Press Mentions: May, 2006
e>EFF in the NewsEFF in the News: May 2006
May 31, 2006
San Jose Mercury News
Editorial: "Court hands victory to online journalists"
It doesn't matter if you are wearing pajamas or a shirt and slacks, writing for a blog or a newspaper. If you are practicing journalism — gathering and disseminating information — you are entitled to the legal and First Amendment protections long enjoyed By journalists.
May 30, 2006
BBC News
"US court backs online reporters"
Online journalists have the same rights as traditional reporters, a Californian court has ruled...
"Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," said Attorney Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights organisation who have been defending the journalists.
May 30, 2006
The Recorder
"NSA Cases May Hinge on Issue of Standing"
By Justin Scheck
Carolyn Jewel says the federal government's warrantless wiretapping program is giving her writer's block...
"She actually chose not to pursue certain areas of writing," said Lee Tien, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
May 29, 2006
Macworld
"Documents in AT&T spying case unsealed"
By Stephen Lawson
AT&T Corp. set up a special room at one of its internet facilities in 2003 that was open only to employees cleared By the US National Security Agency (NSA), according to a declaration by a retired engineer as part of a lawsuit over alleged mass invasion of privacy by the carrier.
That document was unsealed on Thursday after a deal was reached between AT&T Inc, the new owner of the long-distance company, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which is suing on behalf of AT&T customers.
May 29, 2006
ZDNet
"Apple thwarted in bid to unmask leaker"
By Declan McCullagh
Apple Computer suffered a setback in its effort to plug an internal leak, after a state appeals court ruled that the computer maker can't immediately get its hands on records of who may have contacted an Apple enthusiast site with details on an unreleased product...
"Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement. Opsahl argued on behalf of AppleInsider at last month's hearing. "The court has upheld the strong protections for the free flow of information to the press, and from the press to the public.
May 29, 2006
NetworkWorld
"Are rootkits really all bad?"
By Ellen Messmer
When a security researcher late last year discovered Sony was using hidden software-cloaking and monitoring techniques to protect copyrights on its music compact discs, public backlash prompted lawsuits against the company and a debate ensued about using such "rootkits" in commercial software...
"I have yet to see a rootkit which did not raise security concerns, and am skeptical that there can be legitimate use of technologies that hide files from the user in an effort to thwart user control of their own computer," says Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney at EFF.
May 28, 2006
Sci-Tech Today
"Movie Industry Sued for Hacking"
By Gwendolyn Mariano
In the latest chapter of the David and Goliath saga between the film industry and file-sharing software companies, Valence Media has sued the Motion Picture Association of America, alleging that the MPAA hired a hacker to steal information from the media company...
Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and not affiliated with the litigation against the MPAA, said he is concerned that the big media companies are going to take actions that are "dangerous and violate people's rights."
May 28, 2006
Bloomberg
"Bloggers can shield sources, court rules"
Apple Computer Inc can't force online journalists to disclose their sources of confidential information used for news stories, a California appeals court ruled...
The decision is a "victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large because it protects the free flow of information to the press and from the press to the public," said Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer at the San Francisco-based EFF, a privacy-rights group which sided with the journalists.
May 27, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"Bloggers can shield sources, court rules"
By Ellen Lee
In a decision that could set the tone for journalism in the digital age, a California appeals court ruled Friday that bloggers, like traditional reporters, have the right to keep their sources confidential...
Kurt Opsahl, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the companies can still protect their businesses but cannot use reporters as their first resort to expose a leak. "The court upheld strong protections for the free flow of information to the press and from the press to the public," Opsahl said.
May 26, 2006
Orlando Sentinel
"Store discount cards offer a mine of consumer data"
By Chris Cobbs
Using powerful search tools, computers can now sift through millions of electronic records to study patterns of behavior that could uncover terrorist plots - or boost sales at the supermarket or drugstore...
And the amount of information that's collected about individuals is enormous, said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a California privacy group.
There's an entire industry of information brokers that aggregates data from public records, such as property ownership and motor-vehicle information, with data about consumers' buying behavior and credit-card use, he said.
"In the private sector, it's driven By marketing, while in national security, the search is for dangerous individuals," he said.
May 26, 2006
Mac Observer
"Apple Handed Major Defeat as Appeals Court Sides with EFF"
By Bryan Chaffin
Apple Computer was handed a major defeat in its efforts to root out internal leakers By accessing the e-mail records of Web sites that had published leaked information about unannounced Apple products...
"Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl in a statement. "The court has upheld the strong protections for the free flow of information to the press, and from the press to the public."
May 26, 2006
Daily Tech
"AT&T Accidentally Leaks Incriminating NSA Info"
By Sven Olsen
AT&T attorneys released a legal briefing with three pages of redacted information in a PDF format. Unfortunately for AT&T and the US National Security Agency, the censored information was still readable in many PDF viewing applications. The document was part of the same EFF lawsuit filed back in February of this year...
May 26, 2006
Associated Press
"Apple loses court bid to identify sources"
By May Wong
A state appeals court on Friday rejected Apple Computer Inc.'s bid to identify the sources of leaked product information that appeared on Web sites, ruling that online reporters and bloggers are entitled to the same protections as traditional journalists...
"Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," said the group's staff attorney Kurt Opsahl, who argued the case before the appeals court last month.
