Thursday, May 31, 2012

[PDI] Fwd: Will the government be reading this? | EFFector 25.15

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From: "Electronic Frontier Foundation" <membership@eff.org>
Date: May 31, 2012 10:38 AM
Subject: Will the government be reading this? | EFFector 25.15
To: "Daniel Stafford" <aquarianm@gmail.com>

View as a web page<https://supporters.eff.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=197>
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EFFector!]<https://supporters.eff.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=197>
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Electronic Frontier Foundation] <https://www.eff.org/>

In our 610th issue:

- UPDATES <#137a38be45ecd671_Updates>
- MINILINKS <#137a38be45ecd671_minilinks>
- ANNOUNCEMENTS <#137a38be45ecd671_announcements>

Will the Government Be Reading This? Call Your Senator to Stop Dangerous
Cybersecurity Proposals<https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8609>

CISPA was rammed through the House of Representatives without regard for
civil liberties, but the campaign to stop shortsighted cybersecurity
legislation is not over yet. We've got another chance to stop these bills
in the Senate and prevent the government from sacrificing online civil
liberties in the name of "cybersecurity." EFF, Demand Progress, Fight for
the Future, and Free Press are joining forces to oppose these bad laws. Can
you help us out? Use our online
tool<https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8609>to
call your Senators and tell them to oppose dangerously vague
cybersecurity legislation and support privacy protective amendments. Call
now <https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8609>.
Apple's Crystal Prison and the Future of Open
Platforms<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/apples-crystal-prison-and-future-open-platforms>

Two weeks ago, Steve Wozniak made a public call for Apple to open its
platforms for those who wish to tinker, tweak and innovate with their
internals. Wozniak is right. While Apple's products have many virtues, they
are marred by an ugly set of restrictions on what users and programmers can
do with them. Apple's recent products, especially their mobile iOS devices,
are like beautiful crystal prisons, with a wide range of restrictions
imposed by the OS, the hardware, and Apple's contracts with carriers as
well as contracts with developers.
TV Networks Say You're Breaking The Law When You Skip
Commercials<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/tv-networks-say-youre-breaking-law-when-you-skip-commercials>

Television networks are having a busy month trying to stamp out new
TV-watching technology. EFF and Public Knowledge have filed an amicus brief
supporting Aereo, a New York startup under fire from the networks for
bringing local broadcast TV to the Internet. And now the same networks have
told a court that skipping a commercial while watching a recorded show is
illegal, suing Dish Network over its digital video recorder with automatic
commercial-skipping.
EFF Updates

Reality TV Star's Lawsuit Flouts Laws Protecting Internet
Speech<https://www.eff.org/press/releases/reality-tv-stars-lawsuit-flouts-laws-protecting-internet-speech>

EFF has asked a judge today to block a reality TV star's attempts to censor
critical comments about her company on a popular online fashion blog. Corri
McFadden, star of the VH1 show "House of Consignment," filed suit against
Purseblog.com in a California federal court after accusations about
McFadden's company, eDrop-Off appeared in the comments of the blog. But
California has strong legal protections against lawsuits filed to chill
participation in publicly significant discussions, and now McFadden is
asking the court in California to let her dismiss the lawsuit without any
penalty so that she can pursue it in a state with more favorable law.

Megaupload User Asks Court for Files Back.
Again.<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/megaupload-user-asks-court-files-back-again>

EFF's client, Kyle Goodwin, asked the court to return the legal files he
lost when Megaupload was seized last January. Since then, we've been to
court, both for a hearing and a mediation, and nothing has changed. The
government has failed to help third parties like Kyle get access to their
data, so we have no choice but to go back to court.

Google Releases New Copyright Transparency
Report<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/google-releases-new-copyright-transparency-report>

Google has expanded its transparency reports program by releasing a
detailed report of content removal requests from copyright holders. The new
copyright report joins its semi-annual government takedown transparency
report, and covers more than 95% of the copyright takedown requests it has
received for Search results since July 2011. We hope this is just the
beginning: Google should extend the program to their other properties like
YouTube and Blogger, and other online service providers should follow suit.

Supreme Court to Federal Circuit: Fix Ultramerical
Decision<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/supreme-court-federal-circuit-fix-ultramerical-decision>

The Supreme Court said in Mayo v. Prometheus that there could be no valid
patent from adding nothing novel to an otherwise unpatentable idea. At the
time, we commented that this ruling should likewise apply to software
patents, so that merely adding a "conventional step" to an otherwise
abstract idea would not make that abstract idea patentable -- which is
exactly what happened in the Ultramercial v. Hulu case. The Supreme Court
has now told the Federal Circuit to reconsider its Ultramerical ruling in
light of Mayo, which sounds a lot like an endorsement that Mayo's
limitations on patentable subject matter should extend to software, too.

