EFFector Vol. 15, No. 11, April 12, 2002 editors@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
EFFector Vol. 15, No. 11, April 12, 2002 editors@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org/
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San Francisco - The ceremony for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's 11th Annual Pioneer Awards will take place at the Cathedral Hill Hotel on April 17, 2002, in conjunction with the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in San Francisco.
[Media professionals are invited to attend the ceremony at 8:00pm on April 17, 2002, at the Japanese Pavilion at the Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Ave., at Geary Boulevard in San Francisco. Please contact Katina Bishop at katina@eff.org if you would like to attend.]
The online civil liberties group chose to honor Dan Gillmor for his commitment to accurate and cutting edge reporting on cybertech issues; Beth Givens for her dedicated work in fighting for consumers' privacy rights and in raising public awareness on privacy issues; and the DeCSS Writers, to be accepted by Jon Johansen, for their pioneering work on the pivotal program that enabled the development of a DVD player that runs on the Linux operating system.
Since 1991, the EFF Pioneer Awards have recognized individuals who have made significant and influential contributions to the development of computer-mediated communications or to the empowerment of individuals in using computers and the Internet.
Dan Gillmor is a technology columnist for the San Jose
Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. His column
runs in many U.S. newspapers, and he appears regularly on
radio and television, including National Public Radio's
Morning Edition and CNN. He has been listed by industry
publications as among the most influential journalists in
his field. Gillmor is a reporter on the bleeding edge of
cyber-technology issues. He has been known to spot a story
and begin to cover it weeks before other reporters see its
importance. He often educates his colleagues as well as the
public and writes clearly about the intricacies of the
complex and often esoteric conflicts facing cyberspace
today. His website is:
Beth Givens is founder and director of the Privacy Rights
Clearinghouse, a nonprofit advocacy, research, and consumer
education program located in San Diego, California.
Established in 1992, The Clearinghouse maintains a
complaint/information hotline on informational privacy
issues - the only one of its kind in the country - and
publishes a series of guides on a variety of informational
privacy issues. Givens has been fighting for consumers'
privacy rights long before the mainstream world recognized a
problem. She frequently speaks and conducts workshops on the
issue of privacy and has often testified on privacy-related
public policy concerns. In addition, Givens has been a
member of several task forces studying the privacy impacts
of technology on society. She is the author of The Privacy
Rights Handbook: How to Take Control of Your Personal
Information (Avon Books, 1997). She is co-author of Privacy
Piracy: A Guide to Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft.
Preferring to focus on her work rather than her reputation,
Givens keeps a low profile and just gets things done, day
after day, year after year. She is a committed and
pioneering activist. Her website is:
In 1999, while on vacation in France, Norwegian teenager Jon Johansen bought a DVD-ROM and DVD movies. Frustrated by having to run Windows in order to watch his movies when he brought them back to his own country, he joined forces with two other programmers that he met online and together they created the proof-of-concept DeCSS application. The source code for DeCSS made it possible to play encrypted DVD movies on a Linux machine. The program spread quickly among Linux developers who were eager to create a DVD player for the Linux operating system.
Jon received a national student merit award in Norway for his work on DeCSS. He was also included as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the DVD CCA in California. The MPAA recently filed a complaint leading to charges in Norway, and Jon was indicted on criminal hacker charges. The trial is scheduled to take place in the beginning of June 2002. EFF recognizes the entire DeCSS team for their pioneering work on the program. As the rest of the DeCSS writers have decided to remain anonymous after witnessing the action against Jon, he has been chosen to accept the award as the public face of the work. He has willingly put himself at great risk to defend the rights of all of us, and EFF applauds his courage.
"We, as a community of people respecting rights in technology, do not take enough opportunity to honor our own," stated Shari Steele, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Dan, Beth and Jon are shining examples of the spirit and energy that make the Internet great. We're proud to present them with this year's Pioneer Awards."