May 26, 2006
Internetnews.com
"EFF, Bloggers Win Appeal in Apple Case"
By Andy Patrizio
A California state appeals court on Friday ruled in favor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) appeal on behalf of three bloggers being sued By Apple Computer...
"Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl in a statement. Opsahl argued the case before the appeals court last month. "The court has upheld the strong protections for the free flow of information to the press, and from the press to the public."
May 26, 2006
CNET
"AT&T leaks sensitive info in NSA suit"
By Declan McCullagh
Lawyers for AT&T accidentally released sensitive information while defending a lawsuit that accuses the company of facilitating a government wiretapping program, CNET News.com has learned...
Documents that EFF filed, including a redacted version (click here for PDF) of a sworn statement By Klein released this week, were properly redacted. Instead of including the underlying text and layering a black rectangle on top, the San Francisco-based civil liberties group saved those pages as image files.
May 26, 2006
Digital World Tokyo
"CopyNight meet-up hits Japan"
Filesharing lawsuits and ever-more-restrictive copyright laws got you down? You might enjoy knowing that you are not alone ? there are others in the world who think that more sharing can be a good thing, even here in Japan...
Co-founded By David Alpert (project manager at Google) and Ren Bucholz (Activism Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco), CopyNight aims to build social networks among those who care about copyright issues.
May 26, 2006
Wall Street Journal
"Secrets Claims in NSA Case May Stop Suits"
By Dionne Searcey
As lawsuits mount against phone companies from plaintiffs who allege their call records were handed over to the National Security Agency illegally, the companies' defense may benefit from a powerful force: the U.S. government...
Lee Tien, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says he is optimistic that the judge in that suit will quash the state-secrets motion. He argues that the government isn't merely a Bystander in the case. "They're an intrinsic part of what's going on," Mr. Tien says. "It's a bigger problem from a fairness or due process point of view."
May 25, 2006
Reuters
"Leave spy judgments to government - U.S. officials"
By Adam Tanner
The United States government, not any court, is the best judge of whether to keep programmes such as its controversial effort to eavesdrop on citizens a secret, an assistant attorney general said on Wednesday...
The privacy rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation says the programme allows the government to eavesdrop on phone calls and read e-mails of millions of Americans without obtaining warrants. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that would order the government to stop the programme.
May 24, 2006
Entrepreneur.com
"What to Do if Your Data Gets Subpoenaed"
By Carol Tice
The department of Justice's demand earlier this year that Google turn over customer search records has thrown a spotlight on data privacy...
Smart businesses should plan ahead to avert costly legal bills, says Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Kevin Bankston.
May 24, 2006
Sci-Tech Today
"Judge Approves Sony Rootkit Settlement"
By Walaika K. Haskins
A federal judge gave final approval on Monday for a settlement between Sony BMG and consumers who were part of a class-action lawsuit filed as a result of the record label's use of copyright-protection software secretly embedded in some music CDs...
"This settlement gets music fans what they thought they were buying in the first place — music that will play on all their electronic devices without installing sneaky software," Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement.
May 24, 2006
Newsforge
"Chilling Effects site defends online freedom of expression"
By Bruce Byfield
Chilling Effects is a resource site for online freedom of expression in the United States. Founded By Wendy Seltzer, currently a visiting assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School, the site is supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and more than half a dozen law schools, including Harvard, Stanford, and Boalt.
May 24, 2006
The Motley Fool
"Investing in the Police State"
By Seth Jayson
It's been an interesting month for investors in the spy game — or investors who didn't realize that they may be playing in the spy game...
These stories have grabbed most of the headlines, but the sleeper in the bunch is the widening circle of intrigue around another alleged communications-spying plot — one that would be a lot more nefarious, if it's true. It again concerns AT&T, which is fighting a lawsuit from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) alleging widespread spying activities By the NSA through secret, on-site data-diversion and analysis centers.
May 24, 2006
Chicago Tribune
"State secrets privilege slams door on civil suits"
By Andrew Zajac
A suit filed this week in Chicago By author Studs Terkel and others accusing AT&T of invading its customers' privacy by sharing phone records with the National Security Agency could provide the next test of whether the Bush administration employs a once-rare tactic that essentially gives the government a blank check to kill civil suits...
In the San Francisco invasion-of-privacy suit, brought By the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation, a judge has set a June date for arguments on the government's secrets claim.
May 23, 2006
St. Louis Post-Disptach
"Free speech fight hits Kirkwood High"
By Michael Beder
Aaron Bates doesn't remember why he and four friends decided to post a "hot or not" list of about 100 Kirkwood High School junior girls in late February...
Even if Tinker does apply to off-campus speech, it sets a high burden for what speech schools can punish, said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for digital privacy.
"A few people with hurt feelings is not a material disruption," Bankston said.
May 23, 2006
ComputerWorld
"What can I do about it?"
By Martin McKeay
Yesterday I wrote about the loss of 26 million records By the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it's generated a lot of comments...
A good place to start is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Read their article about how to approach your representatives.
May 23, 2006
USA TODAY
"NSA secrecy makes investigation impossible, FCC says"
By William W. Welch
The Federal Communications Commission declined Tuesday to investigate whether a spy agency has access to millions of Americans' telephone records. It cited the secrecy of the National Security Agency...
AT&T was sued there in January By the privacy rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation for violating customer privacy by turning over telephone data to the government. The Justice Department has asked that the case be dismissed.
