With EFF’s Help, Language Teacher Responds to Ridiculous Patent Threat
Foreign languages have been taught, and studied, for thousands of years. People who teach languages are the last folks that should be dealing with patent threat letters—but incredibly, that’s exactly what has happened to Mihalis Eleftheriou. Hodder and Stoughton, a large British publisher, has sent a letter to Eleftheriou...
New Rules to Protect Data Privacy: Where to Focus, What to Avoid
Stupid Patent of the Month: Alleged Cult Leader Wants to "Improve Performance"
In April, Mexican federal police arrested Keith Raniere, taking him from the $10,000-per-week villa where he was staying and extraditing him to New York. According to the NY Daily News, Raniere, leader of self-help group NXIVM (pronounced “nexium”), is now being held without bail while he awaits trial...
The Crucial Next Few Days In the EU's Copyright Filter and Link Tax Battle
As we reported last week, JURI, the key European Parliamentary committee working on copyright reform, voted on June 20th to support compulsory copyright filters for media platforms (Article 13), and to create a new requirement on websites to obtain a license before linking to news stories (...
New Lawsuit Challenges FOSTA – The Federal Law Sparking Website Shutdowns
San Francisco – Two human rights organizations, a digital library, an activist for sex workers, and a certified massage therapist have filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to block enforcement of FOSTA, the new federal law that silences online speech by forcing speakers to self-censor and requiring platforms to...
EFF Sues to Invalidate FOSTA, an Unconstitutional Internet Censorship Law
We are asking a court to declare the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (“FOSTA”) unconstitutional and prevent it from being enforced. The law was written so poorly that it actually criminalizes a substantial amount of protected speech and, according to experts, actually hinders...
Competition, Civil Liberties, and the Internet Giants
The power of the Internet historically arose from its edges: innovation, growth, and freedom came from its users and their contributions, rather than from some centrally controlled core of overseers. But today, for an increasing number of users, there is a powerful center to the net—and a potentially uncompetitive and...
UN Report Sets Forth Strong Recommendations for Companies to Protect Free Expression
“YouTube keeps deleting evidence of Syrian chemical weapon attacks”“Azerbaijani faces terrorist propaganda charge in Georgia for anti-Armenian Facebook post”“Medium Just Took Down A Post It Says Doxed ICE Employees”These are just a sampling of recent headlines relating to the regulation of user-generated online content, an increasingly controversial subject that has...
Stephanie Lenz and Universal Music Publishing Group Settle 'Dancing Baby' Case
SAN FRANCISCO - Stephanie Lenz and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) today announced they have amicably resolved Lenz v. Universal, the widely followed litigation sometimes referred to as the “Dancing Baby” case. Lenz filed her complaint in 2007, after UMPG requested the removal of a video in which Lenz’s then-toddler...
After More Than a Decade of Litigation, the Dancing Baby Has Done His Part to Strengthen Fair Use for Everyone
Litigation can always take twists and turns, but when EFF filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group in 2007 on behalf of Stephanie Lenz, few would have anticipated it would be ten years until the case was finally resolved. But today, at last, it is. Along the way, Lenz...
