In our 559th issue:
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.
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 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
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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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