EFFector Vol. 23, No. 02 January 15, 2010 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : In our 525th issue: ~ EFF Files Comments on Net Neutrality EFF called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to close loopholes in its proposed regulations for network neutrality -- loopholes that could let the entertainment industry and law enforcement hinder free speech and innovation. Under the new rules, ISPs would get a free pass to block content in pursuit of copyright infringement or when they voluntarily adopt measures to help law enforcement. "The central goal of the net neutrality movement is to prevent ISPs from discriminating against lawful content on the Internet," said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. "Yet the FCC's version of net neutrality specifically allows ISPs to make those discriminations -- opening the door to widespread Internet surveillance and censorship in the guise of copyright protection and addressing the needs of law enforcement." For the full press release: https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/01/14 ~ Political Parodists Strike Back Against U.S. Chamber of Commerce A group of political activists, including members of the Yes Men and the Action Factory, have moved to dismiss a meritless lawsuit filed by the United States Chamber of Commerce accusing the activists of infringing the Chamber's trademarks in the course of a political parody highlighting the Chamber's controversial stance on climate change. In the motion filed Tuesday, the activists — represented by EFF and Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP -- argue that the Chamber's suit was designed to punish core political speech, rather than to vindicate any actual trademark harm, and should therefore be dismissed. For the full press release: https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/01/05 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Updates: ~ 12 Trends to Watch in 2010 It's the dawn of a new year. From our perch on the frontier of electronic civil liberties, EFF has collected a list of a dozen important trends in law, technology and business that we think will play a significant role in shaping online rights in 2010. For the full Deep Link: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/trends-2010 ~ Have You Been Subjected to Suspicionless Laptop Search or Seizure at the Border? U.S. Customs and Border Protection has implemented a program that authorizes searches of the contents of travelers’ laptop computers and other electronic storage devices at border crossings, notwithstanding the absence of probable cause, reasonable suspicion or any indicia of wrongdoing. In U.S. vs. Arnold, EFF fought for a requirement that customs agents must have some legally significant reason before searching your computer. In our FOIA work on border searches, EFF has pushed the government to reveal its policies and practices in this area. Now, another civil rights group, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, is seeking potential plaintiffs for a lawsuit challenging suspicionless laptop searches. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/have-you-been-subjected-suspicionless-laptop-searc ~ Gmail Takes the Lead on Email Security Google has announced that Gmail sessions will now be fully encrypted with https by default. This is excellent news — EFF congratulates Google for taking this significant step to safeguard their users' privacy and security. Https is a protocol that encrypts email as it travels between your web browser and your service provider's (in this case, Google's) servers. Using https helps protect data from being snooped by third parties. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/gmail-takes-lead-email-security ~ EMI Attacks NirGaga Mashup EMI, the smallest of the four major record labels, has sent a cease & desist letter to DJ Lobsterdust and Bootie SF regarding "NirGaga,” a mashup combining Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” The song had appeared in Bootie SF's "best of 2009" compilation but now has been removed. The mashup seems like a fair use to us: it's obviously transformative, and it's hard to imagine it as a substitute for the originals. Is this the beginning of a general crackdown on mashups by EMI, or, we hope, just a misguided one-off? https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/emi-attacks-nirgaga-mashup ~ Uncensoring China: Bravo Google Google has publicly announced that that it will cease censorship of its Chinese language Google.cn website and is reviewing the feasibility of its entire operation in that country. This follows its detection of malicious attacks on the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and what Google calls an "attack on their corporate infrastructure originating from China." When Google first launched a filtered search engine in China, EFF was one of the first to criticize it; we'd now like to be one of the first to commend Google for its brave and forthright declaration that it will no longer check its values at the border. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/uncensoring-china-bravo-google ~ More Silly Trademark Claims: Department of Energy Threatens “Clean Coal” Spoof Site The closing months of 2009 saw the beginning of an unfortunate legal dispute in which a trademark owner, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, ran to court to punish political activists for using its marks in a political parody. Sadly, less than a week into 2010, another trademark owner, Peabody Energy, is also using legal threats to attempt to silence criticism. Peabody is one of a group of coal companies that has formed a Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization (CCCU) with Washington University, to research “clean coal” methods -- much to the consternation of students and environmental activists who view “clean coal” as an oxymoron. One of those activists, Brian DeSmet, created a website spoofing CCCU’s official site. Peabody was not amused and sent an after-hours cease and desist letter demanding that DeSmet shut the site down by the next morning. Peabody claimed that DeSmet's use of logos and references to Peabody amounted to trademark infringement and dilution, as well as defamation, product disparagement, and even unfair competition. Hoping to put a quick end to the threat, DeSmet voluntarily removed the logos and added a disclaimer, but Peabody continues to insist that it has veto power over the look and feel of the parody website. