EFFector Vol. 14, No. 26 Sep. 21, 2001 editors@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
In the 186th Issue of EFFector (now with over 29,100 subscribers!):
* ALERT: Surveillance Legislation Continues to Threaten Privacy
* ALERT: Defeat the "Security Systems Standards and Certification
Act" (SSSCA)
* EFF Joins Electronic Frontier Canada in Opposing Canadian "DMCA"
(CPDCI)
* New MP3 Programs Now Available on Radio EFF
* EFF Thanks Rebirth and Development, Inc for their generous donation
* Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org/
To join EFF or make an additional donation:
http://www.eff.org/support/
EFF is a member-supported nonprofit. Please sign up as a member today!
_________________________________________________________________
ALERT: Surveillance Legislation Continues to Threaten Privacy
Act Today to Call for More Careful Consideration and Moderation
Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT
(Issued: Friday, September 21, 2001 / Deadline: Monday, September 24, 2001)
Introduction:
San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
urges continued activism against the "Anti-Terrorism Act" (ATA)
[a.k.a. "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" (MATA)], proposed by the
US Department of Justice, and related legislation (presently 3 bills),
because many provisions of the bills would dramatically alter the
civil liberties landscape through unnecessarily broad restrictions on
free speech and privacy rights in the United States and abroad. Your
urgent action is needed TODAY.
EFF again urges Congress to act with deliberation in approving only
measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting
the freedoms of Americans.
EFF believes this broad legislation would radically tip the United
States system of checks and balances, giving the government
unprecedented authority to surveil American citizens with little
judicial or other oversight.
Ashcroft's proposed legislation (distributed Sep. 19) comes in the
wake of the Senate's hasty passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act"
(CTA) on the evening of Sep. 13 with less than 30 minutes of
consideration on the Senate floor. On Sep. 20, Rep. Lamar Smith
circulated a draft bill very similar to CTA, called the Public Safety
and Cyber Security Enhancement Act (PSCSEA). A fourth and more
reasoned bill of this nature, from Sen. Patrick Leahy, is expected
soon.
The ATA/MATA is currently a draft bill, subject to a Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing and briefing on Mon., Sep. 24. The CTA is presently
a Senate-passed amendment to a House appropriations bill. It is
expected to be voted on in joint conference committee early next week.
The only real pressure point on the CTA is the conference committee;
whatever emerges will almost certainly pass both houses
near-unanimously. PSCSEA's future is uncertain at this point, as is
that of Sen. Leahy's (presently unavailble) draft.
What YOU Can Do Now:
* Contact your own legislators about the ATA/MATA, the CTA and the
PSCSEA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Call them, and fax and/or e-mail the
EFF letter below today. For best effect, the messages you send
should be sent the morning of Mon. Sep. 24 or this weekend if
possible. Postal mail will be too slow on this issue. Feel free to
use this letter verbatim, or modify it as you wish. Let them know
that you do not believe liberty must be sacrified for security.
Please be polite and concise, but firm. For information on how to
contact your legislators and other government officials, see EFF's
"Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
* Contact the conference committee members about the CTA AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE. A similar sample letter for this purpose, plus contact
information, is provided below.
* Join EFF! For membership information see:
http://www.eff.org/support/
Sample Letters:
To save space, since this issue has two alerts, please see the
Web-posted version of this alert for the sample letters:
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_wiretap_alert.html
NEW: Easier committee contacts! All of the committee members' e-mail
addresses (other than Hollings who only provides a web form, and
several Represenatives who can only be e-mailed through the WriteRep
form) are available as a copy-pasteable block of addresses you can
simply paste into the "To:" header in your e-mail program to mail them
all at once. Acting on this alert should only take a few minutes.
Aren't your civil liberties worth that much time?
Background:
Attorney General John Ashcroft distributed the proposed Anti-Terrorism
Act/Mobilization Against Terrorism Act to members of Congress after
Monday's press conference at which he indicated that, among other
measures, he would ask Congress to expand the ability of law
enforcement officers to perform wiretaps in response to the terrorist
attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked
Congress to pass anti-terrorism legislation including "expanded
electronic surveillance" by the end of this week. The PSCSEA bill
appears to be a "backup plan" for S.A. 1562; if it does not pass as
part of H.R. 2500, it can be reintroduced separately in slightly
different form as a new bill. Sen. Patrick Leahy is also expected to
introduce a more moderate proposal sometime early next week.
