How Not To Secure Your Search Privacy

Posted by Derek Slater

Yesterday, the AP reported on a tool called TrackMeNot, which promises to protect "web-searchers against surveillance and data-profiling." While we certainly appreciate the intentions of TrackMeNot's developers, it is wholly ineffective at serving its stated purpose. EFF recommends you follow these tips to keep your search history private.

Computer security expert Bruce Schneier explains just some of the reasons why TrackMeNot doesn't work here.

[Permalink]

California Lawmakers Pass Safeguards for Privacy-Leaking RFID Chips

Posted by Derek Slater

The California State Senate passed tough new privacy safeguards yesterday for use of "tag and track" devices known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips embedded in state identification cards. The bill, SB 768, helps ensure that Californians can control the personal information contained on their drivers' licenses, library cards and other important ID documents.

EFF worked with a diverse range of concerned groups to get this bill passed, and now it just needs to clear one last hurdle -- the governor's signature -- before becoming law. If you live in California, follow this link and call the governor's office immediately to voice your support for S.B. 768.

Regardless, forward that link to friends and family who live in California and urge their support.

[Permalink]

miniLinks for 2006-08-30

Posted by Danny O'Brien

• AOL Goes From Badware to Worseware
  As AOL's servers give out your search terms, its client takes control of your computer without permission. What's not to like?
  
• Barney's Last Gasp
  New York Times sees our case as the final straw for the purple dinosaur.
  
• Boomtime for Biometrics Manufacturers
  Tech companies eye $8 billion in government ID contracts.
  
• IGF IP workshop
  IP Justice, EFF, and CPTech, eFIL, ask the Internet Governance Forum to look at impact of overbroad IP on the Internet.
  
• Preemptive Cease and Desists bad for ... Lawyers?
  American Lawyer looks at the media outrage that bad publicity blanket C&D letters gather.
  
• Free Wi-Fi - Just No Free Speech
  Culver City, home of the film studios, starts filtering its free muni wi-fi
  
• Or Constitutional Rights
  ... while its terms of service declare you've waived your First Amendment rights.
  
• Press Here to Waste Police Time
  MSN Messenger apps will have a one-click "report sex offender" button in the UK.
  
• Give us Your Poor, Your Huddled Personal Information
  Michael Chertoff asks our "European allies" to hand over their citizens' personal data to the US.
  

[Permalink]

Engadget: DRM Harms Customers *and* Online Music Services

Posted by Derek Slater

As reported throughout the blogosphere, a tool for evading Windows Media DRM has been made widely-available online. Will Microsoft block music fans' ability to make fair use of legitimately acquired music and respond with DMCA threats or even lawsuits, perhaps at the record labels' behest?

Engadget makes the case for why they shouldn't in an open letter published today:

"We're big fans of the subscription services [which currently use Microsoft DRM] ... but let's face facts: the damn things don't work very well. It's pretty easy to download tracks, but it's a serious pain in the ass to successfully transfer them to a portable device.... [W]e get tons of emails from consumers complaining about how hard it is to get Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo Music Unlimited, etc. tracks on to their players, or, god forbid, Macs.

"Are a lot of people going to pay $15 to sign up for a subscription service, download a ton of music, and then cancel a month later? Absolutely, but that's not a big deal. Those people were never, ever going to sign up for a service that offers locked down music anyway, so be happy that you squeezed any money out of them at all. (Yeah, this does make it tougher to offer free, unlimited trials, but that's not the end of the world.) Could those same people then put all the music they've just downloaded up on the P2P networks? Sure, but all that music is available there anyway, so it shouldn't make a bit of difference in the grand scheme of things."

Well said -- the DRM doesn't do anything to stop music "pirates," but it does discourage potential customers from ever using licensed music services. In turn, the DRM hurts not only music fans, but also online music download and subscription businesses, as Yahoo! is quite willing to admit. Let's hope Microsoft and the major record labels lay off the lawsuits and, ultimately, the DRM.

[Permalink]

Barlow to MPAA: Don't Worry, Be Happy, and Lose the P2P War

Posted by Derek Slater

BBC News recently recorded a debate about P2P between MPAA President Dan Glickman and EFF Co-Founder John Perry Barlow. Watch the whole thing here, and don't miss another classic Barlow quote:

"The good news is that you guys have managed to buy every major legislative body in the planet, but you know the problem is, the bad news is that you're up against a dedicated foe that is younger and smarter than you are and will be alive when you are dead, and has historical forces on its side, and is using its technological acumen very adeptly to ward off all of your efforts of control and you're gonna lose that one. I mean you're fifty-five years old and these kids are seventeen and they're just smarter than you are. So you're gonna lose that one. But the good news is you guys are mean sons of bitches and you've been figuring out ways to rip off audiences and artists for centuries really, and all you gotta do is get outta bed a little earlier in the morning for a spell and you'll find new ways of doing this. I have every faith in you and you should give yourselves a little credit, instead of howling that you're going to be victimized. It's not like you to be victimized."

In other words, the movie industry will live on -- and find a veritable pot of gold waiting for it -- when it stops threatening innovators and fans with lawsuits and DRM.

