There's a new trend underway among indie labels, dubbed "digital vinyl": offering free MP3 downloads for customers who buy albums on vinyl. First Merge Records offered free downloads to those who bought vinyl releases by Clientele and Robert Pollard. Now Saddle Creek Records has announced that they will...

Last week, the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 was signed into law and a blow was struck against free speech on the Internet. VAWDOJRA is a complex bill, covering a wide variety of topics, but one subsection received little attention: Section 113. Dubbed...

It was thanks to the work of independent security researchers that the security risks in Sony-BMG's copy protected CDs were discovered. But what about the copy-protected CDs being sold by EMI labels (including Virgin, Capitol, and Liberty Records), which use similar copy protection technologies from Macrovision Corporation...

"The proposed settlement will provide significant benefits for consumers who bought the flawed CDs," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Under the terms, those consumers will get what they thought they were buying--music that will play on their computers without restriction or security risk. EFF is continuing discussions with Sony...

The suspense is over. After a weeks-long game of brinksmanship, the Senate and House have agreed to extend the sunsetting provisions of PATRIOT--which were scheduled to expire on December 31st--until February 3rd. The President plans on signing the bill. We'd prefer that these PATRIOT provisions not be extended at...

On the heels of the Senate's vote for a six-month PATRIOT extension, here's the latest from the Associated Press: The House passed a one-month extension of the Patriot Act on Thursday and sent it to the Senate for final action as Congress scrambled to prevent expiration of anti-terror...