e>EFF in the News
EFF in the News: February 2006
Feb. 28, 2005
TG Daily
"EFF rallies opposition against AOL's pay-for-play email system"
By Humphrey Cheung
A group of unlikely allies has banded together to stop AOL's pay-for-play email proposal...
Danny O'Brien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation says the new system will "reward AOL financially for degrading free email" and could be the first sign of a "very dangerous move." He adds that anti-spam measures are necessary, but that overly-enthusiastic anti-spam measures could cause collateral damage.
Feb. 28, 2005
PC World
"Outsmarting the Online Privacy Snoops"
By Tom Spring
With the controversy over Internet privacy growing, more businesses are seeking to ease user concerns by offering new tools that enable anonymous searches and Web surfing...
The Tor Project, a grassroots network of online volunteers, is backed in part by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Tor's free software lets you request and view Web pages without revealing the location of your computer to the site--information most sites collect from traditional browsing.
Feb. 28, 2005
CIO Today
"Backlash Builds Against Certified E-Mail"
By Elizabeth Millard
A campaign has been launched to thwart plans proposed by America Online and Yahoo to charge high-volume e-mail marketers a per-message fee for guaranteed delivery...
Backlash against the fee-for-delivery plan now has grown more organized. A campaign has been put together by MoveOn.org, an advocacy group, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Feb. 28, 2005
Wired News
"BioBouncer Might Make Bars Safer"
By Rachel Metz
A new security system for nightclubs uses facial recognition technology to identify troublemakers -- and share their faces with other clubs in a security network...
Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said people may find BioBouncer insulting or invasive. Facial recognition software is notoriously inaccurate, he said, and he is concerned that data-sharing could be used to blackball innocent partiers.
"Think about it: Someone doesn't like you, your photo gets in there, you walk in someplace and they're telling you, 'You're a troublemaker, you got bounced from that other bar.'"
Feb. 28, 2006
New York Sun
"Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say"
By Josh Gerstein
Two federal judges in Florida have upheld the authority of individual courts to use the Patriot Act to order searches anywhere in the country for e-mails and computer data in all types of criminal investigations...
An attorney with a group that pushes for online privacy, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said yesterday that the lack of published cases on the subject reflects the fact that search warrant applications are presented outside the presence of defense lawyers, often before a defendant even knows he is under investigation. "It's fairly typical that search warrants for electronic evidence would be kept under seal," the privacy advocate, Kevin Bankston, said. "In most cases, they wouldn't be reported."
Mr. Bankston said there is no question that the Justice Department wanted the Patriot Act to include nationwide-search authority for all crimes, but whether lawmakers accomplished that task is another question. "I don't know that Congress knew what it was voting on," he said.
Feb. 28, 2006
New York Times
"Groups mobilize to oppose AOL, Yahoo e-mail fee plans"
By Saul Hansell
A group of political and other advocacy groups began a campaign Tuesday to protest plans by America Online and Yahoo to charge high-volume senders of e-mail fees to guarantee preferred delivery of their messages...
Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation also argued that the new system would give Internet companies a financial incentive to let their standard e-mail service deteriorate.
"The only way you can sell a value-added service like this is by degrading the service you have now," O?Brien said.
Feb. 27, 2006
Wired
"Scenes from the MySpace Backlash"
By Kevin Poulsen
Last December, a mischievous student used a home computer to create an account on the social networking site MySpace bearing the name and likeness of his school principal, Eric Trosch...
"It's reminiscent of some of the coverage of chat rooms when they became popularized, and there was much talk about how people were exposing themselves in chat rooms," says Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The notion of somebody claiming to be a teenager has been around since IRC... How dangerous is MySpace compared to other mediums? As compared to the real world?"
