THE PATENT OFFICE HAS GRANTED EFF'S REQUEST FOR REEXAMINATION of an illegitimate music patent, patent No. 5,886,274. Seer Systems was awarded this patent for a system and method for joining different musical data types together in a file, distributing them over the Internet, and then playing that file. In the reexamination request, EFF, along with the law firm Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder, show that descriptions of this technology were published a number of times before Seer Systems made its claim - including in a book written by Seer's own founder and the named inventor of the patent, Stanley Jungleib.
This reexamination request is part of EFF's Patent Busting Project, which combats the chilling effects bad patents have on public and consumer interests. Four more patents are under review and one patent has been revoked by the PTO due to the Patent Busting Project's efforts.
For the full press release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/01/07
For more on EFF's Patent Busting Project: http://w2.eff.org/patent/
In our 494th issue:
Happy Holidays from EFF! Thank you to all of you, our friends and supporters, for another good year in the fight for digital rights. Please enjoy our animated holiday greeting celebrating the season.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/12/twelve-days-eff
MUSIC LABELS ARE FINALLY TALKING ABOUT VOLUNTARY COLLECTIVE LICENSING (VCL) ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, an idea that EFF has been advocating since 2003. Under the proposed scheme, students would be able to pay a fee and would receive the authorization to download whatever they like, in whatever format they prefer, using whatever software they desire. The project would create a new, nonprofit collecting society to divide the fee amongst artists and other rightsholders.
For more about the emergence of VCL talks: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/12/labels-open-collective-licensing-campus
EFF IS SEEKING GREATER PROTECTIONS FOR VIDEO REMIXING AND CELL PHONE UNLOCKING, activities currently vulnerable to legal action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Every three years, the Copyright Office considers creating exemptions to the DMCA's ban on circumvention to mitigate the harms the law has caused to legitimate, non-infringing uses of copyrighted materials. EFF's filing asks for DMCA exemptions for amateur creators who use excerpts from DVDs in order to create new, noncommercial works and for iPhone jailbreakers looking to install applications not found in the "app store." EFF is also asking for a renewal of an exemption for those who unlock cell phones so that the handsets can be used with any telecommunications carrier. These requests seek to legalize free speech, fair use, and market competition currently outlawed under the DMCA.
For more information about the filing: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/12/remixers-unlockers-jailbreakers-oh-my
For EFF's press release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/12/02
EFF IS HELPING A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER IN NEW YORK CITY FIGHT BACK after her parody website was shut down by a baseless copyright infringement and cybersquatting lawsuit. Savitri Durkee is an activist concerned about the future of New York City's historic Union Square neighborhood. She created a website parodying the official website of the Union Square Partnership (USP), a group backing extensive redevelopment of the area. USP responded with a battery of heavy-handed legal claims. However, Durkee's parody is protected by the First Amendment and the fair use doctrine. EFF is fighting to make sure that USP's efforts at censoring a politically-engaged citizen's free speech will not stand.
For the EFF press release about the case: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/11/18
EFF ENCOURAGED A KENTUCKY COURT OF APPEALS TO OVERTURN A BASELESS COURT ORDER TO SEIZE 141 DOMAIN NAMES. The Commonwealth of Kentucky originally convinced a state court to "seize" 141 domain names because the names allegedly constituted "gambling devices" that are banned under Kentucky law -- even though the sites were owned and operated by individuals outside of the state, and in many cases even outside of the country.
The court's theory -- that a state court can order the seizure of Internet domain names regardless of where the site is registered -- is not only wrong but also dangerous. If the mere ability to access a website gives every court on the planet the authority to seize a domain name if a site's content is in some way inconsistent with local law, the laws of the world's most repressive regimes will effectively control cyberspace.
For the EFF press release about the amicus brief: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/11/13
EFF RECOGNIZES THAT OUR NEW LEADERS HAVE AN UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITY TO construct a rights-focused agenda that improves privacy, opens doors for innovation, and diminishes government secrecy. Check out our series of Deeplinks blog posts for more details.
For more about what our new leaders can do to support our privacy: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/privacy-agenda
For more about innovation: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/innovation-agenda
For more about transparency: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/transparency-agenda
EFF LAUNCHED OurVoteLive.org THIS WEEK TO MONITOR ELECTION PROBLEMS NATIONWIDE AND IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS. Published on behalf of the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, the website collects and analyzes voter calls to the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, gathering important data about voters' questions, registration and identification problems, difficulties with voting machines, and polling place accessibility issues.
