In the face of stiff resistance from Yahoo! and a coalition of privacy groups, Internet companies and industry coalitions led by EFF, the U.S. government today backed down from its request that a federal magistrate judge in Denver compel Yahoo! to turn over the contents of a Yahoo! email...

We're not easily shocked by entertainment industry overreaching; unfortunately, it's par for the course. But we were taken aback by the wish list the industry submitted in response to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator's request for comments on the forthcoming "Joint Strategic Plan" for intellectual property enforcement. The comments submitted...

It appears the Burning Man Organization (BMO), organizers of the annual Burning Man art and music festival, is reconsidering its "all your photos are belong to us" attitude toward images taken at the event. On April 7, the organizers called for community feedback on the Burning Man camera policy,...

Last week, a federal appeals court rejected luxury goods retailer Tiffany’s claim that eBay should be liable for trademark violations on its site based on general knowledge that such infringement is happening (but no specific knowledge of a specific infringement). The ruling is a victory for online service providers,...

In a ruling that imposes important limits on the FCC's authority to regulate the Internet, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned the FCC ruling against Comcast for interfering with the BitTorrent traffic of its subscribers. The court found that the Commission...

Facebook Adds "It's Complicated" Comment OptionFacebook added a new button designed to disambiguate users' feelings about status updates pertaining to copyright laws, Terms of Service Agreements, and locked-down Apple products. However, Facebook continued its refusal to add a "dislike" button, noting that users have clearly indicated that they would...

Lawyers from EFF warned this week of the implications of Google Sidle, a new beta product the company describes as, "Bringing our mission of organizing the world's information to your cafeteria," but which one EFF lawyer described as, "Creepy, even for Google."
Companies and schools subscribing to Sidle will...