Feb. 27, 2006
InformationWeek
"Yahoo Limits Advertising With Competing Trademarks"
By Thomas Claburn
On Wednesday, Yahoo will no longer offer advertisers the option to bid on search keywords containing a competitor's trademarked terms. Last week, the company notified its advertisers via E-mail that it planned on March 1st to modify its editorial guidelines regarding the use of trademarked keywords...
"That's nonsense," Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Corynne McSherry said in a statement. "It's as if Walgreens decided generic aspirin manufacturers could no longer bid for shelf space next to the more expensive name-brands. Putting the generics near the name-brands promotes generic aspirin sales, of course, but it also helps consumers by saving them the time and effort of hunting around the shelves for cheaper alternatives."
Feb. 27, 2006
Prensa Latina
"US Company Sues AT&T for Espionage"
The Electronic Frontier Foundation brought suit against the giant AT&T Monday for collaboration in the case of government spying on civilians...
The class action suit represents all potential US citizens damaged, and asks for eventual economic compensation up to a billion dollars.
Feb. 27, 2006
Seattle Times
"The race to deliver travelers speedy airport checks"
By Kristi Helm
For frequent travelers, long security lines at airports can be a huge source of frustration. New technology developed by Bellevue-based Saflink and other companies will test whether these travelers are willing to give up more privacy for greater convenience...
Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the need for a new card to speed airport departures "artificially created demand."
"The inconvenience and delay at airports is caused by the government," he said. Each component of the travel card carries privacy risks, he said. Combined, they could "create an amazing moving picture of your everyday life," he said.
Feb. 27, 2006
IT News
"Analysis: RFID privacy debate leaves questions unanswered"
By Laurie Sullivan
A fiery debate on privacy at the AIM Global conference late Thursday unearthed more questions and problems than answers and solutions... The panelists included Lee Tien, senior attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties group focused on high-tech issues...
Tien said technology was slowly taking privacy from consumers. "One snap shot of me walking down the street from a camera above; sure that's not really an invasion of privacy, but when you're able to connect the dots of my entire routine throughout the day, that's another story," he said. "Our laws haven't kept up with that, and yet technology is creating those problems for us."
Feb. 25, 2006
New York Times
"Spy chiefs shop for 'snoopware'"
By John Markoff
A small group of National Security Agency officials slipped into Silicon Valley on one of the agency's periodic technology shopping expeditions this month...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights advocacy group, has asserted in a lawsuit that the AT&T Daytona system, one of the largest U.S. storehouses of calling records and Internet message routing information, was the foundation of the National Security Agency's effort to mine telephone records without a warrant.
Feb. 24, 2006
The Nation
"America's Online Censors"
By Rebecca MacKinnon
The bill would require US internet companies to hand over all lists of forbidden words provided to them by "any foreign official of an Internet-restricting country" (as defined by the US State Department) to a specially created US Office of Global Internet Freedom. It would also require these companies to report all content deleted or blocked at the request of such a government to the same government office. Free speech groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have pointed out that this would place US Internet companies in the position of acting as an informer to the US government about actions of a foreign government.
Feb. 24, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"Doctor looks to use technology to aid global health care"
By Patrick Hoge
Dr. Larry Brilliant is a man with big ideas...
One was the Well, a trailblazing online community in Sausalito that never generated much cash but spawned such influential groups as the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Feb. 23, 2006
PC World
"Political Rivals Unite Against Paid E-Mail Plan"
By Robert McMillan
The two sides of the U.S. political spectrum have found an issue to unite them: free e-mail...
"We have been putting together a rather large coalition of groups from across the spectrum," said Cindy Cohn, legal director with the EFF. "They are mainly nonprofit or political groups or small-business concerns.... They're all people who can't afford to pay to get their message across."
Feb. 23, 2006
Philadelphia Inquirer
href="http://blogs.philly.com/blinq/2006/02/i_think_im_goin.html">"Picture
This"
By Daniel Rubin
I was thinking I'd draw the scales of justice to illustrate this
post. Never mind that I can't draw, and you might turn the page
laughing...Google, and friends of the court such as the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, had argued that offering thumbnail of images posted on
other Web sites is a "fair use" of the material, and cited a 2002
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case that came to the same conclusion,
ruling the reproduction improved access to information on the
Internet.