In addition to raw incident data, OurVoteLive.org also features incident maps, nationwide trend information and an active election issues blog that will highlight important election incidents as they develop. As part of our defense of digital rights, EFF is committed to protecting the electoral process and producing tools that help educate and inform the public.
For the Our Vote Live website: http://www.ourvotelive.org/
For the EFF press release about OurVoteLive.org: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/10/26
EFF MARKED THE IGNOBLE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA) WITH THE RELEASE OF "UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: Ten Years Under the DMCA," a comprehensive report on the effects of anticircumvention provisions that ban circumventing digital rights management (DRM) and other technological protection measures. While anticircumvention provisions have failed to prevent "digital piracy," the "Unintended Consequences" have proliferated wildly, ultimately harming fair use, free speech, scientific research, and legitimate competition.
For more about the Unintended Consequences report: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/10/dmca-ten-years-unintended-consequences
For the Freedom to Tinker blog's DMCA retrospective: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/tags/dmca-week
For Public Knowledge's DMCA retrospective: http://www.publicknowledge.org/tag/dmca
AS WE APPROACH THE END OF 2008, PLEASE CONSIDER BECOMING A MEMBER OF EFF! For the past year, EFF has fought for your digital rights on countless fronts -- from our tireless commitment to stopping the warrantless wiretapping of Americans, to investigating Comcast's packet forgery, to defending free speech online, and more. Much of our funding comes from individuals. With a small donation, you can make a big difference in supporting the fight for your digital rights. http://secure.eff.org/friends2008
LAST WEEK, EFF CHALLENGED THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL FISA AMENDMENTS ACT (FAA) IN COURT, arguing that the FAA violates the federal government's separation of powers as established in the Constitution and robs innocent telecom customers of their rights without due process of law. The FAA allows for telecoms to receive legal immunity if the government makes particular statements to the court, but EFF's overwhelming evidence says that the government's domestic spying is operating outside the bounds of the law and cannot be swept under the rug. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/10/17
EFF CALLS ON FOUR TELEVISION NETWORKS TO STOP STIFLING POLITICAL DEBATE ONLINE with overreaching copyright claims. Both the McCain and Obama campaigns have had videos removed from YouTube as a result of copyright demands. In an open letter, EFF and other public interest groups challenge copyright owners to respect this new form of political speech being exercised by the campaigns and individual Americans -- free speech built on the fair use of news clips and other mainstream media. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/10/20
EFF HAS FILED TO BUST SEER SYSTEMS' BOGUS INTERNET MUSIC PATENT, which threatens to compromise existing media standards and hamper Internet music innovation. The illegitimate patent is for a system and method for joining different musical data types together in a file, distributing them over the Internet, then playing that file -- but descriptions of the technology were published a number of times before Seer Systems made its claim. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/10/08
LAST WEEK, WHISTLEBLOWERS PROVIDED SHOCKING DETAILS ABOUT NSA EMPLOYEES intercepting and sharing the phone calls of U.S. service members and non-governmental aid organizations like the International Red Cross. The damning accounts confirm that abuses of power within the intelligence community are unraveling the privacy of Americans, despite the hollow reassurances from surveillance apologists in Congress. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/10/new-nsa-whistleblowers
THIS WEEK, EFF PUBLISHED A REPORT COVERING FIVE YEARS OF THE RIAA'S CAMPAIGN TO SUE MUSIC FANS, calling attention to recent events that demonstrate the RIAA's "education" campaign is meeting stinging skepticism from courts, academics, and state watchdog groups. Even with more than 30,000 Americans targeted for legal action, peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading continues unabated, and alternative methods of sharing files proliferate. After five years of futile, unfair litigation, the RIAA needs to stop suing fans and make P2P work for users and music artists. For the full report: http://www.eff.org/wp/riaa-v-people-years-later
EFF WAS PLEASED TO BE ABLE TO REVIEW COMCAST'S NEW TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SCHEME, published last week in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). EFF hopes that transparent disclosure becomes a normal business practice for Internet service providers (ISPs) so that consumers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and regulators can make informed decisions about their Internet usage.