More analysis and commentary is available in the Web-posted version of
this alert:
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_wiretap_alert.html
For bill texts and analyses, see the EFF Surveillance Archive:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/
Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html
Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security:
http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded
in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and
government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the
information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org
Contact:
Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director
ssteele@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x103
Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney
tien@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x102
- end -
_________________________________________________________________
Defeat the "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act" (SSSCA)
Draft Bill Would Require All Software and Digital Devices to Include
Federally-Mandated Copy-Prevention Systems
Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT
(Issued: Friday, September 21, 2001 / Expires: Wednesday, October 21, 2001)
Introduction:
Widespread public outcry has resulted from the circulation of draft
legislation titled "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act"
(SSSCA) that would require that all future digital technologies
include federally-mandated "digital rights management" (DRM)
technologies that will enable Hollywood to restrict how consumers can
use digital content. The EFF opposes this proposed legislation and
urges its members to send their concerns to the sponsoring Senators.
What YOU Can Do Now:
* Mail or email the EFF letter below to Senator Hollings and Senator
Stevens today. Feel free to use this letter verbatim, or modify it
as you wish. Inform both Senators of your concerns regarding the
SSSCA. Please be polite and concise, but firm.
* Contact your own legislators about this issue. For information on
how to contact your legislators and other government officials,
see EFF's "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
* Join EFF! For membership information see:
http://www.eff.org/support/
Sample Letter:
Use this sample letter to the Senators or modify it, and send to:
The Honorable Fritz Hollings
Washington, D.C.
125 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
+1 202-224-6121
+1 202-224-4293 (fax)
To send e-mail, use the form at:
http://www.senate.gov/~hollings/webform.html
and
The Honorable Ted Stevens
United States Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
+1 202-224-3004
+1 202-224-2354 (fax)
senator_stevens@stevens.senate.gov
and most importantly, your own legislators.
-------------------------------------------
You can get your legislators' contact information from Project Vote
Smart:
http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&style=
or the House:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
and Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm
websites.
Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname]:
I am writing to express my grave concern about the draft
Hollings/Stephens copyright legislation, "Security Systems
Standards and Certification Act" (SSSCA), principally authored by
the Walt Disney corporation. This bill, would force virtually all
consumer electronics to include mandatory "digital rights
management" (DRM) copy-prevention and use-control mechanisms to
"protect" all digital content (whether copyrighted or not), and
essentially destroy completely the public's already endangered fair
use rights, first sale doctrine, and public domain rights. I urge
you to oppose this legislation.
Congress and the courts have always struck a careful balance
between preserving incentives for authors while ensuring public
access to our cultural heritage. The SSSCA represents an outright
assault against this balanced view of copyright. Under the SSSCA,
Congress would abdicate its responsibility to protect the public's
interest in copyright, leaving content owners to dictate terms to
technology companies behind closed doors. The public would be left
with no voice in this process, and with crippled technologies that
permit only the uses that Hollywood has the unilateral ability to
control.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), University
professors and visiting foreign programmers are already being
legally threatened by the music industry and even criminally
prosecuted at the behest of software companies for what always have
been and should be legal activities such as research and making
proprietary formats more accessible. The DMCA was a major step
backwards for both the public side of the copyright bargain and the
rights of scientists and researchers to study and report on
computer security.
Hollywood forces are now hoping that this "DMCA 2" will reach even
further, creating a direct federal mandate that DRM systems be
included in every technology that interacts with digital content.
Please do not let this happen. I urge you to vote AGAINST SSSCA
when introduced. The pendulum has already swung too far away from
the public interest.
Sincerely,
[Your name & address]
(Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use
the correct name.)
Campaign for Audivisual Free Expression:
This drive to stop this "DMCA 2" copyright land-grab is part of a
larger campaigns to empower the creative community in the digital age
by protecting the public's access to and use of audiovisual
technologies.