Feb. 22, 2006
CNET
href="http://news.com.com/Google+releases+Desktop+3+for+Enterprise/2100-7355_3-6041848.html">"Google
releases Desktop 3 for Enterprise"
By Elinor Mills
Google on Tuesday released the beta version of its latest desktop
search application, Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise, which the company
recommends for companies worried about security risks...Because the data travels through Google servers and is stored there
for up to a month, privacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, as well as network administrators, have complained that it
could lead to the compromise of sensitive data.
Feb. 22, 2006
Los Angeles Times
href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google22feb22,1,4065474.story?coll=la-headlines-business">"Google's Image Search Set Back"
By Chris Gaither and Dawn C. Chmielewski
Search giant Google Inc. lost a court fight Tuesday in a copyright
case that highlights the challenge of building a business on the
frontier of technology and the law...Had Matz ruled differently on that point, "a huge part of the World
Wide Web would be suddenly vulnerable to legal attack," said Fred von
Lohmann, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Feb. 21, 2006
Red Herring
href="http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=15805&hed=Gartner+Warns+Google+Desktop">"Gartner
Warns on Google App
Research firm Gartner warned businesses to either disable or carefully
manage the feature in Google Desktop that allows users to temporarily
store virtual copies of the contents of their hard drives on Google's
servers...The Gartner warning comes on the heels of a wider alarm sounded by
digital rights advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation.The EFF warned all users that by using Search Across Computers, they
were squandering their privacy rights by making their personal or
corporate information available via subpoena.Feb. 21, 2006
CBS 5 - San Francisco
href="http://www.cbs5.com/video/?id=11226@kpix.dayport.com">ConsumerWatch
Buyer Bulletin
By Jeanette Pavini
Video: EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry on the Sony BMG settlement
process
Feb. 20, 2006
New York Times
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/business/media/20youtube.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">"A
Video Clip Goes Viral, and a TV Network Wants to Control It"
By John Biggs
When a video clip goes "viral," spreading across the Web at lightning
speed, it can help rocket its creators to stardom. Alas, the clip can
also generate work for corporate lawyers..."This is an example of the copyright troubles that are waiting for
YouTube, Google Video and all the other video hosting services that
rely on user-posted content," said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer at the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group.
Feb. 20, 2006
Information Week
href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=180204165&subSection=Columns">"The
JPEG Inforcer"
By Eric Chabrow
Dick Snyder is unapologetic about going after companies that have used
JPEG technology in their products. He's CEO of Forgent Networks, a
company that acquired the patent for JPEG compression technology when
it bought Compression Labs in 1997...One critic, Jason Schultz, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a civil liberties group, says that while Forgent's
business model is legal, it doesn't contribute to society's
benefit. "Is this a good thing?" he asks. "Is this helping the world
be a better place? Is this helping innovation?"
Feb. 20, 2006
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
href="http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060220/NEWS01/602200319/1002/NEWS">"Privacy
debate rears head here"
By Gary Craig
The national debate over privacy has entered federal courts in
Rochester. Earlier this month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman
refused a request from federal authorities to track the signal of a
criminal suspect's cell phone without obtaining a warrant."Certainly this would be an important case," said Kevin Bankston, a
lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy
group based in San Francisco. "The fact that they may appeal this one
would be of great note and I think would be a victory (for privacy
advocates). Based on so many decisions against them, the Justice
Department is finally bowing to pressure and submitting its theory to
appellate scrutiny."