May 23, 2006
San Francisco Bay Guardian
"The NSA's political fiction"
By Annalee Newitz
Here's what disturbs me: In light of recent revelations that the National Security Agency has been illegally collecting vast databases of information about every single phone call made in the United States since late 2001, only 53 percent of US citizens polled By Newsweek think the government has gone too far in its efforts to stop terrorism...
We're told that civil liberties groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation can't sue AT&T for handing over personal information to the government without a warrant because examining the evidence in a court of law would violate national security and endanger us all. But appeals to fear are not counterevidence. They do not bolster a logical argument.
May 23, 2006
SecurityFocus
"Sony BMG rootkit settlement finalized"
By Robert Lemos
A U.S. district court judge in New York signed off Monday on a proposed agreement to a class-action lawsuit filed against Sony BMG, which claimed that the company had surreptitiously installed, what amounted to, spyware on customers' computers...
Cindy Cohn, senior counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, urged affected consumers to sign up for the settlement.
"Participating in the settlement is a way to show Sony BMG — and the entire entertainment industry — how important this issue is to you," Cohn said in a statement. "If you take the time to claim the product you deserve, maybe other music labels will think twice before wrapping songs in DRM."
May 23, 2006
The Register
"Judge approves Sony rootkit settlement"
By Chris Williams
Federal courts have decided the penalty Sony BMG must suffer for exposing thousands of music fans' computers to hackers with dodgy DRM software last year...
Electronic Frontier Foundation legal director Cindy Cohn said: "This settlement gets music fans what they thought they were buying in the first place: music that will play on all their electronic devices without installing sneaky software."
May 23, 2006
PC Advisor
"Sony rootkit case ends with settlement"
By Robert McMillan
Music fans who bought CDs with Sony BMG Music Entertainment's controversial XCP copy control software are going to get refunds...
"This settlement gets music fans what they thought they were buying in the first place: music that will play on all their electronic devices without installing sneaky software," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), in a statement yesterday. The EFF represented plaintiffs in the case.
May 23, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"Champion of cyberspace faces its biggest challenge yet"
By Bob Egelko
Sixteen years ago, a cattle rancher and Grateful Dead lyricist named John Perry Barlow surveyed the landscape of electronic communications and had visions of the Wild West. Thus was conceived the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"We were in the lawlessness phase, and the sheriff was coming to town," said Shari Steele, executive director of the San Francisco-based organization that Barlow and two colleagues founded. Only rather than siding with latter-day sheriffs seeking to ride herd on the fledgling Internet, Steele said, "we were trying to keep the freewheeling, Wild West feeling going and protect people's rights."
May 22, 2006
Media Post
"RIAA Lawsuit Against XM 'A Stretch'"
By Erik Sass
The lawsuit brought By the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against subscription satellite radio service XM over the Pioneer Inno is "a stretch," according to Fred von Lohmann, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who practices digital copyright law...
Although the recording industry succeeded in getting a favorable settlement from Sirius, von Lohmann was skeptical about the new lawsuit's prospects: "The legal theories are pretty threadbare, honestly."
May 23, 2006
Reuters
"Judge gives settlement approval on Sony BMG case"
A federal judge on Monday granted final approval of a settlement between Sony BMG Music Entertainment and consumers who filed a class action lawsuit over copy-protection software installed on popular CDs, spokesmen for both parties said...
"This is a good deal for music fans," said Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented consumers in the case.
"The software that caused this debacle is not going to be on any more discs and we encourage that everyone that has bought affected discs to take advantage of this settlement," he said.
May 22, 2006
Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
"Lack of legal precedent poses major problem for schools"
By Wendy Leung
School administrators are increasingly asked what kind of cyberspeech causes campus disruption. As more students — from elementary school to college — network online, more are being punished for their postings...
Kevin Bankston, staff attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, said cyberspeech cases involving schools date back to the adoption of the Internet. With more students blogging, he said, more teachers and administrators are reacting in unconstitutional ways. Bankston said schools must have evidence that students have caused a disruption in order to justify punishment.
"Criticizing teachers, even using vulgar language, doesn't arise to material disruption,'' said Bankston. "Without that evidence, schools don't have a leg to stand on.'
May 22, 2006
InformationWeek
"Down to Business: Beware the Conventional Wisdom About NSA 'Surveillance'"
By Rob Preston
The National Security Agency is reportedly compiling data on millions of phone calls in search of patterns that would lead the agency to terrorist activity...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation apparently disagrees with the applicability of that ruling to the masses, as it filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T in February claiming the carrier illegally gave the NSA access to vast amounts of communications data.
May 22, 2006
Newsweek
"Hold the Phone"
By Mark Hosenball and Evan Thomas
In the difficult days after 9/11, White House officials quietly passed the word through Washington's alphabet soup of intelligence agencies: tell us which weapons you need to stop another attack...
In San Francisco, a privacy group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit based in part on the testimony of Mark Klein, an AT&T technician for 22 years who claims he witnessed the construction of a "secret room" for the NSA at AT&T's San Francisco headquarters in early 2003.
May 21, 2006
Stereophile
"All of XM's Trials"
By Wes Phillips
On May 17, XM Satellite Radio was sued By the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which alleged that Pioneer's personal portable XM device, the Inno, infringes on copyrights and essentially represents a digital download device...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) leapt to XM's defense, calling the suit "an attack on home taping" and an attempt "to hold design against innovators." EFF lawyer Fred von Lohmann inveighed against the "thermonuclear effect that statutory damages has in cases involving recording devices. For example, the RIAA is seeking $150,000 in damages for each song recorded By any XM subscriber."