Check the EFF CAFE campaign website regularly for additional alerts
and news:
http://www.eff.org/cafe/
Background:
The draft legislation, "Security Systems Standards and Certification
Act" (SSSCA) is being developed by Senators Fritz Hollings (D-SC) and
Ted Stevens (R-AK) with the assistance of the Walt Disney Company. A
draft of the measure was leaked to the press two weeks ago. If
enacted, the proposed SSSCA would forbid the making, selling or
trafficking in any "interactive digital device" that fails to include
federally-mandated "Digital Right Management" (DRM) copy-prevention
systems intended to protect all digital content (whether copyrighted
or not).
The SSSCA's scope is breathtakingly broad, forcing technology
companies to add support for copy and use restrictions into virtually
all future digital technology. This would include not only all
software, PCs, hard drives, CD-Rs and other computer peripherals, but
also many non-PC technologies like cellular phones, TiVos, set-top
boxes, video game consoles, digital watches, CD players, MP3 players,
GPS receivers, ATM machines, digital cameras, digital photocopiers,
and fax machines. Although existing devices are grandfathered under
the statute, all future models of these devices would have to be
revised to incorporate federally-mandated technology intended to help
Hollywood control how its content may be used by consumers. The SSSCA
also applies to anyone who sells or distributes these digital
technologies, and to anyone who bypasses or modifies any DRM systems
in them. Those who violate the SSSCA would face civil fines and
criminal penalties.
And who gets to define the particulars of the DRM systems? According
to the SSSCA, Congress will rely on technology companies and content
companies to select DRM systems based on criteria set by Congress. If
the industries are unable to agree, federal bureaucrats will choose.
The public is not invited to participate, nor do the criteria set out
in the SSSCA require the preservation or protection of fair use, first
sale, the public domain, or any of the other rights reserved for the
public by copyright law.
In the American legal tradition, Congress and the courts have always
struck a careful balance between preserving incentives for authors
while ensuring public access to our cultural heritage. The SSSCA
represents an unvarnished attack on this balanced view of copyright.
Under the SSSCA, Congress would abdicate its responsibility to protect
the public's interest in copyright, leaving content owners to dictate
terms to technology companies behind closed doors. The public would be
left with crippled technologies that permit only the uses that
Hollywood unilaterally permits.
The freedom to innovate, without the shackles of burdensome government
mandates, has been the engine that has driven the information
revolution. Now at the behest of powerful business interests, Congress
threatens to shut this engine down by forcing technological innovators
to beg permission from the content industries before introducing new
tools and products.
As illustrated by the threats made to Professor Felten's research team
by the record companies, as well as the criminal prosecution of Dmitry
Sklyarov, the DMCA was a major step backwards for both the public side
of the copyright bargain and the rights of scientists and researchers
who seek to study and report on computer security. Apparently
unsatisfied with this, Hollywood forces are now hoping that the SSSCA
will reach even further, creating a direct federal mandate that DRM
systems be included in every technology that interacts with digital
content.
The draft of the proposed SSSCA legislation can be viewed at:
http://216.110.42.179/docs/hollings.090701.html
Contact:
Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
fred@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x123
Will Doherty, EFF Online Activist / Media Relations
wild@eff.org
+1 415 436 9333 x111
- end -
_________________________________________________________________
EFF Joins Electronic Frontier Canada in Opposing Canadian "DMCA" (CPDCI)
Electronic Frontier Canada (EFC) on Friday submitted comments in
response to the Canadian Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright
Issues (CPDCI), known colloquially as the "Canadian DMCA". EFF
assisted in drafting the comments and was a co-signatory, along with
several concerned Canadian technology companies.
The Departments of Industry Canada and of Canadian Heritage issued the
Consultation Paper to seek public input about whether Canada should
prohibit the circumvention of technological restrictions used on
copyrighted works, as the United States has done with the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In light of the U.S. experience with
the DMCA, including the threats against Princeton Professor Ed
FeltenÕs team of researchers and the arrest of Russian programmer
Dmitry Sklyarov, the joint EFC/EFF comments urge Canadian lawmakers
not to enact a similar law. In the United States, the DMCAÕs
anti-circumvention provisions have upset the balance between copyright
owners and the public, as well as chilling free speech and scientific
research. The EFC/EFF comments urge Canadian lawmakers, at a minimum,
to include exceptions to preserve these crucial Canadian public
priorities from the over-reaching demands of the American copyright
industries.