Feb. 19, 2006
Chicago Tribune
href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0602190209feb19,1,67510.story?coll=chi-business-hed">"Soverain
Fills Its Cart with Licensing Deals"
By Mike Hughlett
Soverain Software's headquarters is a small subleased room in a
Chicago office tower; there's no sign trumpeting its presence, and the
firm isn't even listed in the building's directory..."A lot of patents back in the late 1990s and early 2000s were made
when the patent office was still trying to figure out what to do,"
said Jason Schultz, a staff attorney with the non-profit Electronic
Frontier Foundation, which researches public interest issues on
patents.
Feb. 19, 2006
Chicago Tribune
href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0602190193feb19,1,1312696.story?coll=chi-business-hed">"Blurry
on Blackberry"
By Mike Hughlett
Chicago-area inventor Thomas Campana Jr. fashioned a wireless e-mail
system years before the word "blackberry" came to mean more than just
fruit..."I lump the NTP/BlackBerry case into a bigger issue," said Jason
Schultz, a staff attorney with the non-profit Electronic Frontier
Foundation, which researches public interest issues on patents."Is all this litigation good for the U.S. economy, technology and the
public? The only benefit is that they [NTP and companies like it] get
to extract money. What have they done for the world?"
Feb. 18, 2006
Chicago Tribune
Implanting everyone with a computer chip is one of those ideas that most people reject without even considering...
Of course, civil libertarians are aghast. "This may be appropriate for cattle, pets or packages, but for humans it is a very different issue," said Lee Tien, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Feb. 18, 2006
Chicago Tribune
Implanting everyone with a computer chip is one of those ideas that most people reject without even considering...
Of course, civil libertarians are aghast. "This may be appropriate for cattle, pets or packages, but for humans it is a very different issue," said Lee Tien, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Feb. 17, 2006
MIT Technology Review
By Dylan Tweney
A new search technology from Google makes it possible for law enforcement officials to examine personal documents from your hard drive, without your knowing it, according to the digital-rights advocacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)...
EFF staff attorney Kevin Bankston says that files on a service provider's computers, such as those stored by Google, would be easier for law enforcement to access because a subpoena would be issued to the provider, rather than the user.
Feb. 17, 2006
Associated Press
"Verizon Sued for Alleged Wiretapping"
An attorney and entrepreneur has filed a lawsuit against Verizon Communications Inc. alleging it has illegally collaborated with the National Security Agency's wiretapping operations...
AT&T Inc. was sued Jan. 31 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil-liberties group, over the same wiretapping program. That suit also sought billions of dollars in damages.
Feb. 16, 2006
PC Pro
"Ripping music for iPods is not fair use - RIAA"
Ripping music from CDs and transferring it to an iPod does not constitute fair use, according to a document filed by the major record companies...
In other words, explained Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the EFF, a leading digital rights campaign organisation, if you want to copy a CD to your iPod, get permission first.
'If I understand what the RIAA is saying, "perfectly lawful" means "lawful until we change our mind", he wrote in the EFF blog. 'So your ability to continue to make copies of your own CDs on your own iPod is entirely a matter of their sufferance. What about all the indie label CDs? Do you have to ask each of them for permission before ripping your CDs? And what about all the major label artists who control their own copyrights? Do we all need to ask them, as well?'
Feb. 16, 2006
CBS 5 - San Francisco
Rep. Tom Lantos Slams U.S. Tech Firms On China
By Manuel Ramos
Video: EFF Activism Coordinator Danny O'Brien talks about responsibilities for doing business in China
Feb. 15, 2006
Forbes
By Richard C. Morais
In a windowless room in New York City, a computer engineer with owlish glasses--call her "Jenny Chen"--peers at a color-coded bar graph on her PC screen. Her group is launching attacks on the Chinese wall of censorship that blocks access to sites discussing verboten topics like civil rights and democracy...
Tor, meanwhile, created by tech pundit Roger Dingledine, "is a network of virtual tunnels" burrowing undetected through the Internet. Its early development was funded by both the U.S. Navy and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Feb. 15, 2006
Newsday
By Monty Phan
So ever since you heard about the Justice Department trying to subpoena search engine records, you're wondering whether Googling "president" and "assassinate" while helping with your kid's school report is going to come back to haunt you...
