EFFector Vol. 20, No. 34 August 29, 2007 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424
In the 438th Issue of EFFector:
- Back to School for Reading, Writing, and RIAA Lawsuits?
- EFF Challenges Bogus Patent on Internet Subdomains
- EFF Documents Shed Light on FBI Electronic Surveillance Technology
- Spy Chief Admits Telcos Collaborated With NSA Spying
- Check Out the 7th Annual "Future of Music Policy Summit" in Washington, DC!
- miniLinks (12): The Freedom to Read Online in Jeopardy
- Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts:
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Make a donation and become an EFF member today!
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effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired
change.
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* Back to School for Reading, Writing, and RIAA Lawsuits?
EFF Releases Comprehensive Report on Recording Industry's
Litigation Campaign
San Francisco - As college students across the country head
back to class this fall, they need to worry about more than
keeping up on their schoolwork. The Recording Industry of
America (RIAA) continues to target college campuses for
hundreds of new lawsuits each month. Meanwhile, under
pressure from the recording industry, universities are
instituting draconian punishments for students suspected of
sharing music files. At the same time, the RIAA continues
to sue file sharers off campus, with a total tally now
exceeding 20,000.
In a report released this week, "RIAA v. The People: Four
Years Later," the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
provides the only comprehensive look at the four-year
litigation campaign waged by the RIAA against music fans.
The report traces the RIAA campaign from its beginnings in
2003 against a handful of students at Princeton, Rensselaer
Polytechnic, and Michigan Tech to the current spate of
"pre-litigation settlement" letters being sent to
universities nationwide.
"Despite the RIAA's legal campaign, file sharing is more
popular than ever," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von
Lohmann. "History will treat this as a shameful chapter in
the history of the music industry, when record companies
singled out random music fans for disproportionate
penalties. Artists must be compensated, but these lawsuits
aren't putting money into any creator's pocket."
The crackdown on Internet file sharing has already driven
music fans to technologies that are harder to monitor --
for example, burning and exchanging CDs among friends and
sharing on members-only "darknets." EFF calls on
universities to help artists get paid for their creative
work while protecting their students from costly legal
problems. Universities should insist on a blanket license
for their students, collecting a reasonable regular payment
-- for example, $5 a month -- in exchange for the right to
keep sharing music with their classmates.
"This is about money, not morality," said von Lohmann.
"With a blanket licensing solution, the RIAA can call off
the lawyers and the lobbyists, and universities can get
back to education instead of copyright enforcement."
For the full report "RIAA v. The People: Four Years
Later":
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/riaa-v-thepeople.php
For more on the litigation campaign:
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/?f=riaa-v-thepeople.html
Read the FAQ for students faced with "pre-litigation
letters":
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/RIAA_v_ThePeople/college_faq.php
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_08.php#005414
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* EFF Challenges Bogus Patent on Internet Subdomains
Illegitimate Patent Used to Threaten Website Hosting
Companies
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is
challenging a bogus patent on Internet subdomains that has
been used to threaten small businesses and innovators.
Ideaflood, a self-proclaimed "intellectual property holding
company," used this illegitimate patent to demand payment
from website hosting companies that offer virtual,
personalized subdomains -- like "action.eff.org" for the
parent domain "eff.org." But in a reexamination request
filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(PTO) last Wednesday, EFF and Rick Mc Leod of Klarquist
Sparkman, LLP, show that the method Ideaflood claims to
have invented was well known before the patent was issued.
In fact, website developers were having public discussions
about how to create these virtual subdomains on an Apache
developer mailing list for more than a year before
Ideaflood made its patent claim.
"This illustrates how an open-source project can establish
a public record of technology development and thwart
invalid patents," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Jason
Schultz. "The public discussions on the Apache and other
mailing lists have shown that Ideaflood's patent claims
were without merit and that the patent should be revoked
before it causes any more damage to innovation on the
Internet."
