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…
Author: EFFSource
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…