The Tor program, which is on the site belonging to the online free-speech advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation at tor.eff.org, also protects your identity by concealing your IP address.
Feb. 14, 2006
USA Today
"Lawmakers call for overseeing, not ending, spying"
By John Yaukey
President Bush's domestic surveillance program appears poised to coast along for the time being, perhaps with a few modifications...
The Center for Constitutional Rights and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, both watchdog groups, also have filed suits challenging the program.
Feb. 13, 2006
PC World
"Remote Access Comes to Google Desktop"
By Dennis O'Reilly
In the ongoing battle among file-search tools for the hearts, minds, and screen real estate of PC users, Google opens a new front by adding the ability to access files and recently viewed Web pages from your remote PCs...
If the Privacy Police weren't happy with the snoopability of earlier Google Desktop versions (and they weren't), they'll be downright apoplectic about this new option (and they are, as indicated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation's reaction to the version 4 beta).
Feb. 13, 2006
Wall Street Journal
By Joanna L. Ossinger
Is it real...or is it a parody? On the Web, it's often hard to tell...
"All the cards are stacked against the little guy," says Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that defends online free speech and privacy rights. "Filing a lawsuit isn't that expensive -- at least not to a big corporation. But if you're an artist or consumer, who can afford such a thing?"
Feb. 13, 2006
Chicago Tribune"Americans starting to implant RFID chips in humans"
Say you have a high-security workplace and worry about the wrong people getting in. Forget badges that can be lost or stolen. Why not tag employees with a radio-transmitting chip...
"This may be appropriate for cattle, pets or packages, but for humans it is a very different issue," said Lee Tien, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology and civil liberties group in San Francisco, Calif.
Feb. 11, 2006
New York Times
"Attention in N.S.A. Debate Turns to Telecom Industry"
By Scott Shane
Though much of official Washington has been caught up in the debate over the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, one set of major players has kept a discreet silence: the telecommunications corporations...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit privacy group, has filed a class-action suit against AT&T.
Feb. 10, 2006
BBC News
"Privacy Fears Hit Google Search"
A leading US digital rights campaign group has warned against using Google software which lets people organise and find information on their computers...
"Coming on the heels of serious consumer concern about government snooping into Google's search logs, it's shocking that Google expects its users to now trust it with the contents of their personal computers," said EFF staff attorney Kevin Bankston.
"Unless you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will, Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the desktop software can index.
"The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant it would need to seize the same things from your home or business," he said.
Feb. 10, 2006
Digit Magazine
By Dan Tynan
The battle to protect digital entertainment content is being fought on new fronts, as content owners seek to guard against music, movie, and now TV piracy...
Fred von Lohman, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, says that this change is a classic case of content owners taking away features consumers have paid for.
"Two years ago the TiVo you bought did one thing, and now suddenly it does something different," he says. "Despite the fact we're buying more media than ever before, products are treating us more and more like pirates each day."
Feb. 10, 2006
ZDNet News
By Elinor Mills
A new feature in Google Desktop 3 that allows people to search for documents across multiple computers poses privacy risks and should not be used, a consumer digital rights nonprofit and a security company are warning...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation warned consumers that the government or litigious rivals could subpoena the search engine for the information stored on the Google servers before it is deleted, which Google said is within 30 days.
Feb. 9, 2006
USA Today
"Google's newest search tool raises privacy concerns"
By Jefferson Graham
Internet search giant Google, which raised eyebrows when it fought the Department of Justice's attempts to monitor personal search queries, today unveils a new desktop search tool that accesses more private records than ever - of those who choose to use it...
But online privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation worries about Google extending its reach. "We think this is an enormous privacy risk for users who choose to utilize it," says EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann.
