In a rushed process without meaningful consultation or debate, Mexico's Congress has adopted a new copyright law modeled on the U.S. system, without taking any account of the well-publicized, widely acknowledged problems with American copyright law. The new law was passed as part of a package of legal reforms accompanying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Donald Trump's 2020 successor to 1989's North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

However, Mexico's implementation of this Made-in-America copyright system imposes far more restrictions than either the USMCA demands or that Canada or the USA have imposed on themselves. This new copyright regime places undue burdens on Mexican firms and the Mexican people, conferring a permanent trade advantage on the richer, more developed nations of the USA and Canada, while undermining the fundamental rights of Mexicans guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution and the American Convention on Human Rights.

The opposition that sprang up after the swift passage of the new Mexican copyright law faces many barriers, but among the most serious ones is a disinformation campaign that (predictably) characterizes the claims about U.S. copyright law as "fake news". The EFF has more experience with the defects of U.S. copyright law than anyone, and in the sections below we will use it to explain in detail how Mexico's copyright law repeats and magnifies the errors that American lawmakers committed in 1998.

This white paper aggregates all of EFF's analysis and commentary on the new law, including a detailed legal analysis by EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kit Walsh.

EFF letter explaining why it is bad policy for the state to finance the construction of 25/3 broadband networks as policy as opposed to investing in fiber infrastructure.

Letter regarding discretionary denials of IPR to House Judiciary Committee

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) writes to the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose S. 3398, the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2020 (EARN IT Act), both in its original form as introduced and if it were to be amended with the proposed Manager’s Amendment.

This amicus brief—written with the French American Bar Association  and Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita at New York Law School—was filed with the French Supreme Court. It is in French.

New Low for a Bad Patent

New Low for a Bad Patent

Swirlate v. Badger Meter Complaint

Letter from SiFi is in response to the CPUC's workshop on new models to deploying broadband access.

The undersigned civil liberties groups write to express our opposition to Title IV of S.482, the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2019. Title IV—titled the International Cybercrime Prevention Act—would unnecessarily expand the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18. U.S.C. § 1030, without fixing any of the law’s existing problems. The CFAA already threatens beneficial security research, and Title IV, which increases penalties and expands the statute’s scope, will only make that threat worse.

Title IV would also create broad new authority for the government to obtain court orders to stop violations of the CFAA, or to order third parties to do so on its behalf. This could result in severe collateral damage, yet Title IV fails to provide any protections and gives users no recourse if their systems are harmed.

We stand strongly opposed to Title IV of S.482 in its current form.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) writes to oppose invoking cloture on H.R. 6172, the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020. The Senate should be allowed to consider amendments and to include real reforms to this bill. Absent real reforms, Section 215 and the other provisions should be allowed to expire.

Letter from EFF joined by California based ISPs, tech startups, non-profits, and local government advocates calling on Governor Newsom to adopt fiber infrastructure and open access policies as part of his Broadband for All initiative. 

Letter sent by EFF and a coalition of twelve society organizations to New York City Council along with a petition signed by over two hundred New Yorkers calling for an end to government use of face surveillance. 

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PDF for signing onto About Face campaign at EFA events and workshops