Jan. 31, 2006
MIT Technology Review
"Evading the Google Eye"
By Daniel Turner
In 2000, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy famously said about life on the Internet, "You already have zero privacy -- get over it."
"That was very annoying," says Chris Palmer, chief technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based organization that advocates for online free speech and civil liberties issues. Palmer emphasizes that while most users can live happily without anonymity, for some people it's crucial -- such as those who criticize repressive regimes, blow the whistle on bosses, or discuss sensitive personal issues.
Jan. 31, 2006
Wired News
"AT&T Sued Over NSA Eavesdropping"
By Ryan Singel
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on Tuesday, accusing the telecom company of violating federal laws by collaborating with the government's secret, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens' phone and internet usage...
"Our goal is to go after the people who are making the government's illegal surveillance possible," says EFF attorney Kevin Bankston. "They could not do what they are doing without the help of companies like AT&T. We want to make it clear to AT&T that it is not in their legal or economic interests to violate the law whenever the president asks them to."
Jan. 31, 2006
CNET
"AT&T Sued Over NSA Spy Program"
By Declan McCullogh
AT&T has been named a defendant in a class action lawsuit that claims the telecommunications company illegally cooperated with the National Security Agency's secret eavesdropping program...
Kevin Bankston, an EFF staff attorney, said he anticipates that the Bush administration will intervene in the case on behalf of AT&T. "We are definitely going to have a fight with the government and AT&T," he said.
Jan. 31, 2006
Associated Press
"Privacy group sues AT&T over alleged surveillance"
By Matt Fordahl
A civil liberties group sued AT&T Inc. on Tuesday 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.
Jan. 28, 2006
New York Times
"How to Outwit the World's Internet Censors"
By Tom Zeller, Jr.
When Google announced last week that it would censor its new search service in China, the company became, to many, the latest component in that country's sophisticated system of information control...
Elsewhere on the Web, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org) helps maintain Tor, a communications network that helps make Internet communications anonymous, and it appears to be accessible from within China.
Jan. 26, 2006
Chicago Sun-Times
"Is this America's latest search engine?"
By Andy Ihnatko
After hearing about the subpoena that Google got hit with last week demanding that it turn over bulk quantities of random-search histories and records to the U.S. Justice Department, I can barely feed or bathe myself...
The ripples started on good, important sites like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, spread to the blogs and boards, and (rare for a tech issue) moved powerfully into the mainstream...
Again, thank heaven for organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation that take these problems seriously and challenge them aggressively.
Jan. 26, 2006
AFP
"Google to 'Race to the Bottom' in China"
By Peter Harmsen
Google and other Western internet companies are competing in a "race to the bottom" as they bow to Chinese censors in order to gain a slice of the world's most promising market, critics said on Thursday...
"It's about money, always," said Rebecca Jeschke, of United States-based digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "There is a tonne of money to be made in China and the rules are a little different when there is that much money to be made."
Jan. 26, 2006
Red Herring
"Google Guru Defends Censorship"
Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Thursday defended his company's decision to censor search results in China, a move facing a mounting attack from digital rights advocates...
"It's a rationalization for working in China, and I'm disappointed Google's doing this," said Rebecca Jeschke, spokesperson for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's interesting that Google did take the higher ground last week on privacy rights to Americans. We wish they'd consider the rights of Chinese citizens, too."
Jan. 25, 2005
New York Times
"Privacy for People who Don't Show Their Navels"
By Jonathan D. Glater
It may be easy to forget that there are people who want to remain anonymous on the Web while the online world is full of those who happily post pictures of themselves and their navels for all to see...
"People in the world are more interested in anonymity now than they were in the 1990's," when the popularity of the Internet first surged, said Chris Palmer, technology manager at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group in San Francisco dedicated to protecting issues like free speech on the Web.
Jan. 25, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
"Google Bows to China Pressure"
By Verne Kopytoff
Bowing to Chinese laws, Google Inc. has agreed to censor search results about topics forbidden by the government there, eliciting scathing criticism from civil rights advocates...
Danny O'Brian, activism coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that advocates civil liberties in the technology arena, blasted Google for the decision. He insisted that the company should have taken a stand against censorship, pointing to its oft-cited motto of "Don't do evil."
"I'm very disappointed," O'Brian said. "I really hope that they will reconsider it."
Jan. 25, 2006
PC World
"Senate Committee Considers Broadcast Flags to Combat Piracy"
By Melissa Bell
Taking up one of the first items on its 2006 agenda, the Senate Commerce Committee today began considering legislation that would enable broadcasters to block the recording of certain audio and video programs in an effort to combat piracy....
Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, another litigant against the FCC in the May case, said, "There is a real danger of killing something before it's been born."