Feb. 9, 2006
CBS 5 - San Francisco
"Craigslist Sued Over 'Discriminatory' Housing Ads"
By Allen Martin
A civil rights group is suing classifieds website Craigslist for publishing what it calls discriminatory housing ads. Lawyers say some of the offending listings called for "no minorities," or "no children"...
The federal suit brought against Craigslist by the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is baseless because federal and state laws do not view online service providers as publishers, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Kurt Opsahl.
"The question is, 'do you want to hold the soapbox liable for what the speaker has said?' The people who put up these ads are responsible for their own content," Opsahl said.
Feb. 9, 2006
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Does the NSA Computer Know It's Just Backgammon?"
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, filed a lawsuit against AT&T last month for the company's alleged role in helping the NSA "illegally" spy on its customers. The suit, which demands billions, claims the phone giant violated the privacy of its customers.
Feb. 9, 2006
WJZ - CBS Baltimore
"Should Cell Phone Privacy Be Protected?"
By Mary Bubala
Video: EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston on warantless cell-phone tracking
Feb. 9, 2006
CBS 5 - San Francisco
"Yahoo!, Google Trying to Crack Chinese Market"
By Sue Kwon
Video: EFF Activism Coordinator Danny O'Brien on Google's censored search results in China
*
Feb. 8, 2006
Christian Science Monitor
By Mark Clayton
The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.,,
"We don't realize that, as we live our lives and make little choices, like buying groceries, buying on Amazon, Googling, we're leaving traces everywhere," says Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We have an attitude that no one will connect all those dots. But these programs are about connecting those dots - analyzing and aggregating them - in a way that we haven't thought about. It's one of the underlying fundamental issues we have yet to come to grips with."
Feb. 8, 2006
Fox News
"Privacy Swapped for Convenience in TSA Frequent Flier Program"
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
Becoming a trusted flier through the Transportation Security Administration's new "Registered Traveler" program may get fliers through a shorter line at the airport, but they better be prepared to submit fingerprints, pay a fee and go through a criminal background check first...
Matt Zimmerman, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in California, said his group is concerned that Registered Traveler is just a "backdoor way to re-introduce" CAPPS II, which would have been mandatory for all passengers. He said the past privacy violations should give pause, even if this program is purely voluntary.
"Basically, TSA's track record itself should raise concerns," said Zimmerman.
Feb. 6, 2006
Casper Star-Tribune
"UW officials face tough choice"
By W. Dale Nelson
Technology commonly used to send prerecorded educational lectures over the Internet is at the center of a dispute between a California firm and an array of universities, including the University of Wyoming...
In a friend of the court brief filed on Sept. 20, 2004, in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, consumer and public interest groups argued, according to a news release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that standards currently employed by the federal courts "often result in improper patents of uncertain scope and lead to overzealous threat letters and lawsuits."
Feb. 6, 2006
International Herald Tribune
" Amateurs again threaten to tip world upside down"
By Eric Sylvers
While music and film producers loudly drag illegal file sharers to court, company executives, government officials and industry lobbies are debating how to regulate the creation and distribution of digital content in an age in which distinctions between those who consume and those who create are disappearing.
Feb. 6, 2005
Modesto Bee
"Web Sites Pimping for Prostitutes?"
By Merrill Balassone
Police say some dating Web sites and online classified services increasingly feature blatant ads for prostitution...
But Kurt Opsahl, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said part of the 1996 Communications Decency Act holds that Web sites are not liable for information posted there by third parties.
If Web site creators were responsible for screening the thousands or millions of posts each day, Opsahl said, it would be nearly impossible for them to stay in business.
"That's pretty much the only way message boards on the Internet could possibly work," he said. "But if what they do rises to essentially pimping and they're getting fees based on providing the prostitution services, then it's no longer information from a third party."