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/and-another-one-takedown-hall-shame-peabody-energy ~ Putting the “Public” in Publicly-Funded Research Sometimes an idea is so blindingly, obviously good that you have to wonder why it hasn’t already been implemented. A few years ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had an idea like that. Why not create a free, public, online archive of findings from academic research studies that were funded by Americans' tax dollars? That way, members of the public could keep up-to-date on the latest health findings by reading about discoveries that they paid for and would otherwise be unable to access. To ensure they could publish results first in traditional print journals, scientists could wait 12 months before making the research available to the public - but no more. The policy was voluntary at first, then made mandatory. Now the Obama Administration (specifically, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP) is considering extending the policy to other federal agencies that fund academic research. If the fruits of research were publicly accessible online, the taxpayers who actually paid for it could read and use it in new and interesting ways, just as patients and their families have used the NIH-sponsored medical studies to help make informed medical decisions. Scholars and entrepreneurs could also access the research, promoting innovation in science and technology. Your tax dollars paid for this research; you should have a chance to actually see those dollars at work. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/putting-public-publicly-funded-research ~ Order to Shut Down Websites Critical of Apex Technology Dangerous and Wrong Over the holidays, a New Jersey court issued an order requiring upstream providers to shut down three anti-H1-B websites that has troubling implications for free speech. In order to remove allegedly defamatory statements made on these sites, the court ordered the websites to remove all postings about Apex Technology Group or its President, Sarvesh Kumar Dharayan, until further order of the court. The court also ordered the sites’ ISPs/domain name registrars (DiscountASP.NET, GoDaddy.com, Domains By Proxy and Network Solutions) to stop hosting and “immediately shut down and disable” the websites. Finally, the order required the ISPs to provide identity information about their customers. By restricting access to entire websites, this order places a prior restraint on all of the speech on the websites, even if that speech is unrelated to Apex or Mr. Dharayan. Imagine if a court could order Amazon.com or Yelp.com shut down because of a disparaging review of a single product! https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/order-shut-down-websites-critical-apex-technology- ~ Et tu, U2? Bono, Net Surveillance, and the Developing World We feel compelled to add our comments about Bono's New York Times column in which he appeared to express a strange hope that ISPs would start spying on their users in the name of protecting America's intellectual property. "We know," says Bono, "from America's noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China's ignoble effort to suppress online dissent, that it's perfectly possible to track content." He continues by hoping that "movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product." But Bono's new-found embrace of tracking Internet activity is in direct conflict with his own positions (expressed in the same article) about global freedom and equity. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/et-tu-u2 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : miniLinks ~ Chinese Net Activists Supporting Iranian Net Activists A group of Chinese "netizens" have started a website and Twitter hash tag to support the work of Iranian dissidents. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/10/iran-chinese-cyberactivists-support-iranians/ ~ The Backfiring of the Surveillance State Salon's Glenn Greenwald explains why increased surveillance can end up making us less safe, not more safe. http://salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/06/surveillance/index.html ~ Apple's Love Affair With DRM ArsTechnica takes a look at Apple's embrace of DRM and consumer lock-ins. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/01/a-look-at-apples-love-for-drm-and-consumer-lock-ins.ars ~ A Blogger's Guide to New FTC Rules The Berkman Center's Citizen Media Law Project released a guide to making sense of the often vague regulations. http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2009/cmlp-publishes-new-guide-ftc-disclosure-requirements-product-endorsements : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Announcements * Be a Superhero: Give Today and Get an EFF xkcd Shirt! Time is almost up for you to join EFF and receive a special edition EFF 20th anniversary xkcd t-shirt or hooded sweatshirt! This exclusive xkcd apparel is only available until January 18. Donate today to join xkcd in celebrating this milestone in EFF history and online rights: http://secure.eff.org/friends2009 * Help EFF with Airline Miles or Hotel Points! EFF is looking for donations of airline miles, flight vouchers, and hotel points for outreach events and speaking engagements. 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 or airlines. We are also looking for hotel rewards points to help reduce our overall travel costs. As thanks for your donation, we can offer a free membership and a mention in EFFector (if you'd like). Please contact aaron@eff.org if you can help! : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Administrivia EFFector is published by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/about Editor: Eva Galperin, Referral Coordinator eva@eff.org Membership & donation queries: membership@eff.org To support EFF: http://links.eff.org/emaildonate General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: information@eff.org
