Copyright enforcement concern signs up second newspaper chain

Righthaven, a company that sues bloggers who repost news content without prermission, has expanded its operation to a second newspaper chain, the Arkansas-based WEHCO Media. -db
Wired
August 30, 2010
By David Kravets
A Las Vegas company established to sue bloggers who clip news content is expanding its operations to a second newspaper chain.
Righthaven LLC has struck [...]

Free speech: Electronic Frontier Foundation warns against California law undermining parody

A new “E-Personation” bill now in the California legislature would make it a crime to personate someone online to “harm” that person. EFF claims that the law would severely restrict online parodies criticizing government and big corporations. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 22, 2010
By Corynne McSherry
A bill that could undermine a new and important form [...]

Domestic spying: Uncle Sam developing ability to reach wide and deep on Internet

Through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that the FBI and CIA are aggressively perfecting their ability to probe social networks and the Internet for intelligence data much of which is outside the law enforcement context. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 16, 2010
By Tim Wayne
In the midst of recent [...]

California state senator proposes law to outlaw malicious online impersonation

In the wake of a disturbing e-mail falsely attributed to a Silicon Valley leader, A California state senator is introducing a law to make malicious e-mail impersonations a misdemeanor. -db
San Francisco Chronicle
August 9, 2010
By Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera
Two months ago, a San Jose Mercury News reporter received a profanity-laced e-mail critical of one of her stories. More [...]

County withdraws search warrant used to search house of Gizmodo editor

In a dispute over the iPhone prototype, law enforcement has withdrawn a search warrant and Gizmodo has agreed to provide specific information over how they obtained the prototype without Apple’s permission. -db
County withdraws search warrant used to search house of Gizmodo editor
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11495
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
July 22, 2010
By Cristina Abello
California county officials last [...]

Free speech: Parodies of Hitler film clip run into copyright restrictions

The movie studio that made a 2004 film showing Adolf Hitler in a rage over the impending defeat of Nazi Germany is struggling to defend its copyright as parodies based on Hitler’s rage sprout on the Internet. db
Free speech: Parodies of Hitler film clip run into copyright restrictions
San Francisco Chronicle
July 23, 2010
By Benny Evangelista
In a [...]

Middle Eastern countries censoring Internet

Last week Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey acted to block more content from the Internet. Afghanistan is installing filters on the categories of alcohol, dating and social networking, gambling and pornography. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Opinion
June 26, 2010
By Shari Steele
Yet another country has decided to shut down key parts the Internet. Kathleen Reen at Internews reports that, as [...]

iPhone caper: First Amendment lawyers question warrant on Gizmodo editor

First Amendment lawyers say that police should have never acceded to Apple’s pressure to search a Gizmodo.com editor’s house for evidence related to an alleged theft of an iPhone 4G prototype. They say the affadavit requesting the search did not disclose that the editor was a journalist nor mention the Federal Privacy Protection Act or [...]

Groups want federal appeals court to apply First Amendment scrutiny to ‘hot news’ doctrine

Citizen Media Law Project, EFF, and Public Citizen Advocate are asking  the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to consider whether the hot news doctrine is detrimental to free expression in stifling online commentary and information-sharing. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
June 22, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Citizen Media Law Project [...]

Federal judge suggests internet rights lawyer gave questionable advice to clients on discarding evidence

In handing down a decision in a copyright case pitting the Recording Industry Association of America against file-sharing service LimeWire, a  federal district judge implied that an Electronic Freedom Foundation lawyer may have advised clients to discard incriminating evidence.  -db

CNET
May 18, 2010
By Greg Sandoval

First Amendment: Federal judge protects anonymity of online critic of Pennsylvania corporation

A federal judge not only scuttled a subpoena to out an online critic of USA Technologies but also ruled that the critic’s charge that the company’s pay packages were “legalized highway robbery” was protected  speech under the First Amendment. -db

Electronic Freedom Foundation
Press Release
May 19, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge in San Francisco has quashed [...]

Digital rights foundation claims warrant in Gizmodo case violated California law

According to the Electronic Freedom Foundationn, an examination of the search warrant affidavit that sanctioned the invasion of an Gizmodo’s house last month shows that the warrant should never have been issued in that California law does not allow for suspending a reporter’s testimonial privilege unless another constitutional right is in play. Click on the [...]