For more of analysis of Comcast's plans: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/comcast-unveils-its-new-traffic-management-archite
YET ANOTHER COURT CONFIRMED THAT "MAKING AVAILABLE" IS A BOGUS LEGAL THEORY. In the latest order in Capitol v. Thomas, the first peer-to-peer jury trial, U.S. District Court District of Minnesota Chief Judge Michael Davis agreed with EFF's view that simply making a music file available in a shared folder does not violate copyright law. In addition, Chief Judge Davis called on Congress to amend the Copyright Act's oppressive damages provisions.
For more legal analysis: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/capitol-v-thomas-judge-orders-new-trial-implores-c
EFF FILED A NEW LAWSUIT AGAINST THE NSA and other government agencies and officials today, redoubling our efforts in the fight against warrantless wiretapping. The suit -- called Jewel v. NSA -- is aimed at ending the NSA's dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable those responsible for creating, authorizing, and implementing the illegal program, including President Bush and Vice President Cheney. http://www.eff.org/cases/jewel
Meanwhile, EFF is continuing litigation in Hepting v. AT&T, the first case filed against a telecom for violating its customers' privacy by allowing warrantless surveillance. Several months ago, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which was intended to force the dismissal of Hepting v. AT&T and the other telecom lawsuits -- but EFF is working to challenge this law and hold the telecoms accountable for their illegal behavior. http://www.eff.org/issues/nsa-spying
ACTION ALERT: TELL THE FCC TO OPEN UP WHITE SPACES! Within the next few months, the FCC is expected to decide on the future of cutting-edge wireless Internet access technology. Ideally, the FCC will permit new devices to take advantage of unused "white space" spectrum to send and receive data wirelessly. Allowing open, unlicensed use could pave the way for faster, cheaper wireless broadband -- leading to more ISP choices for consumers and a source of continued pressure for ISPs to maintain net neutrality.
Despite the obvious benefits, the television industry and other broadcasting industries are fighting to keep the white spaces locked down. They claim that the new devices might interfere with the spectrum currently used for TV channels. The public must be heard also -- don't let the massive TV broadcasting lobby kill this opportunity.
Tell the FCC to support innovation and the Internet by opening up the unused parts of the TV spectrum: http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=407
For more background on the FCC and the white space spectrum: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/open-up-white-spaces
AS THE COUNTRY ENTERS THE MOST "WIRED" ELECTION SEASON TO DATE, EFF and the ACLU of Northern California strongly encourage online service providers (OSPs) and content owners to take special care to safeguard free speech. Copyright claims, trademark claims, and alleged terms of use violations can be misused to silence critics and stifle political dialogue online. Even temporary takedowns can harm open debate, as political speech depends on the spirit of the moment and the rapidly evolving arguments of the participants.
The Internet can continue to revitalize our political lives -- but only if service providers, content owners, and users all do their parts. No matter where you stand on the candidates or the issues, we should all agree on one principle: No downtime for online free speech! http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/08/election-approaches-do-your-part-protect-political
EFF SECURED A FREE SPEECH VICTORY FOR SECURITY RESEARCHERS, successfully urging a federal judge to lift an unconstitutional gag order that prevented three MIT students from making a presentation about transit card vulnerabilities at the DEFCON security conference. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Agency (MBTA) claimed in the suit that the research presentation would violate the federal computer crime law -- wrongly equating a presentation at a security conference with some sort of computer intrusion. However, the successful defeat of the gag order is only the first part of the lawsuit -- the MBTA is continuing to litigate, despite the students' offer to cooperate with the MBTA in explaining the security problems and working on solutions. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/08/19
TAKE NOTE WOULD-BE CENSORS AND DMCA ABUSERS -- IGNORE FAIR USE AT YOUR PERIL! In a definitive win for fair use and free speech, a federal judge ruled that content owners must consider fair use before sending takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The case arose when Universal Music Corporation sent a DMCA takedown notice for a short YouTube video of a toddler dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" emanating from a radio in the kitchen. Universal tried to argue that it had no obligation to consider whether the song in the video was a fair use before sending the notice -- but the judge ruled otherwise, confirming what the EFF No Downtime For Free Speech Campaign has been saying all along: a copyright owner must consider fair use before issuing a takedown notice that may result in the unnecessary censorship of free speech. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/08/judge-rules-content-owners-must-consider-fair-use-
