Press Releases: September, 2005
Feds Unable to Search Own Anti-Terrorism Database
TSA Stops Deleting "Secure Flight" Records, But Drags Feet On Project Transparency
Washington, DC - After receiving hundreds of requests from Americans asking to know what personal information the government has obtained about them, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) told passengers that it "does not have the capability to perform a simple computer-based search" to locate individual records.
Trusted Computing Group Helps Lock Down Mobile Phones
EFF Criticizes Plan for Restrictive New Cell Technology
San Francisco - The Trusted Computing Group (TCG), an industry consortium developing controversial computer security specifications, has released a wish list of applications of TCG technology to cell phone security. Unfortunately, much of this "security" aims to help cell phone carriers cement their control over their customers.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) attended TCG's announcement in San Francisco on Tuesday and criticized the proposals as steps in the wrong direction for the future of mobile communications.
FCC Mandate Forces 'Backdoors' in Broadband ISPs and VoIP
EFF and Others to Challenge Privacy-Invasive Rule
Washington, DC - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a "First Report and Order" confirming its expansion of the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is planning to challenge the rule in court.
Patent Ruling Threatens Free Speech
EFF Asks Supreme Court to Consider Controversial Case
San Francisco - On Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to review an important patent case that has broad implications for free speech and consumers' rights.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this year that eBay violated MercExchange's online auction patents and that eBay could be permanently enjoined, or prohibited, from using the patented technology. Then the Court went a dangerous step further. It held that patentees who prove their case have a right to permanent injunctions unless the injunction poses a risk to public health. This "automatic injunction" rule deprives judges of their traditional discretion to consider how an injunction might affect other public interests -- including free speech online.
If this rule is allowed to stand, free expression could suffer.
"We're not saying injunctive relief is never a good idea," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "But courts must have the ability to look at how an injunction will affect a variety of public interests. That's especially true now, when so many companies are claiming patents on basic technologies that citizens use to communicate online."
In its brief, EFF argues that this ruling threatens free speech because patent owners who claim control over Internet publishing mechanisms are in a position to threaten anyone who uses them to broadcast their ideas, even for noncommercial purposes.
Added McSherry, "Given the explosion of new communications technologies such as blogs, instant messaging, and wikis, this is hardly the time to limit courts' ability to consider the benefits that a given technology brings to freedom of expression, or evaluate the chilling effects of forbidding the use of that technology."
You can read the full brief at:
www.eff.org/legal/cases/ebay_v_mercexchange/EFF_brief.pdf.
For more on patents and how bad law can hurt the public, see:
www.eff.org/patent.
Contacts:
Corynne McSherry
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
corynne@eff.org
New Case Reveals Routine Abuse of Government Surveillance Powers
Cell Phones Used to Track Users Without Probable Cause
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is arguing that a New York federal court should stand by its decision to require probable cause to believe a crime has been or is about to be committed before letting the government secretly track people using their cell phones.
EFF Hosts 15th Anniversary Bash
Public Celebration at EFF's San Francisco Headquarters
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is 15 years old this year. Come celebrate 15 years of defending freedom in the digital world. Our anniversary party is on Sunday, October 2nd, at 5 p.m. at the EFF headquarters in San Francisco, and the event is free of charge and open to everyone.
Google's Card Catalog Should Be Left Open
San Francisco, CA - Yesterday, the Authors Guild filed a class-action copyright infringement suit against Google over its Google Print library project. Working with major university libraries, Google Print aims to make thousands of books searchable via the Web, allowing people to search for key words or phrases in books. The public may browse the full text of public domain materials in the process of such a search, but only a few sentences of text around the search term in books still covered by copyright.
Election Reform Commission Urges Secure E-voting
EFF Applauds Commission Recommendations But Opposes National ID Card Endorsement
Washington, DC - The Carter-Baker Commission, formally known as the Commission on Federal Election Reform, released on Monday an extensive report about the country's electoral health, along with a wide range of suggested reforms. Most of the Commission's recommendations should cheer those concerned about the security of electronic voting.
EFF, Florida Disability Rights Advocates Fight to Avert E-voting Debacle
Case Puts Security and Auditability at Risk in the Next Election
EFF Wins Unsealing of Secret Documents in Apple Case
New Information Shows No Exhaustive Investigation Before Company Subpoenaed Journalists
Federal Court Slams Door on Add-On Innovation
Shuts Down Open Source Videogame Server Project
Customers Get Less Than They Think at Online Music Stores
EFF's New Guide to Digital Music Services Reveals the Truth About DRM
San Francisco, CA - If you buy music from an online music store, you may be getting much less than you thought. Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released "The Customer Is Always Wrong: A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music," which exposes how today's digital rights management (DRM) systems compromise a consumer's right to lawfully manage her music the way she wants.