Sorry We're Not Sorry: Interview with Lino Bocchini of Falha de S.
Paulo<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/sorry-were-not-sorry-interview-lino-bocchini-falha-de-s-paulo>

Lino and Mario Bocchini, creators of the Brazilian parody website Falha de
Sao Paulo, are currently appealing a court order that froze their domain
two years ago. In September 2010, Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo
filed a lawsuit against the Falha seeking financial compensation for
mimicking their layout and copy-editing, and also for "moral damages" to
its reputation as a news organization. While the financial indemnities were
dropped, Falha's domain remains frozen for unauthorized use of Folha's
intellectual property.

This Week In Transparency<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/week-transparency-torture-evidence-stays-secret-wikileaks-and-more-transparency>

This week in transparency, the ACLU loses a FOIA case asking for torture
evidence; the government watchdog group Judicial Watch revealed that Obama
administration officials gave a filmmaker exclusive access to details about
the classified Osama bin Laden raid while publicly warning other government
officials that they would face investigation if they did the same; and a
group of journalists have joined WikiLeaks and their counsel in suing the
federal government over the extreme secrecy in the trial of Bradley Manning.
miniLinks

Privacy is Awesome <http://www.privacyisawesome.com/>

Fight for the Future's latest campaign creates a handy guide to meeting
with your Senators to oppose the cybersecurity legislation.

The many uses (and privacy dangers) of US police
drones<https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/the-strip.html#1>

A cartoon in the Sunday New York Times shows some of the privacy-invasive
uses of domestic drones.

Another blow to ACTA in the EU: Dutch parliament votes against signing or
ratifying it<https://www.bof.nl/2012/05/29/translations-of-dutch-parliamentary-resolutions-against-acta/>

A majority of the Dutch parliament has voted for three resolutions in the
fight against ACTA. Bits of Freedom, a Dutch civil liberties organization,
has translated these resolutions into English.
Administrivia

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Announcements

EFF is Joining the Transition to
IPv6<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/05/eff-joining-transition-ipv6>

EFF is proud to participate in World IPv6 Launch Day on June 6, 2012, when
www.eff.org will launch over IPv6. In the meantime, future-proofed users
can enjoy a preview at ipv6.eff.org.

OpenITP Summer 2012 Circumvention Tech
Summit<https://www.eff.org/event/openitp-summer-2012-circumvention-tech-summit>

EFF Staff Technologist Dan Auerbach will present "Encrypt the Web" at the
OpenITP Summer 2012 Circumvention Tech Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Summit
is occurring simultaneously and in partnership with RightsCon Rio.
*June 1-2, 2012*
*Rio de Janeiro, Brazil*

DMCA Anti-Circumvention Hearings - Open to
Public<https://www.eff.org/event/dmca-anti-circumvention-hearings-open-public-0>

EFF Senior Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann and EFF Intellectual Property
Director Corynne McSherry will respond to opponents of EFF's DMCA exemption
requests regarding the right to jailbreak devices and remix videos.
*June 4-5, 2012*
*Washington, DC*

Members-Only Speakeasy: Bay
Area<https://www.eff.org/event/members-only-speakeasy-bay-area>

Members can join EFF staff for a drink and discussion at a free, informal
Speakeasy meet-up. Raise a glass with our attorneys, technologists, and
activists and discover our latest work defending your freedom online. Not a
member, or let your membership lapse this year? There's still time to join
EFF today!
*June 7, 2012*
*San Francisco, CA*

Speakeasy: London with the Open Rights Group & Tor
Project<https://www.eff.org/event/speakeasy-london-open-rights-group>

EFF is proud to host our next Speakeasy with the Open Rights Group (ORG)
and the Tor Project in London! Join representatives from digital rights
allies ORG, anonymity advocates from Tor, legendary writer and activist
Cory Doctorow, and EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn.
*June 14, 2012*
*London, UK*

EFF's 5th Cyberlaw Pub Trivia
Night<https://www.eff.org/event/effs-5th-cyberlaw-pub-trivia-night-0>

Tech attorneys from throughout the Bay Area will gather to drink beer, eat
chicken and waffles, and prove their prowess in summoning obscure tech law
minutiae from the very depths of their oversized brains. If you are an
attorney and would like to attend, please email Kellie Brownell at
kellie@eff.org for details.
*June 19, 2012*
*San Francisco, CA*

Is the USA PATRIOT Act Our New
Standard?<https://www.eff.org/event/ala-anaheim-2012>

Could recent cybersecurity bills erode our civil liberties as well as our
right to know what our government is doing? Why are these bills of concern
for libraries and our patrons? Join Dr. Patrice McDermott, Director of Open
the Government, and Rainey Reitman, Activism Director at EFF, to learn more
about bills like CISPA.
*June 23, 2012*
*Anaheim, CA*
EFF on [image: twitter] <http://twitter.com/eff> [image:
facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/eff>
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