“I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this.” Pete Seeger, 1955, testimony pursuant to subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee. The world lost a clear, strong voice for peace, justice, and community with the death of singer and activist Pete Seeger last week. While Seeger was known as an outspoken musician not shy about airing his political opinions, it’s also…
Author: EFFSource
The chorus of voices denouncing the White House’s plan to “fast track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is growing louder by the day. Over 550 public interest groups and digital rights organizations sent letters this week to Senate leaders opposing the bill which would severely limit Congress’ role over trade pacts. Sen. Ron Wyden came out and said he isn’t ready to support the legislation. Then in the biggest blow yet, Senate majority leader Harry Reid stated he is “against fast track,” and suggested he would not bring any legislation to the floor that would grant the White House greater trade…
Sgt. Star is a 6-foot-1, clean-shaven, strong-jawed white male, with eyes that match the camouflage pattern on his combat uniform. His voice is deep, authoritative and carefully enunciative. He seems to be in his 30s, but he is actually only about 7 years old. Sgt. Star is not a real person, or at least not a corporeal one. He is a chatbot—an artificial intelligence program designed to hold conversations—that was commissioned by the U.S. Army to help with recruitment efforts. He can recognize questions and dispense answers, verbally and in text, and also help the user surf the GoArmy.com website.…
We thought we won the Crypto Wars, the fight to make strong encryption accessible to all, in the 1990s.1 We were wrong. Last month, Reuters broke news about a deal struck between the popular computer security firm RSA and the National Security Agency. RSA reportedly accepted $10 million from NSA to make Dual_EC_DRBG—an intentionally weakened random number generator—the default in its widely used BSAFE encryption toolkit. RSA encryption tools are an industry standard used by large tech companies and individuals alike, to protect hundreds of millions of people by encrypting our daily online interactions. We trust RSA’s encryption every time…
Copyright reform hearings continue to lumber along in the House of Representatives, with Tuesday’s in the Judiciary Committee marking the seventh in as many months. This hearing was dedicated to “The Scope of Fair Use,” and though the panel of witnesses was more diverse than in some of the earlier hearings, there were still some disappointing trends in the conversation. One area that got significant attention was the topic of mass digitization, which has been repeatedly determined by courts to be a fair and transformative use. Not only is it fair, but as Professor Peter Jaszi noted during the hearing…
For decades, EFF has been fighting to make the world safe for innovation. And we’ve been fighting even longer to protect First Amendment rights to anonymity and privacy. Today, those fights came together, as we went to court to stop a patent troll from obtaining information about a specific group of EFF donors, as well as a vast swath of otherwise privileged information. Last year we filed a petition at the Patent and Trademark Office challenging the so-called ‘podcasting’ patent owned by Personal Audio. More than one thousand people donated to our Save Podcasting campaign to support our efforts. Our…
Co-Authored with Peter Bibring, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California On Friday, EFF and the ACLU of Southern California filed the opening brief in our lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for information on how the agencies are using Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR). We argue the departments are improperly withholding these records, keeping important information about this invasive surveillance technology from the public. Both EFF and the ACLU have argued that ALPRs—high-speed cameras mounted on poles and patrol cars that record every passing vehicle’s license plate, along with time, date…
EFF and other public interest groups have sent a letter to lawmakers reiterating our opposition to a “fast track” bill that would restrict Congress ability to have meaningful input into or review trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and others. In particular, we denounce certain “trade objectives” in the bill that encourage a copyright maximalist agenda without upholding fair use rights. Beyond the procedural problems with fast track, the inclusion of such language contradicts an important doctrine in US law that has been crucial to give artists, innovators, students, and the…
Today is Data Privacy Day (also known as Data Protection Day), an international festival of our right to control our own personal information and to protect our communications from unchecked surveillance. It’s not been a great year for either belief. Since last year’s celebration, the Snowden revelations have exposed how vulnerable private information is from unwarranted inspection by the surveillance state. At the same time, we’ve seen reports of incident after incident of major privacy breaches at the hands of criminals from large companies. Our personal data seems less secure than ever. Data Privacy Day is on January 28th in…
The Snowden revelations have confirmed our worst fears about online spying. They show that the NSA and its allies have been building a global surveillance infrastructure to “master the internet” and spy on the world’s communications. These shady groups have undermined basic encryption standards, and riddled the Internet’s backbone with surveillance equipment. They have collected the phone records of hundreds of millions of people none of whom are suspected of any crime. They have swept up the electronic communications of millions of people at home and overseas indiscriminately, exploiting the digital technologies we use to connect and inform. They spy…
