json)