The judges for this year's EFF Pioneer Awards were: Herb Brody (Deputy Editor, Technology Review), Moira Gunn (Host, "Tech Nation", National Public Radio), Donna L. Hoffman (Professor of Management and Co-Director, eLab, Vanderbilt University), Peter G. Neumann (Principal Scientist, SRI Intl.; Moderator, ACM Risks Forum), Drazen Pantic (Media & Tech. Director, NYU Center for War, Peace & the News Media), Barbara Simons (past President, Association for Computing Machinery, & U.C. Berkeley Distinguished Alumnus), Karen G. Schneider (Coordinator of Librarians' Index to the Internet).
The 11th Annual EFF Pioneer Awards ceremony will be held on the evening of April 17th, 2002, at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in the Japanese Pavilion. The ceremony and reception are made possible by contributions from the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.
For more information on the EFF Pioneer Awards, see:
Katina Bishop, EFF Offline Activist / Education Dir.
katina@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x101
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Never has the public's right to innovation and fair use been more imperiled. The copyright industry is lobbying hard for sweeping laws that would grant entertainment companies a veto over new technologies and new features. Technology companies are seemingly so intimidated by the studios' and labels' lobbying prowess that they are keeping mum, sitting on their hands as Congress steamrolls over their customers' rights.
But Gateway Computers refuses to be cowed. In a new TV advertising campaign, Gateway bravely asserts their customers' rights to format-, time- and space-shift their music collections.
The commercial features Gateway CEO Ted Waitt piloting a truck with Gateway's cow mascot on the passenger side, singing along to Elwood's popular hit, "Sundown."
Gateway bucks the label bullies and tells the world that ripping the tracks
from the CDs you've bought, burning mixed CDs, and taking your music with
you on a portable MP3 player are NOT stealing, no matter what the record
companies want you to believe. Gateway's companion website at
Let's show Gateway how much we appreciate its valiant campaign to preserve our rights. Write to Ted Waitt, Gateway's CEO, and thank him for his company's willingness to take a stand. If Gateway gets enough positive reaction for its campaign, it will open the gate (heh) for other technology companies to stand up for our rights.
Here's the template that you can use as to send your thank-you notes to Gateway. Feel free to crib from it, or to improvise. Send to:
Ted Waitt, CEO
Gateway, Inc.
14303 Gateway Pl.
Poway, CA
92064
c/o corporate.communications@gateway.com
Fax: +1 858-848-3402
Dear Mr. Waitt:
I am writing to thank your company for standing up to the record labels' assault on my right to use the music I've bought however I see fit. We can't win this fight without brave, public stands like the one that Gateway is taking with its Consumer Advocacy Campaign.
I'm grateful for your company's support of my right to transfer my music to other media, to make mixed discs, and to play it on any device that I own. The music industry's anti-American, anti-consumer, anti-technology assault must be opposed at every turn.
Stand your ground! Work with organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and DigitalConsumer.org to stop technology mandates that harm American businesses and the American public. Help us stand up against terrible laws like the CBDTPA and sinister back-room "consensus standards" like the one that the Broadcast Protection Working Group is cooking up in Los Angeles.
Don't stop inventing fantastic products that enrich my life, keep the American economy strong and even offer new market opportunities for the entertainment industry (even if Hollywood's tunnel-vision blinds it to those opportunities!)
Sincerely,
[Your name;
include full address for maximum effectiveness]
Please remember to be polite but firm. Ranting, swearing, or lack of clear focus and resolve will not make a good impression. Try to make it brief (1 page or less written, or a few sentences spoken) and clear, without getting into nitpicky details. Re-casting the letter in your own words will be more effective than copy-pasting our sample.
This alert is for everyone everywhere, as Gateway has many international customers, and the issues raised by DRM are hardly limited to the U.S., so keep an eye out in your own jurisdiction for related matters you can act on. Many jurisdictions around the world are considering legislation similar to the U.S. DMCA and CBDTPA.