EFF URGED A COURT TO PROTECT CONSUMERS from Echostar, the company behind the DISH satellite TV service. The company is outrageously demanding the personal contact information of consumers that bought "Coolsat" free-to-air satellite receivers. Echostar claims that the Coolsat can be modified to pirate DISH TV programming, but Echostar's demand seeks all purchasers regardless of whether they actually pirated DISH TV -- a gross violation of user privacy that would leave innocent purchasers vulnerable to bogus legal threats. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/08/18
EFF IS DEFENDING FREE SPEECH FOR COMPUTER RESEARCHERS in a legal battle between the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) and three MIT students. The undergraduate students were planning to present their findings on magnetic stripe and RFID vulnerabilities at the DEFCON computer security conference in Las Vegas when a Massachusetts judge stepped in and issued a gag order, preemptively halting the research presentation. EFF is urging the judge to lift the unconstitutional gag order -- the court cannot silence researchers, even if their speech exposes technological flaws. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/08/13
EFF HELPED WIN A VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH IN USER-GENERATED CONTENT when a judge dismissed a lawsuit between a literary agent and Wikipedia. The agent sued Wikipedia for edits identifying her as one of the "dumbest of the twenty worst" agents and that she had "no documented sales at all." But EFF argued that the operators of "interactive computer services" such as Wikipedia cannot be held liable for users' comments -- an important protection that allows Wikipedia, Craigslist, and other online communities to include user-generated content without living in constant fear of costly lawsuits. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/08/wikipedia-wins-dismissal-baseless-defamation-claim
EFF IS PROUD TO UNVEIL THE CODERS' RIGHTS PROJECT, building on EFF's longstanding efforts to protect researchers, engineers, and developers that face serious legal challenges to their cutting-edge work. The Coders' Rights Project is home to new FAQs on reverse engineering and vulnerability reporting, written to guide non-lawyers through the murky legal issues surrounding these common methods and practices in computer security research. http://www.eff.org/issues/coders
EFF is also staffing an "EFF Is IN" booth at this week's Black Hat technical security conference, providing legal information on reverse engineering, vulnerability reporting, and copyright law, as well as patent, trade secret, and free speech issues. Through education and legal work, EFF hopes to continue promoting innovation and safeguarding the rights of curious tinkerers and hackers on the digital frontier. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/08/05-0
ON THE EVE OF THE FCC'S ACTION AGAINST COMCAST, EFF RELEASED "SWITZERLAND," a software tool that empowers customers to test the integrity of their Internet communications. Part of EFF's "Test Your ISP" project, the open-source, command-line tool is designed to detect the modification or injection of packets of data, giving tech-savvy users the power to investigate any meddling with their Internet traffic. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/07/31
EFF AND FAIR USE PREVAIL OVER ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO USE COPYRIGHT TO SILENCE CRITICS, as a federal court dismissed a copyright claim by radio personality Michael Savage last Friday. Savage sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for criticizing him with short audio clips of his radio program -- a by-the-book exercise of free speech by making fair use of someone's content for criticism. In the opinion, the judge even discussed the value of using the audio clips, writing, "To comment on [Savage's] statements without reference or citation to them would not only render [CAIR's] criticism less reliable, but be unfair to [Savage]." http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/fair-use-prevails-over-michael-savages-copyright-c
THE WORLD LOST CELEBRATED JOURNALIST AND CONSUMER ADVOCATE ED FOSTER to a heart attack this weekend. For more than 20 years, Foster wrote as a "reader advocate" at InfoWorld, championing battles on behalf of the growing class of digital consumers and establishing a tradition of consumer advocacy that continues today. Ed will be sorely missed, both professionally and personally, by us at EFF along with all of the others who benefited from his wisdom. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/memoriam-ed-foster-1949-2008
IN ANOTHER DEFINITIVE WIN FOR FREE SPEECH ONLINE, a US Court of Appeals struck down the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA), an Internet censorship law that would have violated the First Amendment by restricting protected speech among adults. This represents the third time that the Third Circuit has held that COPA violates the First Amendment after nearly ten years of litigation over the law's constitutionality. We fully expect the Department of Justice to seek review by the Supreme Court.
The fight for free speech on the Internet is almost as old as EFF itself -- and you can count on EFF to continue fighting for your digital rights! http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/key-internet-censorship-law-struck-down-yet-again
THOUGH CONGRESS PASSED IMMUNITY FOR TELECOM LAWBREAKERS LAST WEEK, EFF recognizes that the year-long battle was made possible by record-breaking resistance from a fearless cadre of organizations and individuals. This resulted in far more opposition than immunity proponents were bargaining for when they initially sought to hide from accountability for cooperation with warrantless spying. In spite of the support of powerful corporations, and incessant political posturing by the Executive branch, wave after wave of public opposition delayed passage of immunity over and over and over again.
