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In our 559th issue:

EFF Calls for Immediate Action to Defend Tunisian Activists Against Government Cyberattacks

The Tunisian government turned up the heat on bloggers, activists, and dissidents by launching a JavaScript injection attack that siphoned off the usernames and passwords of Tunisians logging in to Google, Yahoo, and Facebook. The Tunisian government has used these stolen credentials to log in to Tunisians' accounts, presumably downloading their messages, emails, and social graphs for further analysis, and then deleting the accounts entirely. By late last week, the Tunisian government had started arresting and detaining bloggers. Websites should take concrete steps as quickly as possible to protect their Tunisian users.

EFF Wins Landmark Ruling Freeing Promo CDs for Resale

An appeals court shot down bogus copyright infringement allegations from Universal Music Group (UMG), affirming an eBay seller's right to resell promotional CDs that he buys from secondhand stores and rejecting UMG's attempt to claim that a sticker on a CD created a license agreement forbidding resale. The court noted that UMG did not maintain control of the CDs once it mailed them out, did not require the recipients to agree to the "conditions" it sought to impose with the not-for-sale label, and did not require return of the CDs if the recipient did not consent.

EFF Calls for Court to Affirm Downsized Copyright Damages

EFF urged a federal court to affirm downsized damages in Sony v. Tenenbaum, a file-sharing case in which a jury originally ordered a college student to pay $675,000 for infringing copyright in 30 songs. A federal judge reduced the jury award to $67,500 last July, citing constitutional concerns and basic fairness. The record companies appealed the judge's decision to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. EFF argued in an amicus brief that the judge was right to try to ensure that damages in infringement cases bear a reasonable relationship to actual harm.

EFF Updates

The Best of Cablegate
While Wikileaks continues to provoke debate from many sides, Cablegate has served an important role in bettering public understanding on matters of public concern.

When Bad Patents Hurt Good People
In another example of using patents to stifle -- rather than promote -- innovation, a company called FlightPrep is threatening online flight planning sites with its newly obtained patent.

Happy New Year from EFF!
The donations, advocacy, and steadfast moral support of our friends and followers have helped make EFF the formidable organization that it is today.

miniLinks

EFF is Representing Icelandic Member of Parliament
EFF is representing Birgitta Jonsdottir, Icelandic Member of Parliament, in responding to a court order for her Twitter account information.

Sony Sues over PS3 Hack
Sony issued a lawsuit over a hack of PS3 demonstrated at the CCC conference. Read the TRO Motion. Read the complaint.

EFF Staff Activist Discusses Internet Censorship
Staff Activist Richard Esguerra discusses COICA, the Internet censorship bill, on Chomp.fm hacker radio.

Is the SSLiverse a Safe Place?
Senior Staff Activist Peter Eckersley & researcher Jesse Burns talk about EFF's SSL Observatory at CCC.

Dream Job Alerts!

Criminal Defense Staff Attorney
EFF is seeking a senior staff attorney with a focus on criminal law matters to join our legal team.

Responsibilities will include litigation, public speaking, media outreach, and legislative and regulatory advocacy all in connection with civil liberties and our Coders Rights Project.

For the full announcement and information on how to apply:
https://www.eff.org/about/opportunities/criminal-defense-staff-attorney

Administrivia

ISSN 1062-9424

EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA
94110-1914
USA +1 415 436 9333
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
eff.org

Editor: Rainey Reitman, Activist
rainey@eff.org

Membership & donation queries: membership@eff.org

General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: information@eff.org

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission.

Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be reproduced individually at will.

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Announcements

Happy Hour with Your Favorite Civil Liberties Organizations

EFF joins FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), and the First Amendment Project for this event. You'll find drink specials including $3 beers, $4 glasses of wine, and $5 mixed drinks. There will also be complimentary hors d'oeuvres!
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: January 13, 2011

A Media Intervention for Wikileaks

Staff Activist Rainey Reitman will be talking about the rights of online publishers and the perils of censorship during an outdoor rally for Wikileaks. This event is part of the global days of action for Wikileaks.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: January 15, 2011

7th Annual State of the Net Conference

EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston is participating in a panel on "DOJ Surveillance Blueprints: A CALEAmity for the U.S. Technology Industry?"
Location: Washington, DC
Date: January 18, 2011

Electronic Communications Act (ECPA) Revisited

EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston will be participating in a panel discussion about the latest privacy developments in court and Congress. Kevin will cover some of the cases he has litigated and the state of ECPA.
Location: Stanford, CA
Date: January 24, 2011

The Technology of Privacy: When Geeks Meet Wonks

EFF's Senior Staff Technologist Peter Eckersley will be participating in a panel discussion on the future of online privacy as part of Data Privacy Day.
Location: Washington, DC
Date: January 28, 2011

EFF at RSA Conference USA 2011

Come to the EFF booth at the 2011 RSA Conference! Support your favorite nonprofit while checking out the latest in the infosec industry.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: February 13, 2011

BSidesSanFrancisco

Join EFF at BSidesSanFrancisco! Security B-Sides is a community driven unconference built for and by information security community members. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: February 13, 2011

EFF's 21st Birthday Party!

Join us as nerdcore and chiptune artists Dual Core, Crashfaster, Adam WarRock, and Trash80 sling dope rhymes and bangin' bleeps for EFF's 21st birthday at the future-focused BAMM.tv studio in San Francisco.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: February 16, 2011

SOURCE Boston and SOURCE Seattle

EFF is a proud partner of two SOURCE Security Conferences! In addition to advanced technical talks, SOURCE offers workshops on entrepreneurship, management strategies, job interviewing, presentation skills, and proficiencies and strategies designed for the security industry.
Location: Boston, MA
Date: April 20, 2011
and
Location: Seattle, WA
Date: June 15-16, 2011

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