Jan. 25, 2006
MarketWatch
"Google Shows its True Colors"
By Bambi Francisco
It's profound what being a public company can do to the core values of a young firm...
"The real question is whether Google could have done better -- using its market power to support free speech and influence the Chinese government to allow the broadest range of speech to reach the Chinese people," said Kurt Opsahl, an attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Perhaps some results are better than no results, but at the same time, it places a single gatekeeper between the people and the information, which is easier to regulate and control."
Jan. 24, 2006
TG Daily
"Authentec rolls out "world's smallest" fingerprint sensor"
By Humphrey Cheung
There may be a smaller and faster fingerprint sensor coming to a laptop or PDA near you...
However privacy proponents like Seth Schoen from the Electronic Frontier Foundation believe TPM may be the wrong approach. "Treating computer owners as adversaries is not progress in computer security," Schoen said in an EFF sponsored white paper entitled "Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk".
Jan. 23, 2006
ZDNet
"Can video iPod trigger DMCA reform?"
By Declan McCullagh
Apple Computer's video iPod may not be the first portable movie player, but it is by far the best...
"Our best hope for getting amendments to the DMCA is for more regular consumers to feel the pinch of the DMCA," says Fred von Lohmann, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Jan. 22, 2006
Stereophile Magazine
"New Legislation Proposed to Restrict Fair Use"
By Wes Phillips
On our regular visit to the Electronic Freedom Foundation's (EFF) Deep Links website last Friday, we were alarmed to learn of proposed US Senate broadcast flag legislation that includes provisions to limit fair use to "customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law."
That would seem to allow fair use, so why is it cause for alarm? The EFF's Fred von Lohmann has a crushingly simple response, "Had that been the law in 1970, there would never have been a VCR. Had it been the law in 1990, no TiVo. In 2000, no iPod."
Jan. 22, 2006
Newsweek
"Technology: Searching for Searches"
By Steven Levy
Civil-liberties advocates reeling from the recent revelations on surveillance had something else to worry about last week: the privacy of the billions of search queries made on sites like Google, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft...
"Search is a window into people's personalities," says Kurt Opsahl, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney. "They should be able to take advantage of the Internet without worrying about Big Brother looking over their shoulders."
Jan 21, 2006
San Jose Mercury News
"Online Privacy is a Fragile Shield"
By Michael Bazeley
Steve Shaer is feeling more skittish about Internet companies these days.
Not only is he upset that the federal government subpoenaed reams of data from four Internet companies -- Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft. He's now wondering which online companies he can trust to keep his personal information private...Lee Tien, attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, agreed. ``What we always say about subpoenas is, they can't subpoena what you don't have.''
Jan 20, 2006
ZDNet, UK
"EMI considers opening its DRM to inspection"
By Tom Espiner
The EMI Group is reviewing a request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to allow reverse engineering of its digital rights management (DRM) software, EMI said on Friday...
"Music fans deserve to know whether EMI's copy-restricted CDs are exposing their computers to security risks," said Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney with EFF, earlier this month. "When it comes to computer security, it pays to have as many independent experts kick the tires as possible, and that can only happen if EMI assures those experts that they won't be sued for their trouble."
Jan 20, 2006
NPR
"Google Records Subpoena Raises Privacy Fears"
By Maria Godoy
The Justice Department has requested records for millions of searches made on Google, AOL and other popular search engines in an effort to bolster its case for an online pornography law...
"All the search engines have created a honey pot of information about people and what they search for," says Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney for the group. "It's a window into their personalities -- what they want, what they dream about. This information gets stored, and that becomes very tempting."
Jan 20, 2006
UPI
"Stevens demands online porn rating system"
By Elliot Smilowitz
In a week in which the Child Online Protection Act is back in the news, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, used a committee hearing Thursday to fire a warning toward the adult entertainment industry...
Rebecca Jeschke, spokesperson for the EFF, said Google's stand is "a good statement in the battle for privacy."
She noted the chilling effect that COPA could have.
"One of the fears is that people may not search for information that they want because of Big Brother watching over their shoulder," she said. "It would be a shame if people weren't able to use the Internet the way they would like to."
Jan. 20, 2006
Chicago Tribune
"US wants to google... Google"
By Mike Hughlett
Google Inc. is refusing to obey a Justice Department demand that it release information about what people seek when they use the popular search engine, setting up a possible battle with broad implications for Internet privacy rights...
"This is an extraordinarily broad discovery request," said Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Jan. 19, 2006
ABC 7 News - San Francisco
"Gov't. Seeks Google Records In Porn Investigation"
By David Louie
A major battle is shaping up, pitting the U.S. Attorney General against Google, the widely used Internet search engine. It centers on people searching the Internet for x-rated material....