Though telecom immunity was eventually passed in the FISA Amendments Act, the fight is far from over. We have shown that there is a constituency -- a loud, organized, and active constituency -- that will passionately defend the Constitution, privacy rights, and the rule of law. Lawmakers risk their offices in ignoring this principled, tireless, permanent movement. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/little-victories-battle-against-telecom-immunity
Also, EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston guest blogged for The Hill, declaring that "our long war against warrantless wiretapping has only just begun." http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/repeal-immunity-movement-begins-today
VIACOM AND GOOGLE UPPED COMMITMENTS TO USERS' PRIVACY THIS WEEK in response to concerns aired by EFF after a court order that could have exposed the viewing habits of YouTube users. While the proposals are not perfect, they represent a sensitivity to users' privacy, even amidst controversial litigation. Viacom and Google have agreed that user IDs and IP addresses will be replaced with a "unique substituted value," and also that the parties will not try to reverse-engineer real identities from the unique identifiers. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/viacom-narrows-request-youtube-information
In addition, Viacom's General Counsel sent EFF a letter promising not to change the plan to protect users' privacy without informing EFF -- which leaves a chance for EFF to air privacy concerns in court if need be. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/viacom-letter-eff-re-google-youtube-data-privacy
IN A TRAGIC, SHAMEFUL AFFRONT TO THE US CONSTITUTION, THE SENATE APPROVED THE FISA AMENDMENTS ACT passed by the House last month. The bill radically expands the president's spying powers and grants immunity to phone companies that cooperated in the illegal warrantless wiretapping program. Many senators courageously opposed telecom immunity, and several amendments were offered in an attempt to remove or modify the immunity provision, but they failed.
Despite this serious setback, EFF vows that the fight for accountability over the president's illegal surveillance is far from over -- we will continue to fight in the courtroom and in Congress to defend the cause of liberty. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/07/09
ACTION ALERT: CELEBRATE THE 4TH BY TELLING YOUR SENATORS, "DON'T SHRED THE CONSTITUTION -- REJECT TELECOM IMMUNITY!" Now that the House has passed the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), the Senate is the last front remaining in the battle against granting immunity to telecom lawbreakers. When the Senate reconvenes early next week, every vote counts. This may be the last chance to urge your Senators to vote against the FISA Amendments Act and to support key amendments that would eliminate or weaken telecom immunity provisions. Contact your Senators today! http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=389
BREAKING NEWS: COURT HOLDS THAT FISA PREEMPTS THE STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE. Yesterday, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California issued an opinion in Al Haramain v. Bush, one of the cases challenging the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. The Court held that FISA preempts the state secrets privilege and that the President's authorities under Article II of the Constitution do not give him the power to overrule FISA. This decision dramatically undermines key arguments for telecom immunity on the eve of the Senate vote on the FISA bill, set for next week. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/new-decision-immunity-myths
IN THE ONGOING EFFORT TO PROTECT TRAVELERS' PRIVACY, EFF filed suit on behalf of a member of the European Parliament demanding the release of personal records gathered during her international travels. The US government has repeatedly claimed that any person can obtain her records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request -- but so far the agencies have failed to comply with the requests as required by federal law. The EFF lawsuit was filed mere days after the disclosure that the US and the European Union may soon finalize an agreement authorizing the exchange of large amounts of personal data. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/07/01
THE SENATE DELIVERED AN UNEXPECTED REPRIEVE ON TELECOM IMMUNITY THURSDAY NIGHT, deciding to delay the vote on the FISA Amendments Act until after the July 4th recess! Earlier in the week, the mainstream press was reporting that the immunity bill would see swift and uncontested approval. Senate leaders emphasized that passing an immunity bill this week was one of their highest priorities. And yet, in the end, the bill simply wasn't as uncontested and noncontroversial as the pundits and politicians thought it was. Overwhelming grassroots action and the efforts of Senators Dodd, Feingold, and Bingaman were critical in giving allies a broader window of opportunity to make an impact on telecom immunity legislation. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/senate-delays-vote-immunity
EFF ARGUED FOR A NEW TRIAL FOR JAMMIE THOMAS, responding to the judge's concern that he might have made a mistake when he followed the RIAA's "making available" reasoning in his jury instructions. EFF and a coalition of consumer and industry groups contend that the law simply does not allow lawsuits over "attempted copyright infringement." Thomas was hit with a massive $220,000 judgment in a very public file-sharing case in 2007. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/20-0