The companies that Ideaflood threatened include
Freehomepage.com, T35 Hosting, and LiveJournal, a social
networking site where each of its three million users have
their own subdomain. The patent has since been reassigned
to a company called Hoshiko, LLC.
"Our patent system is intended to encourage innovation, not
damage it by encroaching on the public domain," said Rick
Mc Leod, who drafted EFF's petition. "Unfortunately, in
recent years the PTO has been deluged with applications,
making it difficult to determine whether many patents
should be issued or rejected. When a 'bad' patent targets
something as ephemeral as the Internet, it can be even more
difficult to get that patent invalidated. Fortunately, a
diligent, prior art searcher sent us a key reference."
The challenge to the Ideaflood patent is part of EFF's
Patent Busting Project, which combats the chilling effects
that bad patents have on public and consumer interests. So
far, the project has killed one bogus patent and requested
the reexamination of two others.
For the full reexamination request:
http://www.eff.org/patent/wanted/ideaflood/reexam/ReqReexam_746.pdf
For more on EFF's Patent Busting Project:
http://www.eff.org/patent
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_08.php#005412
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* EFF Documents Shed Light on FBI Electronic Surveillance
Technology
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has obtained
documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
that reveal the inner workings of the FBI's Digital
Collection System Network (DCSNet), a software suite that
allows the Bureau to conduct surveillance on a wide variety
of digital devices.
As Ryan Singel writes in his extensive report for Wired
News:
"Many of the details of the system and its full
capabilities were redacted from the documents acquired by
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but they show that
DCSNet includes at least three collection components, each
running on Windows-based computers.
"The $10 million DCS-3000 client, also known as Red Hook,
handles pen-registers and trap-and-traces, a type of
surveillance that collects signaling information --
primarily the numbers dialed from a telephone -- but no
communications content. (Pen registers record outgoing
calls; trap-and-traces record incoming calls.)
"DCS-6000, known as Digital Storm, captures and collects
the content of phone calls and text messages for full
wiretap orders.
"A third, classified system, called DCS-5000, is used for
wiretaps targeting spies or terrorists."
EFF obtained these documents through a FOIA lawsuit filed
against the FBI last year. A federal judge has ordered the
Bureau to turn over new documents every month, so check
back often the learn more about DCSNet.
See the documents on EFF's FOIA litigation:
http://www.eff.org/flag/07656JDB/
For more on EFF's FLAG Project:
http://www.eff.org/flag/
Read Ryan Singel's Wired Threat Level report, "FBI's
Wiretap Network Revealed And Request for Reader Document
Analysis":
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/fbis-wiretap-ne.html
For the complete post and related links:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005415.php
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* Spy Chief Admits Telcos Collaborated With NSA Spying
In a lengthy and revealing interview, the Director of
National Intelligence Mike McConnell admitted that
telecommunications companies collaborated with the NSA's
massive domestic spying.
Of course, it's long been an open secret that the
government is engaging in dragnet surveillance of millions
of ordinary Americans and has backdoor access to
telecommunications providers' networks and records
databases. The overwhelming evidence includes statements
from fully briefed members of Congress, whistleblower
evidence from a former AT&T employee, and numerous
newspaper reports. Alongside our lawsuit against AT&T,
numerous other lawsuits have been brought against various
carriers, including Verizon and MCI.
Yet the government has tried to sweep away these
allegations as mere speculation and has desperately tried
to stop lawsuits against the carriers by claiming that
"whether any particular company (or type of company) is
assisting the Government" is a "state secret."
Now McConnell has conceded the truth: "[U]nder the
president's program, the terrorist surveillance program,
the private sector had assisted us. Because if you're going
to get access you've got to have a partner and they were
being sued."
As EFF has argued in our case against AT&T, the courts are
well equipped to protect state secrets while determining
whether the spying is illegal, and the evidence already on
the record is sufficient to move forward with the case, but
McConnell's statement should absolutely settle the
question.
