EFFector 22.30: Record 12-Million Digit Prime Number Nets $100,000 Prize EFFector Vol. 22, No. 30 October 21, 2009 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : In our 521st issue: * Record 12-Million Digit Prime Number Nets $100,000 Prize A worldwide volunteer computing project called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) has discovered a 12-million-digit prime number, netting $100,000 and a Cooperative Computing Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The GIMPS PrimeNet network made the discovery on a computer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Mathematics Department. Computing manager Edson Smith installed and maintained the GIMPS software at UCLA, and thousands of other volunteers also participated in the search process. The discovery was hailed by Time magazine as the 29th top invention of 2008. EFF is able to give this award through a generous grant from an anonymous donor. The $100,000 prize was earmarked for the first discovered prime number of over 10 million digits. For the full press release: https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/10/14-0 For more about the Cooperative Computing Awards: https://www.eff.org/awards/coop : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : EFF Updates * Hollywood Pressures FCC on Selectable Output Control Again Our friends at Public Knowledge have been doing a great job in Washington, DC, fighting against the MPAA's efforts to selectively disable the high-definition analog (i.e., "component" video) outputs on your cable box. In this anti-consumer, anti-innovation effort, Hollywood is telling the FCC that it won't give Americans early access to blockbuster movies unless the FCC lets it kill your analog outputs. For the full Deeplink: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/hollywood-pressuring-fcc-selectable-output-control For the Public Knowledge update: http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2696 * Court Rules that Phones Ringing in Public Don't Infringe Copyright In June, we reported on ASCAP's claim that when your cell phone's musical ringtone sounds in a public place, you are infringing copyright. A federal court firmly rejected that argument last week, ruling that "when a ringtone plays on a cellular telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from copyright liability, and the [cellular carrier] is not liable either secondarily or directly." This is exactly the outcome urged by EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Center of Democracy & Technology in an amicus brief filed in the case. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/court-rules-phones-ringing-public-dont-infringe-co : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : miniLinks ~ Obama "Hope" Artist Admits Lying in Fair Use Case Shepard Fairey confessed to fabricating evidence and deleting files in his lawsuit with the AP. http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2009/10/17/the-obama-hope-poster-case-whoa/ ~ 100 years of Big Content Fearing Technology--In Its Own Words ArsTechnica has assembled some choice quotes demonstrating how new technologies have always threatened established business models in the content industry. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/100-years-of-big-content-fearing-technologyin-its-own-words.ars ~ Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in OCW For those designing Open Course Work, the Center for Social Media has put together some guidelines. http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_of_best_practices_in_fair_use_for_opencourseware1 ~ YouTube's Bandwidth Bill Is Zero. Welcome to the New Net A new report says YouTube may not be costing Google all that much in bandwidth. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/youtube-bandwidth/ : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Announcements * Attend the EFF 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. We'll also be awarding a Cooperative Computing Award to the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) project for discovering a 12-million-digit prime number. 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 * Got Any Questions for LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman? Keynote speaker Reid Hoffman will be answering pre-submitted questions from EFF supporters at the Pioneer Awards. Wanna know how he came up with the idea for LinkedIn? Curious about what he thinks the Next Big Thing will be? Here's your chance to ask! Reid Hoffman is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn, the business-oriented social networking site. Before LinkedIn, Reid was Executive Vice President of PayPal and has also held management roles at Fujitsu Software Corporation and Apple. Reid serves on the Board of Directors for SixApart, Kiva.org, and the Mozilla Corporation. Reid will be interviewed on stage by EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn, who will present pre-submitted questions alongside a collection of our own inquiries on innovation and digital freedom. If you have a question you'd like to ask, please submit it to events@eff.org no later than noon on Thursday, October 22. * 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 * Visit EFF at LISA '09 in Baltimore! Stop by the EFF booth at the 23rd Large Installation System Administration Conference in Baltimore, MD! The conference begins on 11/1, and the EFF booth will be open on Wednesday, 11/4 and Thursday, 11/5. See you there! Be sure to check out special conference registration discounts: http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa09/discounts.html Location: Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Grand Ballroom Salons VIX 700 Aliceanna Street Baltimore, MD 21202 Exhibit Hall Hours: Wednesday, November 4: 12-7 PM Thursday, November 5: 10-2 PM For More Information: http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa09 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : 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/