ALSO THIS WEEK, EFF PUBLISHED "BEST PRACTICES FOR ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDERS," an updated white paper featuring legal and technical suggestions for the best privacy practices for collecting, storing, and disclosing data that balance the needs of OSPs and their users' privacy and civil liberties. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/osp-best-practices
ACTION ALERT: THE SHAM TELECOM IMMUNITY "COMPROMISE" IS LURKING IN THE WINGS, awaiting the signal for showtime. Though some members of Congress are guilty of selling the bill's telecom immunity provision as a "compromise," there is still time to expose the telecom immunity proposal as a sham and to halt the bill before its too late. Already, some Congressional leaders have expressed concerns, and other influential members have expressed resistance to the scheme. Please join in and make your voice heard to all the members of Congress -- no false compromises for lawbreaking telecoms! http://www.eff.org/action/no-false-compromises
EFF VICTORY UPHOLDS "FIRST SALE" RIGHTS IN PROMO CD CASE! Last week, a federal judge affirmed an eBay seller's right to resell promo CDs bought from secondhand stores, striking down bogus copyright infringement allegations from Universal Music Group. Even though the promo CDs were stamped with licenses attempting to restrict resale, the eBay seller's behavior was protected by the "first sale" doctrine, which says that once the copyright owner sells or gives away a copy of a CD, DVD, or book, the recipient is entitled to resell that copy without seeking permission -- a principle that libraries, used bookstores, and rental businesses are built upon. This ruling is a resounding victory, not only for the first sale doctrine, but for the media-purchasing public at large. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/liberation-day-promo-cds-victory-umg-v-augusto
EFF ASKED A COURT TO CURTAIL SUSPICIONLESS BORDER SEARCHES LAST WEEK alongside the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), filing a key amicus brief as part of an ongoing effort to protect digital privacy at the border. In the amicus brief, EFF and ACTE asked the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear and reverse a decision that upheld blanket search and seizure power for border officials. Classic privacy analogies -- critical to expectation of privacy assessments -- are often incompatible with new technology and the way individuals and businesses make use of them. The courts need to recognize a standard that protects the privacy of Americans in the Information Age. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/12
URGENT ACTION ALERT: TELL CONGRESS "NO DEAL ON TELECOM IMMUNITY"! Recent intelligence indicates that high-ranking Republicans and Democrats are hoping that a "compromise" foreign intelligence surveillance bill can be rushed through both the House and the Senate before the July 4th holiday -- maybe even next week. The drafting process has been secretive, but one thing is clear: the "compromise" is almost certain to contain blanket immunity for phone companies that assisted in the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program and prevent any court from ruling on whether they broke the law. We've stopped telecom immunity in its tracks before, but the empty "compromise" rhetoric surrounding this bill makes it extremely dangerous. Please contact your Senators and Congressperson to remind them that we're watching, and that we won't accept any false compromises on immunity for lawbreaking telecoms! http://www.eff.org/action/no-false-compromises
IN ANOTHER BATTLE AGAINST ABUSIVE DMCA TAKEDOWNS, EFF has asked a federal court to protect the free speech rights of an animal welfare group after its video critiques of animal treatment at rodeos were removed from YouTube due to sham copyright claims. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) filed takedown demands for 13 videos from the group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), claiming that the videos infringed their copyrights -- even though the PRCA has no copyright claim in live rodeo events. The lawsuit is part of EFF's No Downtime for Free Speech Campaign, a response to increasing misuse of the DMCA to demand that material be removed from the Internet without providing any proof of infringement. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/09-0
EFF WELCOMES LEADING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ATTORNEY MICHAEL KWUN, who brings years of copyright, trademark, and patent litigation experience to EFF's legal team. A long-time geek, Kwun worked on early DMCA cases and, as Google's litigation managing counsel, defended Google in copyright cases about YouTube, Google Book Search, and Google Image Search; trademark cases about Google AdWords; and patent cases in connection with a wide variety of Google products. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/09
ACTION ALERT: ASK YOUR SENATOR ABOUT ACTA. Disturbingly little information has been made publicly available about a wide-ranging intellectual property enforcement treaty, known as ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). The trickle of information available points to a select group of industrialized countries negotiating an elevated standard of intellectual property enforcement, which stands to impact innovation, commerce, and technology users' privacy and civil liberties. With so much potentially at stake, the lack of transparency is cause for concern. Contact your Senator -- urge him or her to shed some sunlight on the contents of ACTA and to give citizens an opportunity for meaningful consultation. http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=383
