Press Releases: August, 2005
Anonymous Critics' Identities Protected
Free Speech Prevails When Over 100 Defendants Are Dropped from Suit in Utah
Utah - Private information about anonymous online critics was protected this week when a Utah man dropped his lawsuit against people who had allegedly made critical comments about him on message boards and blogs, including the Yahoo! SCOX board. The plaintiff in the case had asked the court to let him use the subpoena process to unmask his anonymous "John Doe" critics.
Sun's "Open Media Commons" Is More Like a Gated Community
EFF Warns Consumers That Digital Rights Management Is Incompatible with Fair Use
San Francisco, CA - On Monday, Sun Microsystems announced its new "Open Media Commons," a digital rights management (DRM) project that the company claims will foster sharing of media while protecting copyrights. However, Sun has offered no evidence that its DRM system will be any better than the Microsoft DRM that it's supposed to challenge.
Digital Artists Deserve the Right to Copy Movies
EFF Asks Federal Court to Save Fair Use on "Intermediate Copies"
EFF Wants You to Make Online Anonymity Easy
Announcing the Tor Graphical User Interface Competition
San Francisco - Now information designers can make it easier for people to protect themselves online. The developers of Tor, a software tool for communicating anonymously online, today announced the Tor graphical user interface (GUI) competition. Entrants will create a usable and aesthetically pleasing GUI for the Tor program, which will allow people to install and configure Tor easily and monitor the software's performance while it's running.
Anonymous Online Critics Should Not Be Silenced by Lawsuit
EFF Opposes Subpoenas Seeking to Reveal the Identities of Web Writers, Bloggers
Utah - A case brought in a US district court by a Utah man threatens to undermine the First Amendment right to speak anonymously on issues of public concern. In Merkey v. Yahoo SCOX et al., the plaintiff requested an expedited process for serving subpoenas that would unmask anonymous "John Doe" critics who participated in a discussion of another court case, in which Utah-based technology company The SCO Group, Inc., is suing IBM.
Service Technicians Can
EFF Weighs in on Computer Privacy Case in Washington
Washington - Imagine if the law permitted the people who service your computer to share all the personal information on your hard drive with the police, without your consent and without a search warrant. A case on appeal to the Washington State Court of Appeals, State v. Westbrook, threatens to allow just that, turning your friendly neighborhood computer repair technician into a government informer.
Victory in US v. Councilman Case
Appeals Court Preserves Email Privacy
Massachusetts - In a long-awaited decision, the full First Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned a First Circuit panel decision that had allowed an email service provider to secretly monitor the content of users' incoming messages without violating federal wiretap law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other privacy organizations submitted briefs in the case urging that the earlier decision be reheard by all seven First Circuit judges.
EFF Announces Two New Hires
Corynne McSherry Joins Legal Staff; Nicole Nguyen Heads Membership
San Francisco, CA - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce the addition of two people to our staff. Corynne McSherry, a Staff Attorney, will be filling out the organization's legal team of intellectual property experts. Nicole Nguyen joins EFF's development team as Membership Coordinator, working on outreach campaigns and membership drives.
FCC Issues Rule Allowing FBI to Dictate Wiretap-Friendly Design for Internet Services
Tech Mandates Force Companies to Build Backdoors into Broadband, VoIP
Internet Critic of Delaware Politician Has Right to Anonymity
Message Board Poster Criticized Smyrna Town Council Member
Secret Documents About Indymedia Server Disappearance Unsealed
Government Order Demanded Only Logs; Web Host Rackspace Handed Over Server
