EFF

Thank God for the EFF

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:54:34 -0400

...and it's about time that someone took this to the courts. Americans have the unfettered right to privacy and no one should hide behind the "we're doing it to protect you from terrorists" defense. Firefighters protect us from fires but they don't do what they do in secret and without oversight, why should any of our elected officials.

EFF to sue Bush, Cheney, NSA and others over telecom spying

Paul McNamara — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:23:29 -0400

The government has decreed that they can't sue the phone companies over illegal spying on Americans, so instead they're about sue the government.

From an Electronic Frontier Foundation press alert just received here:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records.
The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance.

A press conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (Update: More from the press release is at the bottom of this post.)

The ACLU filed its own challenge shortly after Congress voted to grant retroactive immunity to carriers who were being sued for their roles in the illegal spying. President Bush signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act in July, although cases predating that legislation have continued to wind their way through the courts.

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Privacy loses in YouTube-Viacom suit

Google Subnet — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:46:36 -0400

Looks like private user data is free game in the copyright infringement battle between Google's YouTube and Viacom. Google must turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, due to a decision handed down yesterday by Louis Stanton, the judge in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York handling the case.

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EFF deconstructs AP copyright claim

Paul McNamara — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:00:55 -0400

Boss asked the other day what I thought of the Associated Press copyright infringment claim against a Web site that basically does what I'm doing now: summarize, excerpt from and link to interesting stuff. "Total BS," I replied via e-mail, only I spelled out BS. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an analysis of the issue here that is basically a more detailed and insightful way of saying what I said.

Judge rejects music industry's promo CD copyright claim

Paul McNamara — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:06:59 -0400

In a major pushback against music industry efforts to expand copyright control at the expense of consumers, a California judge has ruled that recipients of promotional CDs are free to do with them as they please. In other words, what would seem obvious to the layman, in this case also happens to be the law.

However, during a long-running legal battle that shut down an eBay seller, Universal Music Group had argued that it retained licensing rights and could prohibit such resale despite the fact that its promo CDs are distributed willy-nilly to thousands of music industry insiders who neither ask for them nor are not expected to return them.

Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero is meaningful not merely because it protects an income stream for CD resellers, says the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but primarily because it affirms the so-called "first sale" doctrine. From the EFF's press release:

"This is a very important ruling for consumers, and not just those who buy or sell used CDs," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "The right of first sale also protects libraries, used bookstores, and businesses that rent movies and videogames. This ruling affirms and protects the traditional balance between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the public."

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Patent challenges have proven effective, which is why they're endangered

Paul McNamara — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:00:18 -0400

New government statistics prove that allowing advocacy groups and private individuals to challenge existing patents is a remarkably effective means of weeding out the worst of them and pruning back the overly broad.

So, naturally enough, there are corporate and political interests at work in Washington trying to muzzle patent watchdogs before they can do even more good in the public's behalf.

How's that for your tax dollars at work?

From the Electronic Frontier Foundations' blog:

Since the start of ex parte reexamination in 1981, there have been over 9,000 requests that the (Patent and Trademark Office) revisit issued patents, averaging over 500 annually in recent years. From 1981 through the end of 2007, the Office of the Patent Commissioner has granted over 90 percent of these ex parte reexamination requests. Out of the 8,000 requests that have been granted since the start of ex parte reexamination, 6,060 resulted in a narrowing of claims. In other words, the PTO grants 92% of the reexamination requests it receives, and in 3 out of 4 of those cases, the requests are having a substantial effect on the claims.

If only every arcane mechanism within the vast federal bureaucracy operated so efficiently.

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EFF vs. the DoJ and Google: Day 2

Paul McNamara — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:49:52 -0500

When we left this legal tussle yesterday, Google had responded to my question about the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit demanding that the Department of Justice turn over correspondence between its former chief privacy officer and Google's current chief privacy officer, who are one and the same attorney, Jane Horvath.

Some background before we get to that reply. (Update: And that reply is followed by yet another this afternoon, which has Google suggesting, in so many words, that there is nothing for the DoJ to turn over to EFF in this case. You can read it in full below.)

Essentially, through a Freedom of Information Act request, the EFF wants to know the substance of any interaction the then-DoJ's Horvath had with Google during - and subsequent to - a highly charged 2006 dispute over the DoJ's arm-twisting to get Google to turn over a mountain of search records. That request was later ratcheted down to smaller pile of search records and Google caved, unwisely. (Note: Google disputes that "caved, unwisely" characterization, noting that they acted under court order, and also that no "search queries" were turned over, rather 5,000 URLs.) The fact that Horvath not long thereafter became Google's Horvath is what set eyebrows arching.

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EFF being stymied in effort to explore Justice Department/Google coziness

Paul McNamara — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:33:57 -0500

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to know all there is to know about contacts between Google and a Justice Department official involved in a highly charged 2006 government-snooping dispute that ensnared the search giant. That DoJ official, Jane Horvath, was subsequently hired by Google last year as senior privacy counsel.

(Update: This statement just arrived from a Google spokesperson: "Google did not work with Jane Horvath on this issue when she was at DoJ." ... Don't know what to make of that other than, if accurate, it would seem as though the DoJ could have told the EFF the same thing six months ago. ... Next day update here: EFF says that reply completely misses the point.)

The government has for six months refused Freedom of Information Act requests from EFF to see correspondence between Horvath and Google for the period the former was employed as the DoJ's first chief privacy and civil liberties officer (insert laugh track here), according to a suit filed yesterday by the EFF.

From the EFF press release:

Jane C. Horvath was named the DOJ's first Chief Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer in February of 2006. At that time, Google was fighting a massive DOJ subpoena asking for the text of every query entered into the search engine over a one-week period. The DOJ request - part of a court battle over the constitutionality of a law regulating adult materials on the Internet - ignited a national debate about Internet privacy.

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Help save EFF's Patent Busting Project

Paul McNamara — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:31:32 -0500

We'll get to what you can do in a second.

Ten days ago the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that patent "reform" legislation pending before the United States Senate would have the perverse effect of killing the EFF's highly successful Patent Busting Project. In fact, it could render all third-party patent watchdogs essentially toothless. ... Some reform.

Ten days later the EFF has heard exactly nothing in response to letters of concern it sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. This despite significant attention from the press and high-profile technology forums such as Slashdot and the geek page at Fark.

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RE: EFF sues to uncover alleged telco lobbying

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:16:25 -0500

Organizations like this one is the reason why America is losing its identity. I think if they want to deprive the DOJ from using techniques like this, then they should provide an equally as efficient technique alternative to achieve the same effective results. EFF needs to find another worthy cause, this is ridiculous!!!

EFF warns 'Patent Busting Project' in danger

Paul McNamara — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:41:38 -0500

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's successful "Patent Busting Project" may itself be busted if language in legislation before the Senate is not changed, the group says.

From the EFF's blog: "Today EFF submitted a letter to Senators Leahy and Specter calling their attention to a portion of the Draft Judiciary Committee Report of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 which has the potential to kill EFF's Patent Busting Project."

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EFF fires an upper-cut at Internet traffic interference

Layer 8 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:20:07 -0500

Looking to keep the pressure on Comcast and any other ISPs who might be messing with Internet traffic, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today has released software and documentation instructing ‘Net users on how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interference by their own service providers.

The EFF also published what it calls a comprehensive account of Comcast's packet-forging activities. For a look at the report, click here.

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