Kurt Opsahl, Electronic Frontier Foundation: "It reveals a lot about you -- what you're interested in, what you worry about, what you enjoy -- and those are very personal details of a person's life. It's important to protect that information from being snooped upon by the government. You don't want big brother looking over your shoulder."
Jan. 19, 2006
New York Daily News
"Google, gov't in search spat"
By Elizabeth Lazarowitz and Daniel Dunaief
Google is rebuffing the government's demand for a peek at what millions of people have been looking up on the Internet's leading search engine - a request that raises concerns Big Brother may be watching a little too closely...
"If you are registered with Google so you can use G-mail or some other bundled service and you search on Google, they can link your real identity to your search terms," said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"What you Google for defines you," said Bankston. "It reveals very often your greatest hopes and your deepest fears, your personal business and medical problems and issues ... and plenty of other First Amendment protected activities that you do online."
Jan 19, 2006
Los Angeles Times
"Federal Government Obtains Web Search Requests"
By Joseph Menn and Chris Gaither
Federal investigators have obtained potentially billions of Internet search requests made by users of major websites run by Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and America Online Inc., raising concerns about how the massive data trove will be used....
Search engines maintain "a massive database that reaches into the most intimate details of your life: what you search for, what you read, what worries you, what you enjoy," said Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's critical to protect the privacy of this information so people feel free to use modern tools to find information without the fear of Big Brother looking over their shoulder."
Jan. 19, 2006
The Globe and Mail
"Liberal MP's fundraiser causes controversy"
A star-studded fundraiser tonight for prominent Liberal MP Sam Bulte has touched off a heated controversy at all-candidates' meetings in her Toronto riding and in the blogosphere....
In an interview, Ms. Bulte accused Mr. Geist, members of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Ms. Nash of trying to discredit her.
"I will not be silenced by zealots like Michael Geist and political opportunists like Peggy Nash who are making something out of nothing," she said, adding that she believes Mr. Geist's comments are nearing the point of being defamatory.
Jan. 18, 2006
ZDNet
"Free Software Foundation: DRM fundamentally incompatible with FSF principles"
By David Berlind
Unfortunately, this is actually only half the rotten truth. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Brad Templeton taught me, DRM (digital restrictions management) is also technically incompatible with open source software (the likes of which the Free Software Foundation espouses)...
Jan. 18, 2006
San Francisco Examiner
"S.F. airport's one-of-a-kind e-Passport program begins"
By Neil H. Dempsey
Knowingly or not, some travelers from Australia, New Zealand and Singapore were participating in a test of international security measures this week as they arrived at San Francisco International Airport with their photographs and biographical data on a microchip embedded within their passports...
Some privacy advocates say the BAC safeguard may not do enough to protect private data from unauthorized intrusion. Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Tuesday that it remains possible that a stranger could feed off information emanating from the reader machines.
Jan. 17, 2006
CBC Montreal
"Protect consumers' digital rights, British MPs urged"
Earlier this month Apple came under scrutiny over the latest version of its iTunes music download software. The software scans a user's existing downloads and recommends new songs to buy, a practice many see as an invasion of privacy.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a U.S. digital rights group, has asked Apple to disclose to consumers upfront that their privacy is being invaded.
Jan 13, 2006
United Press International
href="http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID=20060113-105153-9771r">"Anti-online
annoyance law may have no legs"
By Elliot Smilowitz
Last Thursday President Bush signed into law the Violence Against
Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. Included
in the law is a clause that outlaws anonymously using the Internet
"with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass.""The law is different from the final versions of the bill in the House
and Senate," Opsahl said. "It was a bill addressing a lot of other
things, and this part was slipped in."The chief problem with the law, Opsahl said, was the word 'annoy.'
"The word covers a much wider range of speech than threats," Opsahl
said. "It goes beyond the cyber-stalking that proponents were worried
about."Jan 13, 2006
Seattle Times
href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002736938_cyberstalk12m.html">"Cyberstalking
law stirs debate"Noelle Ligon spent years terrorized by an old boyfriend in South
Carolina who sent her scores of anonymous e-mail messages and posted
her phone number on pornographic online message boards before
authorities were able to convict him... Last week, President Bush
signed into law a Department of Justice appropriations bill that also
makes online harassment such as that suffered by Ligon a federal
crime...But Kurt Opsahl, an attorney at the California-based Electronic
Frontier Foundation, criticized the new law, saying "a vague word like
'annoy' could make it easier for an aggressive prosecutor to unmask a
speaker engaged in politically protected speech.