The Consultation Paper also asks whether Canada should impose a
Ònotice and takedownÓ obligation on Canadian ISPs and other network
intermediaries in exchange for a Òsafe harborÓ from copyright
liability. The joint EFC/EFF comments recommend that any Òsafe
harborsÓ from copyright liability must protect consumer privacy and
the end-to-end architecture of the internet. The U.S. experience with
Ònotice and takedownÓ suggests that such procedures, if not carefully
limited, can be abused by copyright owners to stifle free expression
and compromise the privacy of consumers.
The EFC/EFF comments can be found at:
http://www.eff.org/sc/20010915_efc_eff_cpdci_comments.html
Comments submitted by others can be viewed at:
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp00007e.html
Replies to the comments already submitted may be sent to the
Departments of Industry Canada and of Canadian Heritage until October
5, 2001. Additional information about the Canadian copyright reform
process can be found at:
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp01100e.html
- end -
_________________________________________________________________
New MP3 Programs Now Available on Radio EFF
Radio EFF proudly presents a set of five new programs on a variety of
core EFF cases and campaigns. You can find them all at:
http://www.eff.org/radioeff/
Program One: DVD-CCA v Bunner: Oral Arguments
Location: California State Court of Appeals (6th
Appellate Circuit) San Jose, CA
Date: August 23, 2001
Downloadable MP3 (O)pen Audio:
http://radio.eff.org/radio_shows/rfc8.mp3
Summary: Oral arguments in the appeal of the January 2000 preliminary
injunction banning dozens of netizens from posting DeCSS under a
California state trade secret misappropriation claim.
Arguing for Andrew Bunner: David Greene, Executive Director of the 1st
Amendment Project. Arguing for the DVD-CCA: Robert Sugarman, Weil
Gotshal & Manges
Running Time: 40:35
Program Two: Free Dmitry: Outside the Bail Hearing
Location: California State Superior Court in San Jose, CA
Date: August 13, 2001
Downloadable MP3 (O)pen Audio is available at:
http://radio.eff.org/radio_shows/dmitry.mp3
Summary: Messages to all who support the "Free Dmitry" and "Reform the
DMCA" movements from Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director and Joe
Burton, Dmitry's lead defense attorney. Several protesters also
explain why they feel the DMCA dangerously places the protection of
property above liberty.
Running Time: 7:36
Program Three: Free Dmitry: Anti-DMCA Protest
Guests: Nine protesters share their stories from the front lines
Date: July 30, 2001
Location: San Francisco, CA
Downloadable MP3 (O)pen Audio is available at:
http://radio.eff.org/radio_shows/rfc5.mp3
Summary: Over 100 people gathered at the US Federal building in
downtown San Francisco to protest for the release of Dmitry Sklyrov,
who is the first scientist to be arrested and jailed under criminal
provisions of the DMCA. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
endows publishers with new rights to exercise and exert control over
your private and personal experience of copyrighted works.
Running Time: 5:54
Program Four: The Emerging Rules of Cyberspace
Speaker: Robin D. Gross, EFF Staff Attorney for Intellectual
Property
Date: February 6, 2001
Location: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Downloadable MP3 (O)pen Audio is available at: http://
radio.eff.org/radio_shows/robin1.mp3
Summary: The threat to freedom of expression presented by excessive
copyright protections in the digital age.
Running Time: 26:31
Program Five - Coming Soon : Audio from EFF's 1st annual Share-In
Music Festival that was held on September 8th in San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park.
Share-In Information is available at:
http://www.eff.org/events/share-in/
- end -
_________________________________________________________________
EFF Thanks Rebirth and Development, Inc.
EFF would like express our gratitude to Rebirth and Development, Inc.
with a special thnk you to Kenneth Peralta for their donation of a
large wooden conference table that allows us to work even more
effectively.
Rebirth and Development, Inc. is working on setting up a documentary
film makers resource facility. EFF appreciates their generosity and
support.
- end -
_________________________________________________________________
Administrivia
EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco CA 94110-1914 USA
+1 415 436 9333 (voice)
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
http://www.eff.org/
Editors:
Katina Bishop, EFF Education & Offline Activism Director
Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technical Director/Webmaster
editors@eff.org
To Join EFF online, or make an additional donation, go to:
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_________________________________________________________________