EFF IS SAFEGUARDING FREE SPEECH in Cook County, Illinois, where town officials are seeking the identity of the author of two "spoof" MySpace profiles criticizing the town president. EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman explains: "The First Amendment requires courts to guard against attempts to unmask critics who have simply made statements litigants don't like, especially when such requests are made by elected officials." http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/05
IN FISA NEWS, House leaders have been discussing a terrible Republican proposal that would direct the secret FISA court to grant immunity to telecoms that participated in the NSA's illegal warrantless wiretapping program, so long as they received a piece of paper saying that the President authorized the surveillance. This proposal is even *worse
than the immunity scheme that the House has already rejected, so please act today to remind your Representative to stand firm and say no to retroactive immunity. http://www.stopthespying.org
EFF HAS FOUGHT FOR GREATER TRANSPARENCY for quite some time now, though the effort has been distributed throughout a number of disparate projects. To make our efforts more clear, we have created a "one-stop shop" for our work in promoting transparency and accountability for government and corporate entities. Check it out! http://www.eff.org/issues/transparency
"LINE NOISE," THE EFF PODCAST, is up and running again after a year in hibernation. Finally, a way to stay up-to- date about online civil liberties issues with your eyes closed! We've posted two episodes this week, one on Orphan Works and another on the Broadcast Flag. Check them out: http://www.eff.org/linenoise
USERS OF MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA discovered last week that their computers were refusing to record NBC's American Gladiator. When EFF and others raised the issue online, Microsoft responded, confirming that Vista's video recording and reuse abilities have been crippled according to NBC's demands. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/microsofts-masters-whose-rules-does-your-media-cen
You can hear more about it on the Line Noise podcast: http://www.eff.org/linenoise/conversation-about-broadcast-flag
GOP HOUSE LEADER JOHN BOEHNER has been fighting hard for his own right to protection from illegal wiretapping, even though he's simultaneously trying to deny ordinary Americans the same rights. Oh, and he's earned himself and his attorneys $1.1 million in the process. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/boehner-wiretapping
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE, along with its counsel EFF and the ACLU, successfully challenged a national security letter issued to the Archive's digital library. The NSL, which had unconstitutionally gagged the Archive for months, was withdrawn, and we are now able to bring this story to the public for the first time. This settlement -- and the extensive dialogue about the case -- are critical supplements to widespread reports of NSL abuse. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/05/06
ACTION ALERT: A NEW FISA BILL is being drafted behind closed doors. Although all may appear quiet in the House as it publicly focuses on other major legislation, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has been negotiating with Senator Rockefeller -- the architect of the terrible Senate bill that would fully immunize lawbreaking telecoms -- on a possible FISA "compromise".
Once a deal is struck, it could come to the House floor with little warning. So, please contact your Representatives now and remind them that we're watching -- and that they must not provide immunity for lawbreaking telecoms. http://stopthespying.org/
ACTION ALERT: AN OUTRAGEOUS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROPOSAL directs federal law enforcement agencies to collect DNA samples from anyone they arrest. This new proposal threatens to swell the government's DNA database with the sensitive genetic information of innocent people -- Americans involved in peaceful political protests, for example.
The public comment period will end on Monday, May 19, so now's time to speak out against this proposal that turns the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" on its head! http://www.eff.org/action/protectdna
DIGITAL PRIVACY is at risk after a court ruling that permits customs officials to search laptop computers at the border without any suspicion or cause. In response, we've written a citizen's guide to protecting privacy at the border: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/protecting-yourself-suspicionless-searches-while-t
We're asking members of Congress to take action to protect travelers' rights: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/05/01
Action Alert: Join in and tell legislators to protect digital privacy at the border and beyond: http://www.eff.org/action/bordersearch
IN YET ANOTHER egregious example of the risks of DRM, Microsoft is planning to betray its customers by locking listeners out of music bought from the MSN Music Store. We've written an open letter to Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, outlining five steps to make things right for MSN Music customers -- and regain the trust of customers of existing services that may yet suffer the same fate: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/04/28
AND FINALLY, you may have noticed a change in the EFFector layout. EFFector was becoming somewhat overgrown, so we took time to compose a new layout that was still informative and action-packed -- but less cluttered and more useful to the reader.