One of the many ways EFF is fighting illegal NSA spying is in our lawsuit First Unitarian Church v. NSA. In this case, we represent 24 organizations that want to protect their freedom of association. We filed a major brief in this case over the weekend detailing how the NSA’s mass collection of phone records has resulted in decreased calls to and from these organizations – an unconstitutional violation of their First Amendment rights. Our filing came just after the Executive Branch’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) reached the same conclusion, specifically describing the organizations’ injuries as “entirely…
Network neutrality—the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks equally—is a principle that EFF strongly supports. However, the power to enforce equal treatment on the Internet can easily become the power to control the Internet in less beneficent ways. Some people have condemned last week’s court decision to reject the bulk of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet Order as a threat to Internet innovation and openness. Others hailed it as a victory against dangerous government regulation of the Internet. Paradoxically, there is a lot of truth to both of these…
Use of Campaign Photo on Political Blog Is Clearly ‘Fair Use’San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging a federal court to dismiss a politically motivated copyright lawsuit. The case started in April, when California Republican Party Vice Chairman Harmeet K. Dhillon sued an anonymous blogger over the use of a five-year-old campaign photo in a critical post on “The Munger Games” website – a site dedicated to criticism of donor and current chairman of the Santa Clara County Republican Party of Silicon Valley, Charles Munger, Jr. However, the use of the photo is clearly allowed under the…
Television broadcasters sure seem to like paying legal fees. In the latest twist in their long-running battle to kill any innovation they don’t control, television neworks are trying to stifle DISH Networks’ Hopper technology in its infancy. The technology allows DISH subscribers to temporarily record primetime TV and then watch it, commercial free, for eight days. Having lost their battle to shut the service down in federal district court, and an appeals court, the networks are looking for help from yet another appeals court. As we explain in an amicus brief filed today (with Public Knowledge and the Organization…
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) today issued a report strongly condemning the NSA’s mass telephone records surveillance program. PCLOB is an independent and bipartisan panel appointed by the president to advise the government on ensuring privacy and civil liberties. The report determined that the program, which the administration claims is authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, is illegal under the terms of that same law and doesn’t actually keep us safe. The board’s first recommendation says it all: The Section 215 bulk telephone records program lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional…
The military “interim government” in Egypt is cracking down on virtually all meaningful form of assembly, association, or opposition. Following the passage of a November 2013 law banning peaceful protest, dozens of activists and organizers have been sent to prison. Among them is Alaa Abd El Fattah, software guru, blogger and political activist. On the night of November 28th, security forces raided Alaa’s home, beat him and his wife when asked to see their warrant, and took and held him overnight, blindfolded and handcuffed, in an unknown location. Currently, he is held at Tora Prison, Egypt’s notorious maximum security detention…
Traduccion por Jacobo Nájera, ContingenteMX y Alex Argüelles Las filtraciones de Snowden confirmaron nuestro mayor miedo acerca del espionaje digital. Dichas filtraciones reflejaron que la NSA y sus aliados han estado construyendo una infraestructura de vigilancia global para “adueñarse de Internet” y espiar las comunicaciones del mundo. Estos turbios grupos han menoscabado los estándares básicos del cifrado y han encontrado la forma de llenar la infraestructura básica de Internet con equipo de vigilancia. Han recolectado los registros telefónicos de cientos de millones de personas, ninguna de las cuales esté bajo sospecha de haber cometido algún crimen. Han recolectado las comunicaciones…
The Snowden revelations have confirmed our worst fears about online spying. They show that the NSA and its allies have been building a global surveillance infrastructure to “master the internet” and spy on the world’s communications. These shady groups have undermined basic encryption standards, and riddled the Internet’s backbone with surveillance equipment. They have collected the phone records of hundreds of millions of people none of whom are suspected of any crime. They have swept up the electronic communications of millions of people at home and overseas indiscriminately, exploiting the digital technologies we use to connect and inform. They spy…
As encryption has become more prevalent in online communications as a countermeasure against surveillance, attackers have sought to circumvent these measures by covertly installing malware on targeted computers that can log keystrokes, remotely spy on users with their own webcams, record Skype calls, and listen in on the computer’s built-in microphone. Sometimes the attacker is a criminal, such as the hacker who used a remote access tool (RAT) to take blackmail photos of Miss Teen USA. Sometimes the attacker is acting in support of a state, like the pro-Assad hackers whose malware campaigns against opposition supporters EFF has been tracking…
In the week leading up the two-year anniversary of the SOPA blackout protests, EFF and others are talking about key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day, we’ll take on a different piece, exploring what’s at stake and and what we need to do to make sure the law promotes creativity and innovation. We’ve put together a page where you can read and endorse the principles yourself. Let’s send a message to DC, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Brussels, and wherever else folks are making new copyright rules: We’re from the Internet, and we’re here to help. Defenders of the arts and media…