"Anonymous speech is a vital right to allow people to participate in
public debates without fear," he said. "Enacting a statute that pushes
against that right unnecessarily is a bad idea."Jan. 13, 2006
Los Angeles Times
href="http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/cotown/la-fi-privacy13jan13,0,6214808.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=widget">"Critics
Say iTunes is Snooping"The latest version of Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iTunes software
scans a computer's digital music collection and recommends new songs
to buy - a feature blasted by privacy advocates as electronic
snooping...Jason Schultz, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
a digital rights advocacy group, criticized Apple's failure to
disclose upfront what the company planned to do with the information
it gathered."Apple should come clean," Schultz said. "They owe it to their user
base. It's not going to kill their market. My question to them is,
what are they afraid of? If this is something that is standard run of
the mill, it should be transparent."Jan. 12, 2006
Wall Street Journal
href="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113683748410041834.html?mod=todays_free_feature">"Protecting
Kids from Adult Spam"Lawmakers in Utah and Michigan have moved aggressively to shield
children from spam promoting pornography, alcohol and other
adults-only products. The states have created registries of kids'
email addresses and bar businesses, located in state or not, from
sending inappropriate sales pitches to minors...Lee Tien, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
said the group is concerned about "content-based discrimination" and
issues surrounding taxation of email. "We think it's a very bad way to
try to regulate Internet speech," he said.Jan. 10, 2006
Wired News
href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,69988-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_2">"PearLyrics'
True Love Story"In an interview with Wired News, the Austrian developer who wrote the
controversial PearLyrics widget for iTunes said he created the app to
win the heart of a would-be girlfriend who moved to Hong Kong...On Dec. 13, attorney Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation published an open letter criticizing the music company for
its threat. After protest erupted on blogs and tech websites, Warner
Chappell publicly apologized to Ritter.Jan. 10, 2006
Arizona Republic
href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0110clay0110.html">"Math
Mavens, Get Ready: It's Prime Time"In December, researchers at Central Missouri State University
announced that they had discovered the biggest prime number ever, and
it includes 9.1 million digits...An outfit called the Electronic Frontier Foundation has offered a
$100,000 prize for finding a 10 million-digit prime number.Jan. 10, 2006
Edmonton Journal
href="http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=cb4dc6e7-5ef6-4a08-9ab2-86324be71e42&k=51688">"Internet
outs privacy on line"Sony-BMG Music Entertainment surreptitiously places software on
consumers' computers. Microsoft closes down a personal blog in China
over concerns about potential lost revenue. Other firms trade in
people's supposedly private information. These may look like
unconnected events, but each is an example of how private companies
are increasingly using technology to intrude upon our lives...Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney with the San Francisco-based advocacy
group Electronic Frontier Foundation, says more and more of our
transactions and associations involve third-party technology firms
that have little interest in protecting personal privacy."Indeed, the economic incentives for them are generally to collect as
much information on you as possible because it facilitates
marketing...Yes, technology is giving corporations a great deal of new
power to invade the privacy of their customer."Jan. 9, 2006
Computerworld
href="http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,107584,00.html">"Court
gives first nod to Sony XCP settlement"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is praising a U.S. District
Court judge's preliminary approval Friday of a settlement with Sony
BMG Music Entertainment over two widely criticized copy-protection
programs found on an estimated 15 million music CDs.The settlement means that consumers can finally get music that will
play on their computers without invading their privacy or eroding
their security, the EFF said in a statement. The EFF, a U.S.-based
organization, studies technology-related legal issues.Jan 5, 2006
Red Herring
href="http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=15186&hed=Microsoft+Closes+China+Blog§or=Regions&subsector=Asia">"Microsoft
Closes China Blog"Microsoft closed down a widely read blog on its MSN Spaces service run
by a blogger in China who apparently ran afoul of government
censors...Cyber rights proponents criticized Microsoft's actions. "It's within
their rights to do this kind of thing, but whether it's good business
or good corporate citizenship is another matter," said Danny O'Brien,
activism coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).He pointed out that Microsoft "depends on and benefits from the free
market and the free exchange of ideas. It's effectively burning its
own bridges. If it wants a market where products like Microsoft's can
do well, it needs an open culture and an open society. It's shooting
itself in the foot, as well as providing authorities with the tools to
repress their own citizens."Jan 5, 2006
Red Herring
href="http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=15165&hed=Coldplay+CD+DRM+Prompts+Outcry§or=Regions&subsector=Asia">"Coldplay
DRM Sparks Outcry"A music fan's online posting of the usage restrictions enclosed with a
Coldplay CD he bought in India has sparked criticism of the band in
the tech blogosphere, signaling a growing need for better information
about copyright limitations...However, according to Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, such restrictions are common for copy-protected CDs, and
they are, to his knowledge, legal."I would love to see a label like that on all copy-protected CDs,"
said Mr. von Lohmann. "The label does actually describe what the
restrictions are, and up till now, music fans have had a lot of
trouble finding out what they are."