[Permalink]

EFF Sues Barney The Dinosaur To Defend Online Free Speech

Posted by Derek Slater

Barney the purple dinosaur may teach kids a lot about playing fair, but his lawyers need a lesson in fair use. Now EFF is fighting back on behalf of one website owner to stop Barney's lawyers' abuse of copyright and trademark law.

Yesterday, EFF asked a federal court [PDF] in New York to uphold Stuart Frankel's online parody of Barney as non-infringing protected speech. Stuart posted the parody on his website in 1998, and Barney's lawyers have repeatedly sent him baseless cease-and-desist letters over the last four years.

This isn't the first time Barney's lawyers have wrongly threatened web publishers. In fact, they sent one of their unfounded threats to EFF in 2001, when we mirrored another non-infringing parody. At that time, EFF sent a response, which attempted to correct Barney's lawyers' prehistoric understanding of copyright and trademark laws. We also publicized their threats and sent out a call for others who had been threatened by Barney. That's when Stuart first contacted us.

EFF hopes this case will help put an end to Barney's unfounded threats once and for all, and serve as a lesson to other overreaching rights holders. Read the press release and complaint [PDF].

[Permalink]

miniLinks for 2006-08-24

Posted by Danny O'Brien

• RIAA Deposes Dead Defendant's Children
  Lawyers allow 60 days for grieving process...
  
• Demonstrates an "Abundance of Sensitivity" to the Press Outrage
  ...backing out when the case is publicized.
  
• You typed "Verb." Did you mean: Registered Trademark?
  Google(TM) decides that it's not such an everyday word, after all.
  
• British Parliament Criticizes Net Companies' Complicity With China
  "We conclude that the collaboration of Western internet companies in the censorship and policing of the internet for political purposes is morally unacceptable."
  
• EU Mulls Censoring Bomb-Making Sites
  ... while EU ministers consider censoring and policing the European Net.
  
• Wiretap Manufacturers for More Surveillance
  The makers of wiretapping hardware lobby for government- mandated surveillance.
  
• Anonymity Is the Substrate
  Ben Laurie on why all identity systems have to have anonymity as a base level.
  
• EFF Debates the Search Engine Industry in Wall Street Journal
  "Companies...are in the best position to judge how long [search] data should be kept", they claim.
  
• AOL Sacks CTO, Staff Over Data Valdez
  ... while AOL decides on a one-year employee retention policy.
  
• Search Engine Watch
  Danny Sullivan looks at AOL's actions and their effect on the search engine market.
  
• ATI: DRM Forbids Us From Providing Open Source Graphics Drivers
  "Multimedia elements such as content protection must not, by their very nature, be allowed to go open source."
  
• Intel Motherboards to Get DRM Baked-In
  ... while codecs get wired closer to protected video paths.
  
• Thirty Days of DRM
  Michael Geist on the many checks and balances a Canadian DMCA law should include.
  
• Did SABRE Sell American's Passenger Name Records?
  American Airlines accuses the global reservation systems of shilling their users' privacy.
  
• Privacy International Announces the 2006 Stupid Security Competition
  Frustrated by security theater? Join the three terminals' long line.
  
• "You Just Called..."
  Continuing the theme, a Flash movie (with sound) taps the NSA's thoughts.
  

[Permalink]

OneWebDay Celebration, One Month Away

Posted by Derek Slater

September 22 is OneWebDay, a day to "celebrate the Web and what it means to us as individuals, organizations, and communities." Founded by cyberlaw professor Susan Crawford and spearheaded by volunteers around the globe, the initiative is helping to plan events in major cities. The goal is to get people to take a moment and reflect on the beneficial role the Web already plays in our lives -- and how important it is to take action to protect its development in the future. Learn more by visiting the OneWebday site.

[Permalink]

Judge Halts Warrantless Wiretapping Program

Posted by Derek Slater

As reported by the AP, "A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it." The ACLU brought this lawsuit after the spying program was first disclosed.

Read the judge's decision and injunction order.

This is a huge victory in the fight to stop the government's massive and illegal surveillance. This ruling deals with the so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program."

EFF has sued AT&T for its role in the NSA's illegal spying, which we allege goes beyond what the President has directly admitted. Last month, Judge Walker rejected the government's motion to dismiss based on state secrets, along with AT&T's motion to dismiss, and allowed the case to go forward.

Donate to support our case against AT&T, and tell Congress now to stop the surveillance bills.

We've posted some quotes from the decision beneath the fold.

[Read the entire post]

CA Alert - Keep Privacy-Leaking Chips out of State ID!

Posted by Derek Slater

We're close to a major victory in the battle to keep radio frequency identification (RFID) tags out of California IDs, but we need your help to finish the job.

Without careful safeguards, RFIDs in IDs can broadcast your personal information to anyone nearby with cheap, readily-available equipment. Your government could be exposing you to the risk of covert tracking, stalking and identity theft.

In California, EFF has been working with a diverse range of concerned groups to stop insecure ID cards. The result, S.B. 768, faces a vote next week in the Legislature before reaching the governor. (The bill has already passed the Senate once, though not in its amended form.)

If you live in California, use our Action Center now to call your representatives and tell them to vote yes on SB 768.

[Permalink]