Now, two new initiatives threaten even more restrictive control over technology. Senator Hollings' proposed Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA) will require every new digital technology to go through a punishing 12-month review process where Hollywood's representatives will dictate, at lawyerpoint, what features must and must NOT be included.
But Hollywood has prepared a back-up plan in the event that consumer outrage stops the CBDTPA. The Motion Picture Association of American's Copy Protection Technology Working Group has convened a special committee in Los Angeles called the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group (BPDG). The BPDG is working with a committee of technologists, cable- and satellite-operators and broadcasters to establish a "standard" for all devices that can receive or record digital television signals. (The FCC will require all over-the-air TV broadcasts to be digital by the year 2006.)
Needless to say, this "standard" will restrict your freedom to record, share, archive and re-use digital television programming, but how it will accomplish this is even more sinister. The BPDG's standard is intended to be enacted into law. All digital television technologies -- including those that integrate with your personal computer -- will be subjected to the standard. It will be illegal to manufacture or distribute nonstandard technology. New technologies will only come to market if Hollywood's executives -- the people who tried to ban the VCR in 1984 -- approve them.
As the BPDG's "standard" encroaches on your PC, it will have much the same effect as the CBDTPA -- creating a technology world where everything is either mandatory or forbidden.
The DMCA's anti-circumvention provision, the CBDTPA and the BPDG "standard" are all examples of technology "mandates," laws that force technology companies to manufacture certain devices and forbid them from manufacturing other devices. These mandates punish consumers for crimes they haven't committed -- they're the high-tech equivalent of requiring every crow-bar to be made of foam-rubber on the off chance that someone, somewhere, some day may use a crow-bar to commit a burglary.
That's not how it works in America. In our free economy, technologists produce the devices they think their customers will buy. If customers buy those products, they succeed; if customers don't buy them, they fail. It is not the job of the American government to choose those technologies that will succeed and pass laws forbidding competing technologies.
But technology mandates will choose the winners, and what's more, the winners they choose will be the technologies that are most damaging to consumer rights. The entertainment industry wants to extend the boundaries of copyright in ways that will limit your ability to record, share, duplicate, time-, space- and format-shift, give away, discard, donate and loan your books, music and movies.
It gets worse. These mandates inevitably require that approved technologies be wrapped in "anti-tampering" measures that preclude the production of open source tools that act on digital media. The entertainment industry is asking Congress declare a moratorium on open source technologies that can touch digital media.
If this sounds like bad news for America's technology business, that's because it will be. Imagine the export market for American technology in the face of these mandates. What foreign customer would buy an American device filled with expensive "features" that no one wants or needs -- especially when foreign competitors are free to manufacture and sell devices that are free from these mandates? America's technology products will be like the Yugo of yesteryear -- government-mandated junk whose only customers are those poor souls who have no other choice. The $600 billion American technology sector will be sacrificed on Hollywood's copyright altar.
America's technology businesses are running scared. With a few notable exceptions -- Apple's "Rip-Mix-Burn" campaign, Intel VP Leslie Vadasz's brave remarks to Senator Hollings' copyright hearings, and Gateway's latest campaign -- the technology sector in America has hardly uttered a peep in protest.
It is crucial that we support those few companies that stand up for consumer rights. Gateway's extraordinary bravery is not to be underestimated here. Be sure to let the companies whose technologies you purchase and use that you vote with your wallet and do not wish to patronize those companies that sell your freedom down the Potomac in Congress.
