EFFector Vol. 14, No. 9 May 10, 2001 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THE 169th ISSUE OF EFFECTOR (now with over 27,400 subscribers!):
* 2600 Court Asks for Further Briefing on 1st Amendment
* EFF Moves to Protect Anonymity of Online Speech
* Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org
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Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory
2600 Court Asks For Further Briefing on First Amendment
For Immediate Release -- May 10, 2001
Contact:
Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director
cindy@eff.org
+1 415 436 9333 x108
Kathleen Sullivan, Stanford Law School Professor
sullivan@law.stanford.edu
New York - The Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals today asked the
parties in the 2600 Case to file supplemental briefs on May 30, 2001,
focusing on the First Amendment issues raised in the case.
"This is good news," noted Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan
who argued the case for 2600 Magazine. "It means that the Court took
our First Amendment arguments seriously. They are asking for very
specific answers about how the First Amendment should be applied here
and we welcome the chance to tell them."
The text of the order is available at:
http://eff.org/Legal/Cases/MPAA_DVD_cases/20010508_ny_augment_order.h
tml
"Dean Sullivan did a wonderful job did in the argument," added Cindy
Cohn, EFF's Legal Director. "We credit her for focusing the Court on
these issues. We are especially pleased that the Court asked
specifically about the section of the injunction that prevents linking
to DeCSS." During the argument the court asked questions about whether
this kind of injunction could chill expression by the New York Times
and other mainstream media publications.
The case arises from 2600 Magazine's publication of and linking to a
computer program called DeCSS in November, 1999 as part of its news
coverage about DVD decryption software. DeCSS decrypts movies on DVDs
that have been encrypted by a computer program called CSS. Decryption
of DVD movies is necessary in order to make fair use of the movies as
well as to play DVD movies on computers running the GNU/Linux
operating system.
The Movie Studios have sued 2600 Magazine under a 1998 law that
prevents even the publication of programs that can decrypt DVDs or
other digital media. Most recently the law was used to frighten a
Princeton Computer Science Professor, Edward Felton, from presenting a
paper describing how to break proposed watermarks on CDs at a
scientific conference. For more information see:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/IP/DMCA-release.html
An informal transcript of the oral argument and more information about
this case are all available on the EFF website at:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/Video/MPAADVD_cases/
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
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Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory
EFF Moves to Protect Anonymity of Online Speech
Defends Critics of Failing dot Com Company
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lauren Gelman, EFF Public Policy Director, gelman@eff.org,
202-487-0420
Robert C. Holtzapple, Farella, Braun & Martel,
bholtzapple@fbm.com, 415-954-4400
May 7, 2001 -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with San
Francisco law firm Farella, Braun & Martel, today filed a motion in
the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California to
defend the right of anonymous critics to express their views online
without fear of arbitrary disclosure of their identity. The motion
seeks to prevent an Idaho company called Medinex Systems, Inc. from
learning the identities of 14 John Does who participated on a Yahoo!
message board devoted to discussions about the company.
Medinex sued the John Does, identified by their screen names such as
"zippershut", "awe2bad4mdnx", and "dotcommie2000", after they made
remarks critical of the company on Yahoo! message boards. Medinex
stock has dropped precipitously in the past few months and is
allegedly on the verge of being dropped from the NASDAQ exchange for
non-compliance with NASDAQ's $1 minimum bid price requirement.
The critics, some self-identified as shareholders and employees of the
company, stated their opinions about the mismanagement of the company
and other factors leading to its financial difficulties. Medinex
alleged defamation, tortious interference with business relationship
and wrongful interference with a prospective economic advantage. The
company then issued a subpoena to Yahoo! in California seeking the
identities of their critics without first proving any illegal actions.
"This case is another in a disturbing trend where failing dot com
companies seek to silence their critics using the civil discovery
process," said Lauren Gelman, Public Policy Director for EFF. "We are
hopeful that this court will agree with a recent Seattle District
Court decision stating unequivocally that the First Amendment protects
anonymous online speech." Gelman referred to a case entitled In re
2theMart.com, in which the court quashed a subpoena seeking the
identity of Internet posters on an Infospace message board after a
motion brought by the EFF and the ACLU of Washington.
"These people were simply expressing their opinions. Unfounded
subpoenas such as these chill everyone's speech on the Internet. Since
some of the Does claim to be employees, we are also worried that
Medinex has brought this suit in order to identify and retaliate
against them, rather than because of any real defamation," added
Robert Holtzapple of Farella, Braun and Martel, which is handling the
matter pro bono.
Background materials about this case are available on the EFF website
at: http://eff.org/Cases/Medinex_v._Awe2bad4mdnx/
Materials concerning the 2TheMart case are available at:
http://www.eff.org/Cases/2TheMart_case/
The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org ) 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 websites in the
world.
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Administrivia
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Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technical Director/Webmaster (editor@eff.org)
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