EFFector Vol. 22, No. 08 March 20, 2009 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : In our 503rd issue: * EFF LAUNCHED A SEARCH TOOL FOR UNCOVERED GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS as part of our celebration of Sunshine Week. The search tool is sophisticated technology that allows the public to closely examine thousands of pages of documents we have pried loose from secretive government agencies. In addition, we're posting scores of never-before seen documents on several controversial government initiatives, including the FBI's Investigative Data Warehouse and DCS 3000 surveillance program, and the Department of Homeland Security's Automated Targeting System and ADVISE data-mining project. Over the past two and a half years, EFF has filed hundreds of FOIA requests and made thousands of pages of once-secret documents available to the public on our website. Our FOIA work has revealed details about the FBI's improper use of National Security Letters, uncovered the Department of Homeland Security's internal policies on searching and interrogating travelers at the border, and revealed information about the technology the government uses to wiretap cell phones. The release of these new documents is just one step in the ongoing fight for greater government transparency. EFF will continue to pressure the government to remember its obligations to transparency and to the public. To support EFF's FOIA work: secure.eff.org/foia For the full press release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/03/16 More on our celebration of Sunshine Week: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/foia http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/sunshine-week-commonsense-transparency-readthebill http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/sunshine-week-october-11-2002-nsa-surveillance-mem http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/sunshine-week-february-8-2002-nsa-surveillance-mem http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/sunshine-week-missing-documents-nsa-surveillance http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/sunshine-week-traffic-analysis-fall-2004 * ANONMYITY AND PRIVACY SHOULD NOT ADD UP TO PRISON TIME, EFF argued before the United States Sentencing Commission this week. EFF urged the court to reject modifications to federal sentencing guidelines that would require extra prison time for people who use technology that hides one's identity or location. Under current rules, a criminal defendant can get additional time added to a prison sentence if he used "sophisticated means" to commit the offense. In its testimony before the commission, EFF argued that sentencing courts should not assume that using proxies -- technologies that can anonymize users or mask their location -- is a mark of sophistication. In fact, proxies are widely employed by corporate IT departments and public libraries and, like many computer applications, can be used with little or no knowledge on the part of the user. For the full press release: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/03/17 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : EFF Updates * EFF Urges Court to Block Ploy for Cell Phone Location EFF urged a U.S. appeals court Monday to block the government's repeated attempts to seize cell phone location information -- a record of where the cell phone user travels throughout each day -- without a warrant in violation of communications privacy statutes and the Constitution. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/03/17-0 * Attorney General Sets New FOIA Policy The new FOIA guidelines released this week by Eric Holder express strong support for government transparency and establish a presumption in favor of disclosure of information requested under FOIA. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/attorney-general-sets-new-foia-policy-its-impact-r * CNET Axes Blogger Who Exposed Whitehouse.gov Privacy Issue CNET will no longer carry Surveillance State by Chris Soghoian, an blogger who produced some of the best coverage on the issue of privacy for users of government websites. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/cnets-fails-stand-blogger * DOJ Seeks Jail Time for Music Sharing The government asked for a six-month prison sentence for Kevin Cogill, who recently plead guilty to a pre-release leak of the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/doj-seeks-jail-time-music-sharing * The Fair Use Massacre Continues Thanks to the good folks at YouTomb, we've learned that Warner Music's automated takedown net has now caught two videos of little kids being little kids. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/fair-use-massacre-continues-now-warner-s-going-aft : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : miniLinks ~ Pentagon Official Warns of Risk of Cyber Attacks An Air Force general made the case that the US is vulnerable to attack, but says the military has not been asked to defend Internet infrastructure. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031702715.html ~ Partial List of Corporations Allowed to See ACTA The public and activist groups don't have access to the secret copyright treaty, but these corporations do. http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/14/partial-list-of-corp.html : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : Announcements * You're Invited to a "Geek Reading" with Authors Cory Doctorow, Rudy Rucker, Annalee Newitz, and Charlie Anders at 111 Minna Gallery Join EFF on Monday, March 23rd, for a fundraising event featuring award-winning writer Cory Doctorow. Cory will be reading from his novel, "Little Brother," a story of high-tech teenage rebellion set in the familiar world of San Francisco. As he currently calls the UK home, this is a rare opportunity to to hear Cory read from his work in person. He will be joined by fellow writers Rudy Rucker, Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders reading from their latest works. WHEN: Monday, March 23rd, at 7:30 p.m. WHO: Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing (boingboing.net), and a contributor to Wired, Popular Science, Make, the New York Times, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. Cory is an EFF fellow and the former Director of European Affairs at EFF. He has won the Locusand Sunburst Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards. His latest novel, New York Times Bestseller "Little Brother," was published in May 2008, and his latest short story collection is "Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present." Rudy Rucker is a popular science fiction and nonfiction writer. Born in Kentucky in 1946, Rudy studied mathematics, earning a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in the theory of infinite sets. After working 15 years as a mathematics professor on the East Coast, Rudy moved to Silicon Valley in 1986 to become a computer science professor at San Jose State University, also working as a software engineer at Autodesk, Inc. After some 20 years at SJSU, Rudy retired from teaching. Rudy has published 29 books, including five non-fiction popular science books on such topics as relativity, infinity, the fourth dimension, and information. "The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul"--his most recent nonfiction book--is about the meaning of computation. Annalee Newitz is a journalist who covers the cultural impact of science and technology, covering such topics as open source software and hacker subcultures. Annalee writes for many periodicals, including Popular Science and Wired, and since 1999 has had a syndicated weekly column called Techsploitation. From 2004-2005, Annalee was a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She is the editor of io9, a Gawker-owned science fiction blog. Charlie Jane Anders blogs about science fiction at io9.com. She organizes the Writers With Drinks reading series and is starting a weekly podcast called "I Am So Smart." Her writing has appeared most recently in "The McSweeney's Joke Book Of Book Jokes," Mother Jones magazine, and the upcoming "Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009 Edition." Charlie wrote a novel called "Choir Boy" and co-edited an anthology called "She's Such a Geek." Find her on Twitter as "charliejane." WHERE: 111 Minna Gallery 111 Minna St. @ 2nd San Francisco, CA 94105 Admission is $25. No one turned away for lack of funds. Must be 21 or older to attend. RSVP to: events@eff.org 111 Minna Gallery is accessible via BART. Get off at the Montgomery station and use the exit marked 2nd and Market. Walk south on 2nd Street until you reach 111 Minna Gallery on the right. It's also walking distance from the Caltrain station. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : 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/