Gateway's Consumer Advocacy Campaign:
Full text of CBDTPA (bill S. 2048):
For more information about CBDTPA (and its older "parent", SSSCA), see:
For more information on the future of digital television, see:
EFF's "Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) About Fair Use":
Declan McCullagh Wired News article on CBDTPA, "What Hollings' Bill Would
Do":
EFF alert in support of Intel's Leslie Vadasz's statements on technology
mandates:
EFF Weblog covering the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group:
Blizzard sues bnetd under the DMCA:
Edward Felten and seven other researchers versus the RIAA -- a professor
defends his right to research:
Free Jon Johansen, persecuted co-author of the DeCSS DVD utility:
An appreciation of the Yugo automobile:
This drive to reward Gateway for its brave stand on consumer rights is part of a larger campaign to highlight intellectual property industry assaults against the public's fair use rights, and what you can do about it.
Check the EFF Campaign for Audivisual Free Expression (CAFE)
website regularly for additional alerts and news:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the
most linked-to websites in the world:
http://www.eff.org
Will Doherty, EFF Online Activist / Media Relations
wild@eff.org
+1 415 436 9333 x111
Katina Bishop, EFF Offline Activist / Education Dir.
katina@eff.org
+1 415 436 9333 x101
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St. Louis - Game maker Blizzard Entertainment, along with its parent company Vivendi Universal Games, late Friday sued a small Internet Service Provider and its owner for distributing free software that emulates Blizzard's free Battle.net gaming service.
The lawsuit claims that the creation and offering of the "bnetd" free software emulator for Blizzard games violates copyright and trademark laws.
"Blizzard contacted our lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) saying they would consider dropping the case if we help find ways to prevent pirates from using the bnetd server software," noted Tim Jung, Internet Gateway ISP owner of the and defendant in the case. "While we bnetd developers spent many hours last week trying to help Blizzard, they apparently spent many hours preparing to sue me and my small business."
"The complaint is a classic big corporate attempt to scare the little guy," noted EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann who represents Jung and Internet Gateway pro bono. "This software was developed by hobbyists using longstanding, legal reverse engineering techniques -- the same ones used by major hardware and software manufacturers. If bnetd is vulnerable to copyright challenge, then most reverse engineering projects designed to create interoperable products, from games to printers to network cards, are also vulnerable."
"The bnetd software has many uses that have nothing to do with piracy, and everything to do with improving the gaming experience for legitimate purchasers of Blizzard games," added EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Suing your customers for making your product more fun to play is a poor use of corporate resources, as well as unfounded by law."
The bnetd software allows Blizzard game purchasers online or on a local area network to chat, find competition, and start multiplayer games. A group of volunteers, including Jung, created the bnetd project for Blizzard games because Blizzard's Battle.net service was undependable and had limited functionality.
Blizzard sent a cease-and-desist letter to Internet Gateway in late February, claiming violations of the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) along with copyright violations. Internet Gateway has removed the bnetd software temporarily in response to the letter. The current complaint does not claim DMCA violations, but instead adds trademark claims never mentioned before.
This case, entitled Davidson & Associates d.b.a. Blizzard Games and Vivendi Universal Games v. Internet Gateway and Tim Jung, was filed in Federal District Court in St. Louis, Missouri.
Blizzard's complaint against Jung and Internet Gateway:
Earlier correspondence and other case material:
Bnetd website:
http://www.bnetd.org/
Blizzard's explanation:
Earlier media coverage and websites related to the case:
http://www.boycottblizzard.org/
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the
most linked-to websites in the world:
http://www.eff.org/
Founded in 1995, Missouri-based Internet Gateway provides
Internet and networking solutions, as well as consulting
services, to businesses and end users across the country.
Internet Gateway provides Internet access, consulting and
support to other ISPs as well as to its own customers. In
addition to nationwide consulting and support, Internet
Gateway currently provides Internet access to five cities
including the St. Louis metro area, Cape Girardeau,
Sikeston, Perryville and the St. Charles/St. Peters metro
area. The company website can be found at
http://www.igateway.net/
The bnetd project is a collaboration focusing on
development of a server that attempts to emulate Blizzard's
Battle.net gaming server. The bnetd project is run by
volunteers and is neither supported by nor affiliated with
Blizzard Entertainment. The project website is at
http://www.bnetd.org/
Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director
cindy@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x108
Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
fred@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x123
Tim Jung, President, Internet Gateway Inc.
tjung@igateway.net
+1 636 936-8655 x100
- end -
EFF is pleased to report that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has dropped its request to the U.S. Copyright Office that webcasters be required to submit detailed records of user information.