May 21, 2006
Los Angeles Times
Opinion: "The lie behind the secrets"
By Tom Blanton
Government secrecy in the name of national security has reached record-setting proportions...
Justice Department lawyers have taken the same position in a lawsuit brought By the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of an AT&T technician who accused his employer of "hoovering" its customers' phone calls into government databases.
May 21, 2006
The Daily Nonpareil (southwest Iowa)
Editorial: "Open Lines"
We suspect that few Americans have heard of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, but chances are that we'll be hearing more about the San Francisco federal judge who this week went out on a limb and bucked the Bush administration.
On Wednesday, Walker rejected a bid By AT&T Inc. to return records that were given to the privacy advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation by a former AT&T technician.
May 21, 2006
Newsday
"Photo system, set to debut on LI and designed to bar troublemakers, has rights groups worried"
Pick a fight in some Long Island nightclubs and it won't be a brawny bouncer banning your return...
Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit working on free speech and privacy issues, said problems with face-scanning technology far outweigh any benefits.
"The accuracy leaves quite a bit to be desired," said Lee Tien, the group's attorney.
May 21, 2006
Los Angeles Times
"Lifting the Lid on Precious Memories"
By Rick Wartzman
During each of the seven moves I've made since college, I have felt pressure ?from my wife or simply common sense?to shed various belongings while packing up the old place. Invariably, I've resisted...
Brad Templeton, an Internet pioneer and chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, saves all his electronic correspondence on hard drives. He notes that scanner technology is also advancing, and points out that being a digital packrat allows one to accumulate even more stuff?in a sense anyway.
May 20, 2006
San Francisco Examiner
"City's Wi-Fi plans meet with resistance"
By Adam Martin
Mayor Gavin Newsom?s plan to blanket The City with free wireless Internet access is barely underway, but has already met a wall of resistance from privacy and equality advocates...
"Every laptop with a wireless card has a unique serial number called a MAC [Media Access Control] address," that can be identified By the system operator, Seth Schoen, a technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, testified Friday.
May 19, 2006
Reuters
"PluggedIn: Activists challenge AOL's bulk e-mail fees"
By Yinka Adegoke
Four years ago, a small e-mail campaign saved a struggling coffee shop in Portland, Oregon...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an activist body for the protection of consumers' digital rights, acknowledges the challenge of coping with spam while maintaining free e-mail. But activism coordinator Danny O'Brien doesn't see the new fees as a solution.
In fact, he said Internet service providers could establish the fees as a revenue stream and not work so hard on their spam filters.
"If people paid Goodmail and not the ISPs," O'Brien said, "then you'd have this separation of powers because the ISPs would still be incentivized to reduce the amount of spam they're getting."
May 19, 2006
IT News Australia
"Attorney: RIAA suit against XM is all about control"
By David Haskin
This week's lawsuit By the recording industry against XM Satellite Radio is all about who controls how music is listened to and the cost for providing users with more control, an intellectual property attorney who specialises in such matters said on Thursday...
Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney for the EEF, wrote on the group's site that the damages that the RIAA is seeking are excessive and would have a "chilling effect on innovation." He noted that the RIAA may well be trying to get XM and its users to pay a second time for music that has already been licensed.
May 18, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"Judge puts AT&T suit on hold as feds, firm move for dismissal"
By Bob Egelko
The federal judge in a suit that accuses AT&T of collaborating in government monitoring of e-mails and phone calls allowed a privacy-rights group to retain copies of company documents Wednesday...
Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer Cindy Cohn contended that the suit against AT&T could be decided without delving into state secrets, By determining whether the company had illegally disclosed customer information to the government.
May 17, 2006
Los Angeles Times
"Briefings aim to stem criticism of CIA nominee"
By Peter Spiegel
The administration provided detailed information on its domestic surveillance programs to the full membership of the House and Senate intelligence committees Wednesday...
In a related development, a federal judge in San Francisco rejected on Wednesday a request By AT&T Corp. to bar the public from attending a hearing in a suit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group.
May 17, 2006
CBS 5
"Software Lets Bosses Spy on Workers"
By Sue Kwon
The government isn't the only one looking in on your calls and emails. So is your boss. Software developed By Redwood City-based Cataphora is taking workplace surveillance to a whole new level...
"The law, and the rules say everything done in company computers is the property of the company," said Brad Templeton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
May 17, 2006
USA TODAY
"Judges issue split decision in AT&T privacy lawsuit"
By Edward Iwata
In a major lawsuit that challenges the Bush administration's domestic spying program and the role of telecommunications firms, a federal judge here Wednesday refused to order a privacy-rights group to return confidential documents to AT&T...
Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the judge that the privacy of millions of Americans is at stake and that AT&T is guilty of "a massive violation of the law."
May 17, 2006
NPR
"Challenging, Defending the NSA"
By Avie Schneider
The National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program and collection of telephone records have sparked a furious debate between those who say they violate civil liberties and those who say it's necessary in the war on terrorism...
Jan. 31, 2006
: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights group, files a class-action lawsuit against AT&T for allegedly collaborating with the NSA's domestic-surveillance program. The suit charges that the company "violated the law and damaged the fundamental freedoms of the American public."
