You Can't Destroy the Village to Save It: W3C vs DRM, Round Two
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the nonprofit body that maintains the Web's core standards, made a terrible mistake in 2013: they decided to add DRM—the digital locks that train your computer to say "I can't let you do that, Dave"; rather than "Yes, boss"—to the Web's standards.
At...
House Grills State Department Over Wassenaar Arrangement
Congressional Representatives grilled the parties responsible for the U.S. implementation of controversial changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement in a joint hearing before subcommittees of the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees today. Witnesses included officials from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of...
Keys Case Spotlights Flaws of Computer Hacking Law
Keys Case Spotlights Flaws of Computer Hacking Law
Old laws can cause confusion and unduly harsh consequences, particularly when courts confront situations Congress did not anticipate. This is particularly true for the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030—the federal "antihacking" statute prompted in part by fear generated by the 1983 technothriller "WarGames." The CFAA...
Speakeasy: Brussels
Meet EFF for a drink on Tuesday, 26 January in Brussels! Raise a glass with EFF staffers including Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo, Director for International Freedom of Expression Jillian York, Civil Liberties Director David Greene, Global Policy Analyst Maira Sutton,...
In Patent Litigation, Justice Delayed Ensures the Entire Public Can Be Denied
When courts fail to quickly address serious defects in a patent litigation complaint, it can harm not only the parties to the case, but also the public at large. Yesterday, EFF and Public Knowledge filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a...
EFF To Court: Cisco Must Be Held Accountable For Aiding China’s Human Rights Abuses
San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging a federal appeals court to reinstate a lawsuit seeking to hold Cisco Systems accountable for aiding in human rights abuses by building the Chinese government a system that Cisco officials knew was intended to identify—and facilitate the capture and torture of—members of...
The Boy Who Could Change the World
“One of the minor puzzles of American life is what question to ask people at parties and suchly to get to know them,” a nineteen-year-old Aaron Swartz wrote in 2006.
“‘How ya doin’?’ is of course mere formality, only the most troubled would answer honestly for anything but...
The Boy Who Could Change the World
Twitter’s Policy Reboot: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 12, 2016 Update: It is important to note that some of the language that was added to the Twitter Rules on December 30, 2015 is not entirely new and was recycled from other Twitter Help pages, such as the Abusive behavior policy page. We consider the direct and...