Foundation uses Freedom of Information Act in seeking records on Patriot Act effectiveness

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed suit to obtain records on the effectiveness of provisions of the Patriot Act giving the FBI powers to seize electronic records and property and to wiretap phone conversations. The provisions are up for Congressional review early next year. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
May 11, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Electronic Frontier Foundation [...]

Electronic Frontier Foundation says Gizmodo editor protected by California law and First Amendment

The Civil Liberties Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation says regardless of suspicions that Gizmodo editor Jason Chen was in possession of a stolen iPhone, under the California shield law and the federal Privacy Protection Act, the police search of his home and seizure of his computers was illegal. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Legal Analysis
April 28 2010
By [...]

Online Hitler parodies suffer censorship

Constantin Film has used the Content I.D. filter provided by YouTube to remove the Hitler parodies regardless of whether they constitute “fair use.” -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
April 20, 2010
By Corynne McSherry

One the most enduring (and consistently entertaining) Internet memes of the past few years has been remixes of the bunker scene from the German film, The [...]

Privacy: Internet freedom advocates want more protections for cell phone users

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined a broad coalition of groups  recommending the strengthening  of the federal law regulating government access to private phone and Internet communication. The law upholding privacy rights was written 25 years ago, and among other things the coalition wants it to take into consideration the huge surge in cell phone [...]

Big Brother challenge: Foundation presses for protections after school webcam surveillance scandal

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week to argue for new privacy protections after a Pennsylvania school allegedly conducted secret video surveillance of their students while they were at home. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
March 25, 2010
PHILADELPHIA – On Monday, March 29, at 10 a.m., the Subcommittee on Crime and [...]

Story of government spying gets no play in media

A telecommunications technician in San Francisco discovers that the government is operating a covert  center in his own building that monitors the phone calls and internet traffic of millions of random citizens. When the story goes to the Los Angeles Times and 60 Minutes, the government successfully kills it. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
March 17, 2010
By Tim Jones
Here’s [...]

Study of FBI documents shows censorship withheld harmless information

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that in the face of Freedom of Information Act requests, federal agencies hide their activities in excessive secrecy in spite of Obama administration directives to the agencies to make a “presumption of openness” in implementing FOIA requests. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
March 15, 2010
By David L. Sobel

As the transparency community celebrates Sunshine [...]

Online free speech: Damages a possibility in Universal Musics takedown of dancing baby

A federal judge ruled that a mother could get compensation from Universal Music for forcing YouTube to remove a 29-second video of her toddler son dancing to a Prince song. -db

The Recorder
March 1, 2010
By Zusha Elinson

Universal Music might have to pay for pulling video of a dancing baby off YouTube.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled [...]

Federal appeals court orders disclosure of names of telecom lobbyists

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government must reveal name of lobbyists who working for retroactive liability protection for telecom companies who participated in warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens after 9/11. -db
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
February 10, 2010
By Sherri M. Okamoto
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled that the government was required [...]

Courts and Congress avoid addressing legality of warrantless eavesdropping

A Wire Magazine commentary says that even after lawsuits have been filed alleging warrantless eavesdropping, the practice is continuing abetted by Congress and a passive court system. -db

Wired
Commentary
January 29, 2010
By David Kravets

The National Security Agency allegedly siphoned Americans’ communications without warrants from behind this door at an AT&T office in San Francisco.
Heads spun four years [...]

San Francisco foundation asks feds to close loopholes allowing industry clamps on free speech

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has asked the Federal Communications Commission to close loopholes in proposed rules on network neutrality that could allow the entertainment industry and law enforcement to curtail free speech and innovation. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
January 14, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today [...]

Public has right of access to publicly-funded research

It seems obvious that the public should have free access to studies funded with their tax dollars. EFF senior staff attorney Corynne McSherry says the public needs to express its support for a new initiative from the Obama administration to allow taxpayers access to research supported by a wide range of government agencies. -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Opinion
January [...]

EFF: Court order to shut down websites sets dangerous precedent

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that when a New Jersey court shut down three websites allegedly running defamatory messages, it  disregarded federal law and ignored the First Amendment. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Legal Analysis
January 7, 2010
By Kurt Opsahl
Over the holidays, a New Jersey court issued an order requiring upstream providers to shut down three anti-H1-B websites [...]