May 17, 2006
Associated Press
"Judge Keeps Papers Sealed in AT&T Spy Suit"
By David Kravets
Secret documents that allegedly detail the surveillance of AT&T Inc. phone and e-mail lines under the Bush administration's domestic spying program can be used in a lawsuit against the telephone giant, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, but the records will remain sealed.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker rejected a bid By AT&T to return the records given to the privacy advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation by a former AT&T technician.
May 17, 2006
CNET
"News sites fight to keep spy hearing open"
By Declan McCullagh
News organizations are planning to oppose any request from AT&T on Wednesday to keep the public out of a hearing that could explore whether the company illegally cooperated with the National Security Agency...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights group in San Francisco, filed a class action lawsuit in January, claiming that AT&T illegally cooperated with the Bush administration's secret eavesdropping program.
May 17, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"AT&T loses bid for a closed court"
By Bob Egelko
AT&T was turned down By a federal judge Tuesday in its 11th-hour attempt to bar the public from a San Francisco court hearing today about documents that allegedly show the company's involvement in a secret government electronic surveillance program...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation opposed closing the courtroom. "It's important that people who are interested in this case should be able to hear about it," spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke said. "We believe the hearing can be held without putting any trade secrets in jeopardy."
May 16, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"U.S. opens assault on wiretap suit"
By Bob Egelko
The Bush administration has launched a multipronged attack on a lawsuit that accuses AT&T of collaborating with the U.S. government in illegal electronic surveillance, arguing that customers can't prove their phones were tapped or that the company or the government broke the law — and that, in any event, the entire case endangers national security...
Kevin Bankston, a lawyer with the foundation, said Monday that it would be difficult for its attorneys to contest government arguments they hadn't been allowed to see. But he said the factual claims in the lawsuit have already been widely reported in the press, and to some extent conceded By the government, without harming national security.
May 15, 2006
Salon
"The NSA is on the line — all of them"
By Kim Zetter
When intelligence historian Matthew Aid read the USA Today story last Thursday about how the National Security Agency was collecting millions of phone call records from AT&T, Bell South and Verizon for a widespread domestic surveillance program designed to root out possible terrorist activity in the United States, he had to wonder whether the date on the newspaper wasn't 1976 instead of 2006
...
"It's like the lawsuit brought By EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation] against AT&T — the government's first reaction was to try to quash the lawsuit. That ought to be a warning sign that they're on to something."
May 15, 2006
London Free Press
"Copyright safety law flawed"
By David Canton
There has been a push to create greater legal consequences for Canadians who defeat anti-piracy protections on items such as software, CDs and DVDs.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently released a scathing review of the effects of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act that should be considered before passing this type of law in Canada.
May 15, 2006
USA TODAY
"Winning lawsuits may be difficult"
By Paul Davidson
Consumers and privacy advocates face high legal hurdles as they try to sue phone companies for aiding the government in its efforts to monitor the communications of millions of Americans, legal experts say...
Meanwhile, the first and most sweeping lawsuit to grow out of earlier reports about NSA domestic eavesdropping faces a pivotal test this week. The lawsuit, filed in January By the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of AT&T customers, charges AT&T with eavesdropping on the calls and e-mails of Americans and with turning over calling records ? all without court approval.
May 15, 2006
CNET
"Verizon sued for alleged NSA cooperation"
By Marguerite Reardon
Verizon Communications is the latest big phone company to be sued for allegedly violating privacy laws By handing over phone records to the National Security Agency for a secretive government surveillance program...
AT&T is already being sued over similar allegations that it has passed along private customer information to the NSA. In January, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for privacy rights on the Internet, filed suit against AT&T in a federal district court in San Francisco for also handing over customer data to the NSA.
May 15, 2006
The Register
"Secrets and Lies"
By John Leyden
The US government is seeking to quash a lawsuit against file By privacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) over a controversial "warrantless" wiretapping program.
On Saturday, the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss EFF's class-action lawsuit against AT&T on the grounds of national security. The EFF said it will vigorously contest the lawsuit.
May 14, 2006
Chicago Tribune
"Privacy? What Privacy?"
If you take the "L" to work and use one of the CTA's new smart cards to pay, there is a computer log of your travels...
In January, AT&T was sued By the Electronic Frontier Foundation for handing over customer Internet records to the National Security Agency.
May 14, 2006
San Jose Mercury News
"U.S., citing secrets, moves to halt suit on surveillance"
By Pete Carey
The federal government has moved to crush a class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco that accuses AT&T of illegally giving the government data on the communications of millions of Americans, claiming the suit would cause "exceptionally grave harm" to national security were it to be tried...
"Everything that might actually give somebody an opportunity to respond to what they're saying is hidden in the secret parts," complained Lee Tien, staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "They don't come out and say what is a state secret in this case."
May 14, 2006
Los Angeles Times
"Justice Department Asks U.S. Judge to Dismiss AT&T Suit"
By Joseph Menn and Josh Meyer
The Justice Department on Saturday asked a federal judge to throw out an eavesdropping lawsuit against AT&T Corp., citing possible damage from the litigation to national security...
"The government is trying to shove the NSA and AT&T illegal spying operation under an impenetrable cloak of secrecy," said Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group representing AT&T customers in the lawsuit. "They are essentially arguing that no one can ever go to court to stop illegal surveillance, so long as they claim it was done in the name of national security."
