EFFector 22.29: EFF Announces Winners of 2009 Pioneer Awards! EFFector Vol. 22, No. 29 October 13, 2009 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : In our 520th issue: EFF Announces Winners of 2009 Pioneer Awards! Get your tickets now to the 2009 Pioneer Awards and help us honor this year's winners: hardware hacker Limor "Ladyada" Fried, e-voting security researcher Harri Hursti, and public domain advocate Carl Malamud. Given every year since 1991, the Pioneer Awards recognize leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier. The award ceremony will be held at 7 p.m., October 22, at the Westin San Francisco in conjunction with the Web 2.0 Summit, co-produced by O'Reilly and TechWeb. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffmann will keynote the event, and the celebration will include drinks, fine food, and excellent company. Tickets available at: http://action.eff.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=100101 For the full press release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/10/05 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : EFF Updates * Obama Sides with Republicans; PATRIOT Act Renewal Bill Passes Senate Judiciary Committee Minus Critical Civil Liberties Reforms It looks like most of the Senators on the Judiciary Committee weren't swayed by last week's New York Times editorial, which suggested they consider USA PATRIOT Act renewal a "critical chance to add missing civil liberties and privacy protections, address known abuses and trim excesses that contribute nothing to making America safer." Instead, the Committee passed a bill to renew all of the PATRIOT powers that were set to expire at the end of the year, with only a handful of the original reforms that were first proposed by Senators Feingold and Durbin's JUSTICE Act and Committee Chairman Leahy's original PATRIOT renewal bill. No, rather than adding more protections to the bill, the Committee voted to accept seven Republican amendments to the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act to remove the few civil liberties protections left in the bill after it was already watered down at the previous Committee meeting. Surprisingly and disappointingly, most of those amendments were recommended to their Republican sponsors by the Obama Administration. As Senator Feingold so elegantly stated in his post-vote blog post on Daily Kos: "In the end...Democrats have to decide if they are going to stand up for the rights of the American people or allow the FBI to write our laws." https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/obama-sides-republicans-patriot-act-renewal-bill-p TAKE ACTION NOW! Tell your Senators to support PATRIOT reforms like those in the JUSTICE Act: https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=441 * Fact Check on FOX News' Misleading PATRIOT Act Reporting It appears that the only television news network that's been regularly covering the PATRIOT Act renewal process in Congress has been FOX News, and its coverage has seemed a lot more like pro-PATRIOT propaganda than unbiased news reporting. Fortunately, Julian Sanchez of The Cato Institute has been fact-checking this closely. For Julian Sanchez's blog post: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/10/02/misleading-on-patriot-reauthorization/ For Julian Sanchez's video: http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/10/06/fox-on-patriot-a-video-fisking/ For the full Deep Link: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/patriot-act-reform-continues * Appeals Court Denies Government Motion to Delay Release of Telecom Lobbying Records On October 9, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's emergency motion asking for a 30-day stay of Friday's deadline to release records relating to telecom lobbying. A district court had imposed that deadline in EFF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case for records about corporate-government meetings during last year's telecom immunity debate. Congress eventually passed legislation giving complete immunity from legal liability to corporations that participated in government spying. The government filed another emergency motion with the district court on the afternoon following the 9th Circuit's decision, again asking for a stay pending its decision on whether or not to appeal. The district court held the matter over until this week, when it will decide whether a further stay is appropriate. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/appeals-court-denies-government-motion-delay-relea * It's My Browser and I'll Auto-Click if I Want to Free file hosting provider MediaFire seems to think that when you follow a link to download a file from its service, it has the right to control your browser. This is yet another example of a web site owner forgetting that it's your computer, and you get to choose how to experience its web pages. MediaFire's complaint is against SkipScreen, a Firefox plug-in that automates the process of downloading from free hosting sites like RapidShare, zShare, MegaUpload, and others (including, until recently, MediaFire). Some of these ad-supported download sites try to force downloaders to sit through a "waiting period" before revealing the actual download link -- a "feature" that these sites probably tout to advertisers in order to get premium ad rates. SkipScreen automates this waiting-and-clicking for you. MediaFire sent a lawyer letter to Mozilla, which owns Firefox and hosts the SkipScreen plug-in (among thousands of other Firefox add-ons). EFF is representing SkipScreen's creators, and we've sent a letter to Mozilla explaining why MediaFire doesn't have a leg to stand on. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/its-my-browser-and-ill-auto-click-if-i-want * Amendment Would Deny Protection to Bloggers Since 2007, Congress has been slowly considering the Free Flow of Information Act. The bill is intended to prevent reporters from being forced to reveal the identity of anonymous sources. It was proposed in the wake of the Valerie Plame scandal, in which New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for refusing to reveal a source. It's a critically important bill, which unfortunately contains some large loopholes. A source can be exposed in cases where corporate trade secrets have been revealed, where national security could be harmed, or even where it's simply deemed to be in "the public interest." Despite these flaws, the bill remains insufficiently dismantled for the tastes of some lawmakers. Senator Chuck Schumer last week introduced an amendment that would exempt bloggers, freelancers and other non-salaried journalists from the protections. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/shield-law * FTC Proposes Problematic Regulation of Online Free Speech The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published vague new advertising rules that require online writers to disclose whether they've been compensated for product endorsements. The rules are full of ambiguities and double-standards. Significantly, the new rules place requirements on social media - rules from which traditional print and television media are exempt. For instance, if a blogger publishes a book review, the rules require her to disclose whether she received a free copy of the book from the publisher. Book reviews in print media face no such restrictions. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/ftc-regulation * Google Should Use Extra Time to Add Privacy Into Google Book Search EFF, along with the ACLU and the privacy authors and publishers we represent together, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of College and Research Libraries, CDT, EPIC, SFLC, and Professor James Grimmelman, has sent a joint letter to Google urging it to include privacy protections along with its reconsidered Google Book Search Settlement. For the letter: https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/authorsguild_v_google/GBS_privacy_group_ltr.pdf For the full blog post: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/google-book-search-joint-privacy-letter * It's Still a Duck: Court Re-Affirms That First Sale Doctrine Can Apply to "Licensed" Software Building on a prior ruling, a federal court has re-affirmed that a Seattle man was not infringing copyright law by re-selling software he obtained from an Autodesk customer. The ruling is bound to frustrate the copyright industries, which have struggled for years to convince their customers and the courts that the only thing you "buy" when you buy software is a limited and temporary right to use that software under certain conditions. In other words, they've claimed buyers aren't owners. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/it-s-still-duck-court-re-affirms-first-sale-doctri * Man Arrested for Twittering Goes to Court, EFF Has the Documents Everyone has been reporting about last month's arrest of Elliot Madison for twittering about police movements to protesters during the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA. On September 24, the FBI also raided Mr. Madison's home in Queens, NY. The next day, Mr. Madison filed a motion in the Eastern District of New York federal court in Brooklyn for the return of his seized property. For Mr. Madison's motion: https://www.eff.org/files/Madison_Motion_EDNY_ordertoshowcause.pdf For the supporting declaration: https://www.eff.org/files/Madison_motion_EDNY.pdf For the full blog post: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/man-arrested-twittering-goes-court-eff-has-documen * In re Bilski: The Supreme Court Takes on Business Method Patents EFF joined an amicus brief in Bilski v. Kappos, a closely-watched case to be decided later this year where the Supreme Court will determine whether or not to limit the patentability of "business methods." Congress never intended the strong protections of the patent monopoly to be available for mere services and methods of doing business. There is already plenty of incentive for innovation in those areas without the need for patents, driven by a variety of forces, such as establishing and maintaining first-mover advantages and establishing reputational capital that cannot be "stolen" by competitors. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/re-bilksi-supreme-court-takes-business-method-pate * Federal Court Partially Invalidates One of EFF's Most Wanted Patents: Acacia Research Streaming Media Ten claims from the Acacia Research Streaming Media Patent have been invalidated by the U.S.District Court for the Northern District of California. The court invalidated the remaining claims that had been asserted in the litigation, after several others had been dropped from the suit by Acacia. EFF was not involved in the case, which was brought by Acacia against leading satellite and cable companies Echostar, DirectTV, Time Warner Cable and CSC Holdings, Inc. Similar claims in related patents will also be invalid under the court's analysis. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/federal-court-partially-invalidates-one-eff-most-wanted-patents * Cops Can't Convert Car Into Tracking Device Without Court's OK The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently held that officers may not place GPS tracking devices on cars without first getting a warrant. The case, Commonwealth v. Connolly, was decided under the state corollary to the Fourth Amendment, and its reasoning may influence pending GPS tracking cases, including United States v. Jones, where EFF is an amicus. Massachusetts and New York are in the forefront of protecting their citizens' right to location privacy against technological encroachment. Federal courts should do the same under the Fourth Amendment. For the Constitution to have continued relevance in a technological world, it should protect the privacy that individuals reasonably anticipate as we move through the world, and that means no pervasive, remote, suspicionless, wholesale tracking by GPS or other device. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/cops-cant-convert-car * Washington Legislative Roundup In DC, the summer doldrums have ended, and Congress has begun a flurry of activity. Legislators are in the midst of considering several important bills, including The Informed P2P User Act, the Megan Meier Cyber-Bullying Prevention Act, and the AWARE Act. Other problematic legislation continues to lurk in the hallways on Congress. Congressional Quarterly reported last week that Democratic leadership is working hard to bring PASS ID, the national identification card scheme, to the floor. Senators Snowe and Rockefeller continue to promote The Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would grant the President the power to shut down the Internet. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/washington-dc-roundup : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : miniLinks ~ On PATRIOTs and JUSTICE: What We Don't Know The Emptywheel blog asks what the public doesn't know about the way the Patriot Act works. http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/29/on-patriots-and-justice-what-we-dont-know/ ~ Rocky Mountain Bank v. Gmail: The Cloud Is Poached Blogger Andi Baritchi discusses the recent case in which a Gmail account was frozen through no fault of the owner. http://blog.andibaritchi.com/2009/10/rocky-mountain-bank-vs-gmail-cloud-is.html : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Announcements * See Jennifer Granick at Social Networks: Friends or Foes? And get MCLE credit! EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick will be speaking at Social Networks: Friends or Foes?, a conference hosted by UC Berkeley's Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic; Berkeley Center for Law and Technology; and Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. Her panel is on access to social network data by government, criminal defendants and civil litigants. The event is on October 23, and MCLE credit will be offered. Registration information, more details and the schedule are available at: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/bclt/socialnetworking : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : 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 Back issues of EFFector are available at: http://www.eff.org/effector/
