EFFector Vol. 22, No. 11 April 17, 2009 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : In our 506th issue: * A BOSTON COLLEGE STUDENT'S COMPUTER, CELL PHONE, AND OTHER PROPERTY WERE SEIZED as part of an investigation into who sent an e-mail to a school mailing list identifying another student as gay. Not only is there no indication that any crime was committed, the support for the search warrant is at times laughable. Some of the supposedly suspicious activities listed include: the student being seen with "unknown laptop computers," which he "says" he was fixing for other students; the student uses multiple names to log on to his computer; and the student uses two different operating systems, including one that is not the "regular B.C. operating system" but instead has "a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on." During its March 30th search, police seized (among other things) the student's computers, storage drives, cell phone, iPod Touch, flash drives, digital camera, and Ubuntu Linux CD. None of these items have been returned. His personal documents and information are in the hands of the state police, which continue to examine them without probable cause, searching for evidence to support unsupportable criminal allegations. For the full blog post: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/boston-college-prompt-commands-are-suspicious For the press release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/04/13 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : EFF Updates * Wanted: Your Stories of Disability Versus Copyright Law In preparation for WIPO's initiative on Exceptions & Limitations to Copyright, the US Copyright Office is currently soliciting comments on the topic of "facilitating access to copyrighted works for the blind or persons with other disabilities. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/wanted-your-stories-disability * NY Times Reports New Revelations About Wiretapping Program The New York Times reported this week that the NSA "had been engaged in 'over-collection' of domestic communications of Americans." http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/ny-times-reports-new-revelations-about-wiretapping * New Wiretapping Revelations Should Prompt New Action The revelations about the NSA's activities in this week's NY Times article underline the need for new action on NSA surveillance abuses, both from Congress and from the White House. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/new-revelations * Federal Authority Over the Internet? There's a new bill working its way through Congress that is cause for some alarm: the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 risks giving the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily improving security. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/cybersecurity-act * New Scholarship on Copyright Damages Copyright scholars Pamela Samuelson and Tara Wheatland have published a paper arguing that large statutory damage awards in copyright cases violate Congressional intent and basic rights of due process. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/new-scholarship-statutory-damages * Jewel v. NSA Media Roundup The Obama Administration's decision to assert Bush-era arguments in its motion to dismiss EFF's case, Jewel v. NSA, has gotten a lot of attention from the mainstream press. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/jewel-v-nsa-roundup-media-obamas-position * Stanford Law School Machinima Conference, April 24-25 On April 24-25, 2009, Stanford Law School will be hosting "Play Machinima Law," a timely conference examining machinima copyright issues, where EFF's Fred von Lohmann will be speaking. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/stanford-play-machinima-law-conference : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : miniLinks ~ Which Congressman Was Wiretapped? New reports that the NSA spied on a Congressman has people wondering which one it might be. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/which-member-of-congress_n_187784.html ~ Goldman Sachs v. Blogger Goldman Sachs is trying to silence a blogger who has criticized the bank. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5137489/Goldman-Sachs-hires-law-firm-to-shut-bloggers-site.html ~ Rachel Maddow MSNBC Clips Removed from YouTube Clips from Rachel Maddow's show criticizing an anti-gay groups' videos disappeared due to copyright claims. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgC5ANURIYc For more miniLinks: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/minilinks-2009-02-17 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Announcements * Come See EFF at RSA and MySQL! Come visit the EFF booth and grab some schwag at the RSA conference on April 20-24, and/or the MySQL conference on April 21-22. For more information on RSA: http://www.rsaconference.com/2009/us/index.htm For more information on MySQL: http://www.mysqlconf.com/mysql2009 * Seth Schoen at LinuxFest Northwest EFF Technologist Seth David Schoen will be speaking at the 10th Anniversary of LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA! Seth will be giving two talks (see below), so be sure to stop by and find out what EFF is up to! Event admission is free and open to the public. Saturday, April 25: 1:30-2:15 "Information Security Discovers Physics" Details: http://blug.org/fest2009/spkr-record.dxp?id=10 Sunday, April 26: 1:30-2:15 "An EFF Update" Details: http://blug.org/fest2009/spkr-record.dxp?id=81 For more information: http://linuxfestnorthwest.org * Send EFF to CFP! EFF is looking for donations of airline tickets for the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference and other conferences and speaking engagements. We need at least one round trip ticket from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., for CFP, and we'll certainly need additional tickets throughout the year. If you have enough airline miles for a free ticket and would like to send an EFF staffer to a conference, let us know, and we will help you with the process of making the reservation. Please note that at this time, we are unable to combine miles from multiple individuals. In exchange for a ticket, we can offer a free membership and a mention in EFFector (if you'd like). Please contact info@eff.org if you have a ticket to donate. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Administrivia EFFector is published by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/about Editor: Sara Bassett, Membership Services Assistant sara@eff.org Membership & donation queries: membership@eff.org To support EFF: secure.eff.org/donate General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: information@eff.org Back issues of EFFector are available at: http://www.eff.org/effector/