May 14, 2006
Associated Press
"Google's Desktop 4 solves some problems"
By Brian Bergstein
Google's free program for searching computer desktops is a fascinating study...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation advised consumers to avoid Desktop.
May 14, 2006
Newsday
"Hide and go seek"
By Tom Brune
Rocked By revelations in the news media, the Bush administration is waging a vigorous campaign to not only defend its secret surveillance of calls and e-mails but also to stamp out efforts to learn more about it...
The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation filed the class action lawsuit in January on behalf of telephone subscribers against AT&T, charging the telecom illegally gave the NSA access to records. Many of the allegations were echoed in the USA Today story last week.
May 14, 2006
Tennessean
Editorial: "Nation needs to know about records at NSA"
The more that becomes known about the federal government's surveillance activities, the more disturbing the program becomes...
One civil liberties advocacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, recently filed suit against AT&T accusing the company of collaborating with the NSA in illegally collecting information.
May 13, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"U.S. moves in secret to quash suit against AT&T"
By Bob Egelko
The Bush administration is filing secret arguments with a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit against AT&T over its alleged participation in the government's electronic surveillance program, a privacy-rights group said Friday...
"We will be forced to argue against a secret brief that we will never see in total,'' said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer with the foundation.
May 13, 2006
New York Times
"Qwest Shunned NSA Program"
By John Markoff
Several legal experts cited ambiguities in the laws that may be used By the government and the phone companies to defend the National Security Agency program...
"This is an incredible red herring," said Kevin Bankston, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights group that has sued AT&T over its cooperation with the government, including the access to calling records. "There is no legal process that contemplates getting entire databases of data."
May 13, 2006
Wall Street Journal
"Is the Phone Company Violating Your Privacy?"
On Thursday, USA Today reported that three telecom companies — AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. — have been providing the spy agency with records of billions of phone calls made By U.S. citizens inside the U.S. Qwest Communications International Inc. is the only one of the major landline phone companies that refused to cooperate...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group that works on protecting privacy, contends the phone companies cannot give customer data to the federal government without a warrant.
May 12, 2006
Newsweek
"Breaking the Law?"
By Susanna Schrobsdorff
Domestic spying or national security? ... For privacy advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based nonprofit, the answer is clear: the NSA is spying on Americans.
May 12, 2006
Knight Ridder
"Government has long history of abusing personal information"
By Ron Hutchenson
President Bush has assured Americans that their government isn't spying on them, but history explains why many remain uneasy about this week's news that their phone records have been turned over to federal agents...
"It's about human failings, human failings amplified By technology," said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group. "Men are not angels. Our Constitution was written by people who understood that human nature has many flaws."
May 12, 2006
Detroit News
"Phone 'spying' draws fire"
Lawmakers demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a spy agency secretly collecting records of millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of all calls within the country...
In January, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group in San Francisco devoted to preserving privacy in digital media, alleged in a federal lawsuit that AT&T Inc. had given the NSA direct access to the records of the more than 300 million domestic and international calls and the huge volume of Internet data traffic.
May 12, 2006
Forbes
"Here Come the Lawsuits"
By Liz Moyer
The debate over the legality of a government program to collect information on millions of telephone calls, using data provided By three of the biggest U.S. telecommunications companies, continued today, but one thing was sure: Qwest Communications didn't think it was a good idea.
And neither does a major watchdog organization that's already sued to protect customer data gathered By phone companies.
May 12, 2006
Associated Press
"Administration cites state secrets in bid to derail spy lawsuit"
By David Kravets
As lawmakers demand answers about warrantless electronic eavesdropping on Americans, the Bush administration says its secretive program's constitutionality cannot be challenged...
"The state secrets privilege permits the government to protect against the unauthorized disclosure in litigation of information that may harm national security interests," the Justice Department wrote to the judge presiding over the lawsuit filed By the San Francisco-based Internet privacy advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation.
May 12, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"AT&T, Verizon readily break their own rules"
By David Lazarus
The privacy policies of AT&T and Verizon are very specific about requiring a warrant or subpoena before either company will share customers' data with government officials...
"The statutes could not be more clear," said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney for the foundation. "They strictly regulate the phone companies' use of records."
May 12, 2006
San Jose Mercury News
"Reports said to confirm lawsuit linking AT&T to 'data mining'"
By Pete Carey
It's not just phone calls, it's e-mail, too, according to a lawsuit that accuses AT&T of turning over vast amounts of domestic phone and Internet traffic to the National Security Agency...
The lawsuit was prompted By press accounts of the NSA operation and the foundation's own investigation, according to staff lawyer Kurt Opsahl. The lawsuit says the purpose of the data gathering is ``to identify persons whose communications patterns the government believes may link them, even if indirectly, to investigatory targets.''
May 12, 2006
Tennessean
"No law broken on NSA data, BellSouth says"
By Sheila Wissner and Paul Davidson
Officials of BellSouth Corp., which serves hundreds of thousands of telephone customers in Tennessee, says that the company would not turn over phone records to the government "without proper legal authority"...
"It's an inexcusable violation of the trust we place in the phone company to maintain the privacy of communications," said Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group that sued AT&T Corp. in January for aiding the NSA in eavesdropping.
May 12, 2006
Associated Press
"What spy agency might do with your telephone calls"
By Brian Bergstein
If the National Security Agency (NSA) is indeed amassing a colossal database of Americans' phone records, one way to use all that information is in "social-network analysis," a data-mining method that aims to expose previously invisible connections among people...
