Call To Action
Freedom Not Fear 2008
Call To Action by Danny O'Brien
Freedom Not Fear is the world's ongoing demonstration against the encroachment of civil liberties by anti-terrorist laws -- particularly in the online world. This year the protests take place this Saturday, October 11th in nearly thirty countries, including the very first events in the Americas.
The origin of the campaign comes from Europeans' anger at the EU's 2006 data retention directive, a pan-European law that requires ISPs to log email and web traffic data for a minimum of six months, and often more. Terabytes of personal data on millions of innocent Europeans are now being collated, paid for by customers and taxpayers, and open for access by any criminal or civil investigation, no matter how trivial.
Freedom Not Fear has since evolved into a more general warning: showing how fundamental freedoms like privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic participation lose when reactionary surveillance systems penetrate our open networks, justified by a hyperbolic rhetoric of fear.
The range of groups and countries that have joined Freedom Not Fear has shown that just how wide the offensive front against your privacy has become, and how many are keen to join the defence. This Sunday, Freedom Not Fear events will take place in 22 European cities, as well as (thanks to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, IP Justice, EFF and others), in Washington, D.C. In South America, protests are planned in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Manta in Ecuador, and other countries are preparing to join.
For those countries without substantial privacy legislation, this year's Freedom Not Fear demonstrations are calling for the adoption of Data Protection laws in their countries. Strong privacy laws should finally affirm freedoms guaranteed by the fundamental rights of privacy in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in many other international and regional human rights treaties.
If you'd like to join the demonstrations in your own country, reach out to your national contact listed here, and add the banner to your own web page.
Copyright Enforcement Bill Being Pushed to Fast Track
Call To Action by Richard EsguerraOur friends at Public Knowledge have been getting the word out about S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act of 2008. The bill was amended by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, but it still aims to give the government the power to bring civil suits against infringers (where they would normally file a criminal lawsuit), allowing the Department of Justice to act as an enforcement tool for the entertainment industry, paid by your tax dollars.
The latest word is that the bill's backers are aiming to get the bill passed quickly, without the full Senate voting on the measure -- without your voice, the bill may very well wind up on the fast track. If you oppose this unprecedented addition to Big Content's copyright enforcement machine, head to the Public Knowledge site and take action now!
Tell the FCC to Open Up White Spaces!
Call To Action by Hugh D'AndradeLast week, we sent out a call to action over the “white spaces” issue soon to be addressed by the FCC. Let’s take a closer look at why this issue matters.
It ought to be a no-brainer to say that the airwaves belong to everyone. We use the airwaves to carry TV and radio signals, for our cellphones and cordless phones, even for garage door openers and baby monitors. And while corporations are given license to use limited slices of the spectrum for radio and TV, the airwaves remain public property, a treasure we hold in common.
The FCC’s job is to regulate this valuable resource in the public interest. Later this fall, the FCC is expected to decide what should be done with “white spaces,” the unused areas of the spectrum that lie between channels licensed by TV and radio broadcasters. These white spaces amount to vast, unused real estate in the spectrum, a territory that will only increase in February 2009 with the discontinuation of analog TV signals.
Should these spare airwaves be auctioned to the highest bidder, or should they be preserved as open space that can be used by anyone? EFF is joining other groups, including Public Knowledge and Google’s Free the Airwaves campaign, in calling on the FCC to allow this unused spectrum to be left open and unlicensed. Our hope is that this will allow more people than ever before to use these resources, which were once the exclusive monopoly of private industry.
This would mean the airwaves could be used to deliver high-speed broadband wireless Internet access — an Internet with the same reach as broadcast radio and television. The public would be able to get online from almost any public or private space, untethered to wired connections or Wi-Fi hotspots. Accessing the Internet would be as easy as picking up a radio frequency. Low-income neighborhoods and rural areas where fiber-optic wires prove too expensive to lay down could enjoy the same fast connection speeds as dense urban neighborhoods.
The promise of wireless broadband would also allow an increase in the number of ISPs offering Internet access, delivering a challenge to the near monopolies held by cable and broadband providers in most areas. Increased competition among ISPs should drive down prices and potentially increase pressure on ISPs to maintain net neutrality and other desirable network policies (i.e. no 250GB caps).
Developers would also be free to use this spectrum to experiment with new devices that take advantage of the newly available spectrum. When the Internet is everywhere, cheap and easy to access, new devices will spring up to make use of it, promising a revolution in wireless technology that will likely bring changes we can only now imagine.
It wouldn't be an absolute free-for-all: companies using the space would have to use systems that would prevent them interfering with other spectrum users, just as airplanes have to obey air traffic control to fly in our skies.
But TV and radio broadcasters and other industries are defending their traditionally exclusive grip on the radio frequencies. They say external use of white spaces might interfere with their analog TV signals or with wireless mics used in concerts and sport events — even before the FCC is done testing prototype devices designed to avoid interference. Moreover, fears about interference begin to sound a bit stale in the face of new technology that allows white space devices to co-operate in sharing their common bandwidth while keeping them out of the way of the sprawling analog TV signals.
EFF encourages the public to make its voice heard in this vital debate about the future of the radio spectrum and the Internet. Public resources should be used in the public interest, and what better way to do that than to bring the communications medium of our time to a wider audience than ever, at greater speed, and lower cost?
Take action now. Tell the FCC to open up the airwaves!