Feb. 6, 2006
BBC
"CD anti-piracy firm vows openness"
The company behind controversial anti-piracy software installed on some music CDs says it will work to end security flaws found in its products...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights campaign group, has pressured SunComm since MediaMax's behaviour was first exposed.
Feb. 6, 2006
CNET
"Some companies helped the NSA, but which?"
By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache
Even after the recent scrutiny of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance project approved by President Bush, an intriguing question remains unanswered: Which corporations cooperated with the spy agency?..
A lawsuit that could yield more details about industry cooperation is winding its way through the federal courts. Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group based in San Francisco, sued AT&T after a report that the company had shared its customer records database--though not its network--with the NSA.
Feb. 5, 2006
Los Angeles Times
"Editorial: Tapping Into AT&T"
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for civil liberties in cyberspace, sued AT&T last week, alleging that the company violated its duty to keep phone records and conversations private...
The lawsuit takes an indirect route to the foundation's ultimate goal, which is to force investigators to get a court's approval before spying on U.S. residents. At Senate hearings on the NSA program, which begin Monday, members of the Judiciary Committee may want to borrow from the foundation's strategy and see what they can learn not just from government officials but from telecommunications executives, who cannot hide behind executive privilege.
Feb. 5, 2006
Stereophile
By Wes Phillips
The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) announced February 2 that SunComm Technologies, Inc., in response to an EFF open letter, has pledged in that future versions, its MediaMax DRM technology will not install itself automatically even when the consumer declines the end-user license agreement (EULA) that appears when a CD is first inserted in a computer CD or DVD drive, as it does now.
Feb. 5, 2006
New York Times
" Q&A: NSA EAVESDROPPING: Privacy vs. National Security?
By Lionel Beehner
President Bush has defended his post-9/11 decision to grant the National Security Agency powers to wiretap without warrants as "vital" to protecting the United States from terrorist attacks...
AT&T has been sued by Electronic Frontier Foundation for collaborating with the NSA in intercepting phone calls with court approval.
Feb. 4, 2006
Detroit Free Press
By Anthony Martinez Bevin
Rebecca Jeschke, media coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which touts itself as the defender of freedom in the digital world, said bloggers "are allowed to talk about things that make people uncomfortable or may even make them angry."
Feb. 3, 2006
Christian Science Monitor
"NSA's Struggle to Catch a Wily Foe"
By Peter Grier
In all likelihood in the mid-1990s the National Security Agency was listening to the communications traffic flowing through the Umm Haraz satellite ground station outside Khartoum, Sudan...
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the NSA itself on Jan. 17. On Jan. 31, another civil liberties group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued AT&T for its alleged cooperation with the NSA eavesdropping.
Feb. 3, 2006
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"Online Snooping Raises Free Speech Questions"
By Jason Cato
Forget parents secretly keeping tabs on their kids' Internet activity. Much of the cyber-snooping these days is done by schools...
Students aren't doing anything today they didn't do in decades past -- they're simply using a different medium, said Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney with San Francisco-based privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. Pictures and messages that used to be scribbled on paper and passed in class are now posted online.
"What you want to do is to teach students to use liberty responsibly, not take it away because you don't trust what they'll do with it," Opsahl said. "One thing you can do to guarantee that everyone in the school will want to see a site is to suspend someone over it."
Feb. 3, 2006
Legal Times
"Google Searches for D.C. Presence"
By Anna Palmer
Google. It's a noun. It's a verb. It's what people do before they do anything else on the Web. Google, it sometimes seems, is everywhere. Everywhere, that is, except Washington...
"A key issue of our criticism is their tendency to hold on to data indefinitely," says Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet nonprofit that focuses on civil liberties. "The DOJ subpoena highlights some of the risks of holding on to [information]. If you build it, they will come."
Feb. 3, 2006
CNET
"FAQ: When Google is Not Your Friend"
By Declan McCullagh
Google's recent legal spat with the U.S. Department of Justice highlights not only what information search engines record about us but also the shortcomings in a federal law that's supposed to protect online privacy...