That level of cooperation confirmed the fears of many privacy analysts, who pointed out that AT&T is already being sued in federal court in San Francisco for allegedly giving the NSA access to contents of its phone and Internet networks.
May 12, 2006
The Arizona Republic
"Arizonans split on balancing privacy, security"
By Dennis Wagner and Jon Kamman
The commander of Arizona's Counter Terrorism Information Center says he understands why the National Security Agency would want an ocean of data on domestic phone calls, but he has misgivings about the legalities of a secret program that collects intelligence on average citizens...
"This (USA Today) story just bolsters what we've been saying all along," Jeschke said. "We do not want the government to stop investigating terrorism. But, instead of casting the net around everyone, they should be targeting terrorists."
May 12, 2006
Los Angeles Times
"As Tech Advances, Privacy Laws Lag"
By Joseph Menn and James S. Granelli
Never has it been so easy to know so much about so many...
Said attorney Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation: "There is simply no legal process for this kind of wholesale invasion of privacy. What they claim to be doing with the data is irrelevant because the fact is they could do whatever they choose without any oversight."
May 12, 2006
BBC News
"Spy charges pit security against privacy"
By James Westhead
In a country where privacy is an almost sacred right, a new suggestion that the US government is running a surveillance programme has explosive potential because it reaches into the home of every American...
Already a number of organisations have started or are planning legal challenges, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet advocacy group.
May 12, 2006
BBC News
"US spy agency 'has call database'"
A United States intelligence agency has been collecting data on the phone calls of tens of millions of Americans, a report in USA Today has alleged...
A civil liberties group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, filed suit against AT&T last month after a former AT&T employee indicated the company was engaging in the kind of data-mining the USA Today report described.
May 11, 2006
Associated Press
"Congress Demands Phone Records Answers"
By Laurie Kellman and Donna Cassata
Lawmakers demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a spy agency secretly collecting records of millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of all calls within the country...
In January, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group devoted to preserving privacy in digital media, alleged in a federal lawsuit that AT&T Inc. had given the NSA direct access to the records of the more than 300 million domestic and international calls and the huge volume of Internet data traffic.
May 11, 2006
USA TODAY
"NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls"
By Leslie Cauley
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided By AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY...
In December, The New York Times revealed that Bush had authorized the NSA to wiretap, without warrants, international phone calls and e-mails that travel to or from the USA. The following month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T. The lawsuit accuses the company of helping the NSA spy on U.S. phone customers.
May 10, 2006
Associated Press
"Little By little, Google's window on desktop widens"
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/personal_technology/14547352.htm
By Brian Bergstein
A lot of people seem to believe that Google Inc. can rule any market segment it wants. Hype meters have gone haywire assessing the search company's expansion into such far-flung fields as financial news and wireless Internet connectivity...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation went so far as to advise consumers to avoid Desktop.
May 10, 2006
New Telephony
"CALEA-Compliance Mandate Invites Support, Concern"
By Kelly M. Teal
What if a terrorist used IP services to concoct plots and no one knew about it until it was too late? That?s the FCC?s argument, and part of its reasoning for extending Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) requirements to VoIP providers...
But groups such as the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) disagree. They ? along with entities including universities and libraries ? see Internet wiretapping as an infringement of civil rights, not intended By Congress to apply to next-generation networks.
May 10, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
Editorial: "Hidden cost of 'free' wireless"
Privacy advocates have raised an alarm about Silicon Valley Initiative's ambitious plan to provide free or low-cost wireless network access to 34 Silicon Valley municipalities.
In a passionate six-page letter, officials from the Northern California ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Electronic Privacy Information Center presented a number of privacy concerns that they hope the initiative will address with bidders before accepting a proposal.
May 10, 2006
vnunet.com
"AOL pushes on with pay-to-send email"
By Tom Sanders
AOL has run the first email campaign through its Goodmail Certified Email programme, a company spokesman told vnunet.com...
Danny O'Brien, activism coordinator with the EFF, argued that, instead of solving the spam problem, the AOL programme could cause an increase in the number of legitimate messages getting blocked By "spam filters gone wild".
"With AOL's system in place, AOL will be taking money from big companies to skip those filters entirely," he said.
May 9, 2006
UPI
"Hayden hearing may probe NSA wiretaps"
Human rights groups are urging the U.S. Senate to probe NSA warrantless wire-taps in its hearing on Gen. Michael Hayden...
"It's an excellent opportunity for Congress to ask some tough questions about NSA's warrantless wiretapping program," Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Technology Daily.
May 8, 2006
Associated Press
"Aerial-Imaging Becoming Indispensable Tool"
By Ben Dobbin
Low-lying Cessna 172s fly in grid patterns over major cities, capturing eagle-eye images of every square foot from just about every direction...
"There are a lot of people who would not be comfortable with the idea that everything they do in public is potentially surveillable By companies they don?t know flying airplanes with this technology," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.
May 8, 2006
TechWeb
"Judge Chides FCC for CALEA Expansion"
By KC Jones
Critics of the federal government's attempts to expand the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act are getting a boost from a court's reaction to the government's argument in the case.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Sun Microsystems, the American Council on Education, the Center for Democracy and Technology and other groups are trying to throw out a Federal Communications Commission decision that would require Internet providers to upgrade networks so they would be easier to wiretap.