Trademark case: Chamber of Commerce battles critics over parody

Political activists are asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claiming the activists infringed on trademarks with a parody on the Chamber’s stance on climate change. -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundation
January 6, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A group of political activists including members of the Yes Men and [...]

TSA backs off of subpoena to blogger publishing new airport security directive

After a blogger refused to surrender records of his posting of the new government airport security directive, the Transportation Security Administration changed course and withdrew the subpoena for the records. The blogger had objected to the lack of time to comply and that as a journalist he would be required to reveal his sources. -DB

Electronic [...]

Freedom of Information Act request garners oversight report of alleged illegal intelligence activities

In response to its FOIA lawsuit in July, the Electronic Frontier Foundation saw the government release an intelligence oversight report that reveals intelligence activities some believe are illegal. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
December 16, 2009
By Nate Cardozo
Today the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National [...]

While applauding federal transparency directive, online rights advocate points to pockets of secrecy

A senior counsel for the Electronic Freedom Foundation gives the White House credit for its efforts to improve transparency but says that the Obama administration has yet to respond to requests for information on crucial technology policy issues made last January and February. -DB

Electronic Freedom Foundation
Commentary
December 8, 2009
By David L. Sobel

The Obama Administration today issued [...]

Corporation’s attempt to out anonymous online critics runs afoul of First Amendment

USA Technologies has filed a lawsuit against two message board posters who criticized the management of the publicly traded company in the light of falling stock prices and high compensation packages. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is defending the critics against subpoenas on Yahoo! seeking the identity of the posters. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
December 2, 2009
By Matt [...]

Bay Guardian reports SF police seizing DJ’s laptops

Controversial tactic of taking laptops even when DJs not charged with crime  reportedly condoned by San Francisco’s new chief of police. EEF attorney steps in to help protect DJs privacy, get computers back.
San Francisco Bay Guardian
Police seize DJs’ laptops
New police chief apparently condones policy that critics call illegal and punitive
By Joshua Emerson Smith
news@sfbg.com
San Francisco [...]

A Patent on Podcasting? EFF thinks not

The Patent Office just granted  Volomedia exclusive rights to  “a method for providing episodic media,” creating a very real threat to the future of free podcasting.  You can help  EEF’s Patent-Busting Project crack the case.
EFF’s DeepLinks Blog
EFF Tackles Bogus Podcasting Patent – And We Need Your Help
News Update by Rebecca Jeschke
Patenting podcasting? You’ve got to [...]

Foundation provides records of secret negotiations for telecom immunity in illegal government surveillance

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Electronic Frontier Foundation obtained the records of secret negotiations between government agencies and Congress that provided immunity for telecoms cooperating with the government in warrantless surveillance of American citizens. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
November 12, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO – Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) posted thousands of pages of [...]

Organization for digital rights establishes new website to attack internet censorship

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has established a website “Takedown Hall of Shame” to call attention to internet censorship through what they say are “bogus copyright claims or other legal threats.” -DB
Electronic Frontier Foundaton
Press Release
October 27, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO – Websites like YouTube have ushered in a new era of creativity and free speech on the Internet, [...]

Telcos losing ground in attempts to withhold records of their lobbying government in warrantless spying case

A federal district judge ruled September 24 that the government had to release the names of telecom employees who lobbied the Justice Department and White House to legislation to grant them legal immunity in their warrantless spying on American citizens. The White House is appealing the decision. -DB
Wired
October 8, 2009
By Ryan Singel
AT&T was the [...]

Civil liberties group gains access to telecom lobbying record over surveillance program

A federal judge ordered the Obama administration to release records of telecom lobbying to obtain immunity from suits over their role in warrantless surveillance. -DB

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Press Release
September 24, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – A judge ordered the government Thursday to release more records about the lobbying campaign to provide immunity to the telecommunications giants that participated [...]

UC Davis case: Judge suggests avenue to determine identity of anonymous bloggers

Although a Sacramento judge ruled substantially in favor of a blog operator who was trying to keep secret the identities of his bloggers, she also said the plaintiff in the case could hire someone to conduct a search for the identities. -DB
The Sacramento Bee
September 14, 2009
By Hudson Sangree
Those anonymous comments you’ve been posting online might [...]