ACLU and EFF Appeal Ruling In Case Challenging Government Attempt To Obtain Private Data in WikiLeaks Investigation

Alexandria, VA - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today appealed a ruling that the government can collect the private records of three Twitter users as part of its investigation related to WikiLeaks. The ruling further held that the users cannot learn which other...

Legal Battle Over Government Demands for Twitter Records Unsealed by Court

Alexandria, VA - A federal court in Alexandria, Virginia today unsealed motions filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union, and others concerning government attempts to obtain Twitter account records about three individuals in connection with its WikiLeaks investigation. The documents were originally filed under seal...

EFF Asks Judges to Quash Subpoenas in Porn-Downloading Lawsuits

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked an Illinois judge to quash subpoenas issued in predatory lawsuits involving alleged illegal downloading of pornography. In an amicus brief filed Friday, EFF argued that the adult film companies were abusing the law in order to coerce settlement payments despite...

Chilling Effects Supporters Fight Back Against Perfect 10 Challenge

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other founders and participants in the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse urged an appeals court in an amicus brief filed Tuesday to reject an adult entertainment publisher's attempts to block Google's contributions to the online copyright resource. Durie Tangri LLP represented EFF and...

Lawmakers Must Respect Freedom of Expression in Wikileaks Debate

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a broad coalition of advocacy organizations sent an open letter to U.S. lawmakers today, calling on government officials to respect freedom of expression in the debate over the whistle-blower website Wikileaks.
In the wake of Wikileaks' recent publications of U.S....

EFF Asks Judges to Protect Identities in Porn-Downloading Lawsuits

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked judges in Texas and West Virginia to block requests to unmask accused file sharers in several predatory copyright troll lawsuits involving the alleged illegal downloading of pornography.
The cases were filed by two different companies and involve different copyrighted...

Legal Attack on Internet Music Storage Threatens 'Safe Harbor' Rules for Online Businesses

New York - In a legal battle over Internet music storage that could impact innovation and free expression on the Internet, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Public Knowledge, and other public interest groups asked a federal judge in an amicus brief Tuesday to protect the "safe harbor" rules for online...

Government Withholds Records on Need for Expanded Surveillance Law

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against three agencies of the Department of Justice (DOJ) today, demanding records about problems or limitations that hamper electronic surveillance and potentially justify or undermine the Administration's new calls for expanded surveillance powers.
The issue has been in the...

Transparency Activist, Public Domain Scholar, Legal Blogger, and Imprisoned E-Voting Researcher Win Pioneer Awards

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce four winners of its 2010 Pioneer Awards: transparency activist Steven Aftergood; public domain scholar James Boyle; legal blogger Pamela Jones and the website Groklaw; and e-voting researcher Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who was recently released on bail after...

Targets of Predatory Lawsuits Fight Copyright Troll in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked a judge in Washington, D.C., to dismiss copyright infringement claims against two defendants wrongfully ensnared in mass movie-downloading lawsuits.
In an amicus brief filed Friday, EFF argues that the copyright troll behind the suits -- a law firm calling...

California Ban on Violent Videogames Violates First Amendment

Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) urged the United States Supreme Court Friday to protect the free speech rights of videogame creators and users, asking the justices to uphold a ruling throwing out unconstitutional restrictions on violent videogames.
At issue...

Privacy and Safety Questions Loom Over Federal Program to Track Preschoolers

San Francisco - The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are calling for answers to critical privacy and safety questions that loom over a controversial federal program to track preschoolers with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips at George Miller III Head Start program in Richmond,...

EFF Experts Address Security, Openness, and Privacy at United Nations' Internet Governance Forum

Vilnius, Lithuania - Experts from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will address security, openness, privacy, and other issues at the United Nations' Internet Governance Forum (IGF), set for September 14-17 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
This is the fifth meeting of the IGF, which was established to discuss public policy issues...

EFF Urges Supreme Court to Block NASA's Invasive Background Checks

Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the United States Supreme Court Monday to uphold an appeals court decision that blocks invasive and unnecessary background checks at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), arguing that the over-collection of personal data puts employees' privacy at risk.
The...

EFF Offers New Help for Targets of Predatory Copyright Infringement Lawsuits

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today published "U.S. Copyright Group v. the People," a comprehensive collection of resources designed to assist the thousands of individuals accused of online copyright infringement by a Washington, D.C., law firm calling itself the U.S. Copyright Group (USCG).
Earlier this year,...

EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won three critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions today, carving out new legal protections for consumers who modify their cell phones and artists who remix videos — people who, until now, could have been sued for their...

Recording Industry Giant Tries to Undermine 'Safe Harbor' Rules for Online Video Sites

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of nonprofit groups have asked a federal appeals court to protect the "safe harbor" rules for online video service providers that encourage free expression and innovation on the Internet.
In an amicus brief filed Friday in UMG v....

EFF Argues Against Mass Copyright Infringement Lawsuits in Wednesday Hearing

Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, June 30, at 2:15 p.m., a federal court in Washington, D.C., will hear oral argument from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about dividing up the mass copyright infringement lawsuits that improperly and unfairly target thousands of BitTorrent users.
A Washington, D.C., law firm calling...

EFF Asks Judges to Quash Subpoenas in Movie-Downloading Lawsuits

Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked judges in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to quash subpoenas issued in predatory lawsuits aimed at movie downloaders, arguing in friend-of-the court briefs that the cases, which together target several thousand BitTorrent users, flout legal safeguards for protecting individuals' rights. Public Citizen and...

Judge Shields Identity of Online Critic Facing Baseless Lawsuit

San Francisco - A federal judge in San Francisco has quashed a baseless subpoena aimed at outing an anonymous online critic of Pennsylvania corporation USA Technologies after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) successfully argued that the First Amendment shields the identity of anonymous speakers who engage in lawful speech.
...

EFF Demands Records on PATRIOT Act Effectiveness, Lawfulness, and Misuse

Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit today against the Department of Justice (DOJ), demanding records on three controversial PATRIOT Act surveillance provisions that expire early next year unless Congress renews them.
EFF is seeking the immediate release of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports on...

EFF Backs Yahoo! to Protect User from Warrantless Email Search

Denver - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) along with Google and numerous other public interest organizations and Internet industry associations joined with Yahoo! in asking a federal court Tuesday to block a government attempt to access the contents of a Yahoo! email account without a search warrant based on probable...

Viacom's Legal Attack on YouTube Threatens Online Speech and Innovation

New York - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other nonprofit groups asked a federal judge Monday to reject expansive copyright claims made in lawsuits pending against YouTube. The amicus brief argues that the plaintiffs in those lawsuits are pushing for legal rulings that would undermine federal law and throttle...

Sham Email Subpoena Violates Whistleblower's Constitutional Rights

Atlanta - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and attorney Bryan Vroon asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit today to reexamine a panel ruling that violated a whistleblower's Fourth Amendment right to privacy in his email communications.
The whistleblower, Charles Rehberg, uncovered systematic mismanagement of funds...

EFF Joins With Internet Companies and Advocacy Groups to Reform Privacy Law

San Francisco - As part of a broad coalition of privacy groups, think tanks, technology companies, and academics, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today issued recommendations for strengthening the federal privacy law that regulates government access to private phone and Internet communications and records, including cell phone location data.
...

EFF to Press for New Privacy Protections Against Hidden Video Surveillance in Senate Hearing Monday

Philadelphia - On Monday, March 29, at 10 a.m., the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing in the Philadelphia federal courthouse on whether the federal electronic privacy laws need to be updated to better regulate secret video surveillance. Senior Staff...

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