May 8, 2006
National Journal's Technology Daily
"CIA nominee's hearing may focus on wiretapping"
By Heather Greenfield
The Senate confirmation hearing for Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to head the CIA may turn into an investigation of a wiretapping program By the National Security Agency. At least that is the hope of some privacy rights groups.
"It's an excellent opportunity for Congress to ask some tough questions about NSA's warrantless wiretapping program," said Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
May 8, 2006
ZDNet UK
"Webcasting 'excluded from WIPO broadcasting treaty'"
By Ingrid Marson
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Friday welcomed the news that webcasting will no longer be included in the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) broadcasting treaty.
May 7, 2006
Los Angeles Times
Editorial: "Wiretapping oversight"
At least some spines in Congress are stiffening when it comes to challenging President Bush's assertion that the National Security Agency can eavesdrop on Americans without a court order...
But a lawsuit filed By the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T has led to speculation that, at least at the first stage, the NSA is casting a much wider net by data mining a multitude of electronic communications in search of telltale words or phrases.
May 5, 2006
The New Standard
"Radio ID Technology Spreads; Privacy Activists Dig In"
By Catherine Komp
As radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology continues to spread through the marketplace, privacy and consumer advocates are continuing their campaign for regulation of this controversial tracking technology. Now they are joined By lawmakers pushing legislation to curb RFID use by government agencies...
"We don?t believe the State Department made any kind of a rational case for putting RFID tags into passports," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public-interest organization focused on privacy and related rights in the technology sphere. "They were remarkably vague from Day One about why this was important, and it seems at best to be a concern about convenience, which we think is a really crappy idea to sacrifice privacy and security for that kind of convenience."
May 4, 2006
Wired News
"Secret Bloggers Bare All"
By Kevin Poulsen
By day, he was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey specializing in fraud cases; by night, a young, female law-firm associate obsessed with federal judges — especially the cute ones. Until he revealed himself through a New Yorker reporter, former assistant U.S. attorney David Lat led a double life as the pen behind the popular judicial gossip blog Underneath Their Robes...
Adler's and Lat's experiences were smooth sailing compared to the dangers secret bloggers face when they piss off their employers, or any company or individual of a litigious bent, said Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Kurt Opsahl.
May 3, 2006
TechWeb
"Feds Want AT&T Class Action Spy Suit Dismissed"
By KC Jones
The federal government is intervening in a lawsuit over the National Security Agency's surveillance program and trying to get the case dismissed.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class action lawsuit in California in January, accusing AT&T of cooperating with the NSA surveillance program.
May 3, 2006
Denver Post
Editorial: "Keep Up Pressure on Wiretaps"
Now that the U.S. House has failed to rein in the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping, it's up to the Senate to move aggressively to instigate controls...
Documents in a lawsuit brought By a San Francisco-based Internet privacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, contend that AT&T helped the NSA listen in on communications on its network.
May 2, 2006
Reuters
"AT&T Seeks Delay in Eavesdropping Questioning"
AT&T Corp. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is seeking not to testify about any role it played in a government program to monitor U.S. communications until a federal judge rules on whether the information is a protected state secret.
Lawyers for the Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to ask AT&T officials as soon as Wednesday about the company's role in a secret program President George W. Bush said he authorized without court approval after the September 11 attacks.
May 2, 2006
RFID Journal
"Policy Group Spearheads RFID Best Practices"
By Mary Catherine O'Connor
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a nonprofit public-interest group based in Washington D.C., announced yesterday at RFID Journal LIVE! a set of best practices to protect consumers' personal information collected By companies using RFID technology...
The consumer-privacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) felt the document failed to make the guidelines strict enough to mandate how personal information should be used.
5/2/2006
Wired News
"Feds Go All Out to Kill Spy Suit"
By Ryan Singel
When the government told a court Friday that it wanted a class-action lawsuit regarding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping on Americans dismissed, its lawyers wielded one of the most powerful legal tools available to the executive branch — the state secrets privilege...
In this case, the government will be asking a federal judge in California to dismiss a lawsuit filed By the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T for its alleged complicity in warrantless government surveillance of its customer's internet and telephone communications.
May 1, 2006
Reuters
"Group seeks to begin AT&T depositions on US spying"
By Adam Tanner
Lawyers filed a motion on Monday seeking to start questioning AT&T Corp. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) officials this week about the phone company's role in a controversial government program to monitor U.S. communications...
"The preliminary injunction motion contends that, together with the government, defendants are conducting massive suspicionless searches of many millions of domestic as well as foreign communications passing throughout their hands -- a surveillance program far broader than the one admitted to by the government so far," attorneys Cindy Cohn and Reed Kathrein wrote federal Judge Vaughn Walker on Monday.
May 1, 2006
E-Commerce Times
"White House Intervenes in AT&T Surveillance Suit"
By Erika Morphy
The Bush Administration is seeking to intervene in a class action suit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T...
The government has asked the court to dismiss the case, which was originally filed in February, on the grounds of national security.
May 1, 2006
New York Times
"Guidelines aim to rein in radio tags"
By Barnaby J. Feder
Some opponents of identification and tracking systems that use tiny radio tags have come together to draft guidelines for their use that were to be released Monday at a technology trade show in Las Vegas...
Lee Tien, senior staff lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the new guidelines were a valuable "first step" but gave industry too much "wiggle room."