Read the transcripts from McConnell interview here:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_6685679
For more on EFF's case against AT&T:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att
See EFF's page on the NSA's Warrantless Domestic
Surveillance:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/NSA/
For EFF Activist Derek Slater's entire analysis and related
links:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005413.php
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* Check Out the 7th Annual "Future of Music Policy Summit"
in Washington, DC!
The Future of Music Coalition (FMC) is a national nonprofit
that works on the issues at the intersection of music, law,
technology and policy. For the past six years, FMC has
organized an annual Policy Summit that brings an
unprecedented mix of 500 musicians, artists, attorneys and
policymakers together for discussions about issues that are
emerging as the promotion and distribution of music moves
to a global, digital platform.
This year, FMC is back in Washington, DC, to host the 7th
annual "Future of Music Policy Summit" from September 17-
18, 2007. Over the course of two days, panels will cover
such topics as:
* Copyright and licensing issues
* Network neutrality and broadband policy
* FCC's "rules of engagement" on payola
* Sample clearance licensing process
* The explosion of niche market genres
* Wireless/music portability
* The challenges of cultural preservation
* Technologies that are bringing artists and fans closer
together
...and more.
The Summit will also include a special conversation with
Marybeth Peters, Register, US Copyright Office, and
keynotes by leading members of Congress.
For general event information:
http://www.futureofmusic.org/events/summit07/
To see all confirmed panelists:
http://www.futureofmusic.org/events/summit07/panelists.cfm
To see the summit schedule:
http://www.futureofmusic.org/events/summit07/matrix.cfm
Online registration is open; the regular 2-day registration
rate is $199 per person. Discounted rates are also
available for students:
https://www.futureofmusic.org/events/summit07/regform.cfm
Scholarships are available for working musicians. There are
only a few left, so click here to apply!
http://www.futureofmusic.org/events/summit07/scholarshipinfo.cfm
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* miniLinks
The week's noteworthy news, compressed.
~ The Freedom to Read Online in Jeopardy
EFF joins in amicus appeal of United States v. Forrester ruling.
http://blog.aclu.org/index.php?/archives/264-The-Freedom-to-Read-Online.html
~ iPhone Freed From AT&T
Your hardware delivered - back into your control.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070824-iphone-set-free-from-att-with-first-full-software-unlock.html
~Is Your Boss Spying on You?
Reader's Digest introduces the Big Brother workplace.
http://www.rd.com/content/is-your-boss-spying-on-you/
~ California Judge Decides Perl's "Artistic License" Is a Contract
Free software advocates (in this case) would prefer copyright law.
http://lwn.net/Articles/246695/
~ Geeks <3 Human Rights
Tim Lee ponder's the techie love of civil liberties.
http://www.techliberation.com/archives/042710.php
~ WordPress Hosted Sites Blocked in Turkey
A single defamation site brings down thousands of blogs.
http://www.citmedialaw.org/wordpress-blocked-turkey
~ Walmart Offers DRM-free Music Downloads
Support for restricting your fair use rights continues to crumble.
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2007/08/21/watch-your-back-apple.aspx
~ The Law According to Godwin
EFF's first lawyer, and now Wikimedia general counsel, is profiled.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/technology/20link.html
~ Microsoft Declares Genuine Customers Pirates
Redmond's remote validation of Windows users fails.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136451-c,companynews/article.html
~ Is Comcast Breaking BitTorrent?
The company denies it, but customers are seeing strange reset packets kill
their seeds.
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-wrongfully-denies-interfering-with-bittorrent/
~ Opening up the Law
Tim Wu and Carl Malamad work to open up case law and the Federal Register.
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/23/opening-up-the-ameri.html
~ RMS Speaks at Stanford
The creator of the General Public License speaks on GPL3 on September 10th.
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5512
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* Administrivia
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julie@eff.org
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