"These laws were written some time ago," says Lee Tien, a staff attorney at digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "They were careful in some places and not in others."
Feb. 2, 2006
Slate
By Patrick Radden Keefe
Today's news that the Justice Department refuses to furnish the Senate judiciary committee with its internal documents on the legality of President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program is the first sign that congressional efforts to investigate the National Security Agency program are likely to dead-end...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights nonprofit, just launched a class-action lawsuit against AT&T, alleging that the company let the NSA access its powerful database of customer call information. A corporation can't hide from that sort of bad publicity forever, and it would look decidedly dodgy if the telecom CEOs refused to show up.
Feb. 1, 2006
New York Times
"AT&T is Accused of Role in Eavesdropping"
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties organization, filed a class-action suit against AT&T on Tuesday in federal court here, saying the company was violating the law and customers' privacy in cooperating with the National Security Agency on computerized surveillance...
"AT&T is breaking the law and invading the privacy of its customers," said Kevin Bankston, a staff lawyer for the foundation here.
Feb. 1, 2006
Seattle Times
"Microsoft Reworks Standards on Blogs"
Amid growing concerns that U.S. Internet companies are bowing to foreign censors, Microsoft announced a set of policies Tuesday aimed at better protecting blogs and other online content from government restrictions...
It's unclear how extensively blogs are being censored, but there's a continuing risk because Internet companies are so eager to enter the Chinese market, said Cindy Cohn, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that deals with online freedoms.
"It makes sense for all of these companies to sit down and think about this - they have not given it sufficient thought until now," Cohn said. "It's unfortunate that some horrible things had to happen for them to think about it."
Feb. 1, 2006
Forbes
"Civil Liberties Group Sues Whitacre's AT&T"
By Chris Noon
For whom the bell tolls? It is small surprise anti-terrorism measures have an impact on open society, though resentment breeds if the measures lead to an increase in state power...
"Our main goal is to stop this invasion of privacy, prevent it from occurring again and make sure AT&T and all the other carriers understand there are going to be legal and economic consequences when they fail to follow the law," said Kevin Bankston, an EFF staff attorney in a written release.
Feb. 1, 2006
KTVU
"AT&T Sued For Assisting In Domestic Spying Program"
A civil liberties group has sued AT&T Inc. for its alleged role in helping the National Security Agency spy on the phone calls and other communications of U.S. citizens without warrants...
"Our main goal is to stop this invasion of privacy, prevent it from occurring again and make sure AT&T and all the other carriers understand there are going to be legal and economic consequences when they fail to follow the law," said Kevin Bankston, an EFF staff attorney.
Feb. 1, 2006
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
"U.S. wants to track cell phones without warrant"
By Gary Craig
Across the country, several federal magistrate judges have already ruled against prosecutors seeking permission to monitor - without search warrants - a criminal suspect through his or her cell phone...
"Certainly the ability to track somebody in real time ... paints a very full picture of who you are and what you do and who you associate with," said Kevin Bankston, a San Francisco-based lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group.
Feb. 1, 2006
Seattle Times
"Can We All Just Spell Things Out?"
By Danny Westneat
Ours is the ultimate ownership society, where even ethereal ideas are fair game to be claimed, controlled, bought and sold...
These companies don't know what's going to be valuable, what will be the next big thing, so they try to patent absolutely everything," said Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that monitors civil rights in cyberspace.
Feb. 1, 2006
Macworld
"EFF Sues AT&T Over U.S. Wiretapping Program"
By Elizabeth Montalbano
A civil liberties organization filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Corp. Tuesday for collaborating with a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) program to intercept Internet and telephone communications of U.S. citizens without authorization from a court of law...
"AT&T aided the NSA in intercepting all or a substantial part of communications going over their network," Bankston said. "We don't exactly know what the NSA is doing with that data."