Last week, EFF released a joint comment to the Copyright Office, along with The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the California community broadcaster KPFA, and the Fresno Free College Foundation, operator of KFCF 88.5, opposing the proposed recordkeeping requirements.
In that comment, EFF and friends asked the Copyright Office to drop all requirements that webcasters gather and report to copyright owners information about individual listeners, including their country of origin, local time zone, and a unique user identifier.
The RIAA's decision to drop the reporting requirements is exciting news. Unfortunately, however, the RIAA's orginal request is still part of the regulation being proposed by the Copyright Office. It's time to make your voice heard again.
The Copyright Office continues to take public comments on this issue until
April 26. For more information on filing comments, see:
"Groups Fear Webcast Listeners Will Lose Privacy," by Brenda Sandburg of The Recorder:
EFF Media Release on joint comments we sent to the U.S.Copyright Office:
EFF, EPIC, KPFA, and Fresno Free College Foundation comments
to U.S. Copyright Office:
U.S. Copyright Office proposed recordkeeping regulations and
comments of interested parties:
Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
fred@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x123
- end -
Come to the 12th Annual Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP-2002) on April 16-19 in San Francisco, and see EFF staff members discussing current civil liberties issues on a variety of panels.
CFP has played a major role in the public debate on the future of privacy and freedom in the online world for over a decade. This year, CFP will explore the most important issues facing the Internet and freedom, including: consumer privacy, broadband issues, wireless privacy and security, digital divide, critical infrastructure issues, public records, filtering, ICANN, disabilities access and much more.
Tuesday, April 16
Wednesday, April 17
Thursday, April 18
Friday, April 19
CFP 2002 will be held at the Cathedral Hill hotel in San Francisco, located at 1101 Van Ness Ave. at Geary Blvd.
For more information on CFP 2002, see:
Full program:
Pioneer Awards:
Cathedral Hill hotel:
- end -
Thanks very much to all those who entered the EFF's "Consensus at Lawyerpoint" Alphabet Soup Contest in the last issue of the EFFector.
And now for the winners:
For more information on the ongoing attack on your fair use rights by Congress and industry alike, keep reading the EFFector and the EFF website at http://www.eff.org/
- end -
You are invited to join an intimate group of fifteen for a lively evening of fine food, history and conversation with the original EFF co-founders, Mitch Kapor and John Perry Barlow. This exchange of ideas will take place on Tuesday, April 16th at 7:30 p.m. and will benefit EFF's work to protect rights in the digital age.
Mitch and Barlow founded EFF in July of 1990 to protect civil liberties
where law and technology collide. (See Barlow's compelling account from that time
at
The dinner will take place at the classic Waterfront restaurant in the North Room. While looking out over the San Francisco Bay, you will have the chance to take part in an in-depth conversation about EFF's fascinating role in the universe. You will also be contributing to an important cause, as the money raised from this unusual evening will go to furthering our work.
The evening includes the full cost of your dinner and drinks, the opportunity to talk with Mitch and Barlow, a vintage EFF t-shirt, and other surprises. The cost is $500. As there are only 15 available seats, space will fill up quickly.
Please contact Katina Bishop, katina@eff.org, for more information and to RSVP at +1 415-436-9333 x101.
- end -
EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco CA 94110-1914 USA
+1 415 436 9333 (voice)
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
http://www.eff.org/
Editors:
Katina Bishop, EFF Education & Offline Activism Director
Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technical Director/Webmaster
editors@eff.org
To Join EFF online, or make an additional donation, go to:
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