EFF and the ACLU of Northern California filed suit in federal court on January 14, 2009 to protect the privacy and free speech rights of two San Francisco Bay Area community organizations after the groups' computers were seized and the data copied by federal and local law enforcement. Both organizations, Long Haul and the East Bay Prisoner Support Group (EBPS), are publishers of information for social and political activists.

In March 2012, the parties settled the lawsuit and the law enforcement agencies agreed to delete improperly seized computer data and pay $100,000 in damages and attorney's fees. The University of California, Berkeley Police Department (UCBPD) acknowledged that Long Haul qualified for protection under the Privacy Protection Act (PPA), a federal law designed to protect journalists and publishers from police searches. UCBPD also agreed to implement new PPA training for its officers.