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In our 616th issue:
Since the first national security letter statute was passed in
1986, the FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of such letters seeking
private telecommunications and financial records of Americans without
any prior approval from courts. EFF is releasing an FBI-redacted
briefing from a major new ongoing case in which it is challenging one of
the NSL statutes on behalf of a telecommunications company that
received an NSL in 2011.
The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman was subject to a frivolous
lawsuit designed to shut him up. Known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against
Public Participation (SLAPP), litigation like this -- and the big legal
fees that can come with it -- threatens free speech across the country. Urge Congress today to pass a federal anti-SLAPP statute to protect bloggers, journalists, creators, and more.
EFF recently received information about drone flights in the
United States, including extensive details about the specific drone
models some entities are flying, where they fly, how frequently they
fly, and how long they stay in the air. The 125 drone certificates and
accompanying documents the FAA released total thousands of pages and
were released in response to EFF's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit,
which has already uncovered the list of all entities licensed to fly
domestic drones.
EFF Updates
On Wednesday, EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch urged Congress
to limit the collection of biometrics and protect privacy with respect
to the use of face recognition technology. Jennifer's testimony in a
Senate hearing on "What Facial Recognition Technology Means for Privacy
and Civil Liberties" outlined the privacy and security concerns that are
inherent to automatic face recognition. The use of face recognition
technology raises important First and Fourth Amendment concerns, though
the scope of Constitutional protections in this area is unclear.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court
order imposing sanctions on Evan Stone, attorney for adult film producer
Mick Haig Productions. Stone improperly issued subpoenas without leave
of court to ISPs seeking the identities of anonymous subscribers in a
mass end-user copyright infringement case.
An official Romney campaign ad that showed President Obama
singing a line from the Al Green song "Let's Stay Together" has been hit
with a takedown from BMG Rights Management -- the group that controls
the publishing rights of the original song -- and pulled from YouTube.
This kind of takedown abuse is all too common, and we're likely to see
it again this campaign season.
Even after millions rallied against the passage of SOPA/PIPA,
the House is still quietly trying to pass a related bill that would give
the entertainment industry more permanent, government-funded
spokespeople. Rep. Lamar Smith's IP Attache Act would create an
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, as well as
broaden the use of IP attaches in particular U.S. embassies.
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. district court in Manhattan
ruled that the owner of an Internet connection cannot be found liable
for "negligence" simply because another person uses his wifi connection
to commit copyright infringement -- even if he knows about it. After
this decision, copyright trolls should find it harder to coerce
settlement payments from innocent people for the commonplace act of
sharing an Internet connection.
EFF filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission
about the privacy and data security practices of mobile wireless service
providers. Mobile privacy is an issue we've been increasingly concerned
about in the wake of the Carrier IQ privacy scandal, which was part of
the inspiration for our Mobile User Privacy Bill of Rights.
Australia is the latest democratic nation to introduce new
national security measures that would vastly expand governmental
surveillance powers, following an alarming legislative pattern that
unfolded in the United Kingdom and Canada in recent months.
With the opening ceremony of the London Olympics 2012 drawing
near, the colossal security apparatus surrounding the Summer Games has
come into focus.
The Russian Duma overwhelmingly approved a controversial
Internet regulation bill, which would create a national blacklist and
legal partnership with a content-monitoring bureau.
There's a majority consensus that ACTA now lies dead in Europe. There are however, a few murmurs of concern ahead.
The TPP agreement has been framed by the USTR as a 21st century
agreement, but we're still not convinced -- especially in an
environment where the public, Congress, and civil rights organizations
are denied access to the treaty's official text, while corporate
representatives have full access to it.
The number of citizen journalists killed or arrested in Syria
rises daily. While some have received ample international attention for
their plight, many others have gone largely ignored by the media.
Pro-Syrian government hackers appear to have started using a
surveillance tool, called Blackshades Remote Controller, whose
capabilities include keystroke logging and remote screenshots.
Aereo, a startup that lets viewers watch broadcast TV over the
Internet from tiny, personal antennas, can stay up and running -- at
least for now. Several television networks are trying to sue it out of
existence, but lost a motion asking a federal court to shut it down
until a legal decision is reached.
miniLinks
EFF's Jillian York asks prominent players in the international
activism space about the efficacy of free speech campaigns.
EFF has joined this brief from the Competetive Enterprise
Institute supporting EPIC in their call for TSA to follow the law and
conduct a court-ordered notice-and-comment period for their new
scanners.
Wrestler Sean Morley, known as Val Venis, tweeted that he would
not appear on WWE RAW if they continued supporting SOPA/CISPA.
Administrivia
ISSN 1062-9424
EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA
94110-1914
USA +1 415 436 9333
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
eff.org
Editor: Adi Kamdar, Activist
editor@eff.org
Membership & donation queries: membership@eff.org
General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: info@eff.org
Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged.
Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To
reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for
their express permission.
Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be reproduced individually at will.
Announcements
The Senate is gearing up to consider cybersecurity legislation next week. This is your last chance to take action now. Tell Congress that civil liberties should never be sacrificed for the sake of "cybersecurity."
EFF's Parker Higgins will moderate a discussion with law
professor Jason Schultz and investor Brad Feld on the broken software
patent system and our Defend Innovation campaign. The one-hour
discussion will be streamed live on our Google Plus account, though you
do not need an account to watch.
July 20, 2012
1:00pm on Google+
Stop by the EFF booth at OSCON to learn about our latest
work or join the cause! The world's open source pioneers, builders, and
innovators will be in Portland, Oregon for five intense days.
July 16-20, 2012
Portland, OR
EFF attorneys Kurt Opsahl, Marcia Hofmann, and Hanni
Fakhoury will be attending Black Hat, which brings together thought
leaders from all facets of the infosec world -- from the corporate and
government sectors to academic and even underground researchers. The
environment is strictly vendor-neutral and focused on the sharing of
practical insights and timely, actionable knowledge.
July 21, 2012
Las Vegas, NV
DEFCON is the world's largest annual hacker convention,
held each year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our staff members always have some
interesting presentations, talks, and panel discussions, and this year
will be no exception.
July 26-29, 2012
Las Vegas, NV
theSummit, now in its eighth year, is a fundraiser for EFF
on the Thursday night between Black Hat and DEFCON. Here is your chance
to get direct access to some of the industry leaders -- discuss a talk,
get advice about a project, or just buy them a beer to say thanks for
all the hacks. theSummit is held at the Miranda Suite at the Rio Hotel
and Casino.
July 26, 2012
8:30 pm to 2:30 am
Las Vegas, NV
EFF's Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien will speak on a panel
about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and threats to civil
liberties. The panel is organized by the San Francisco 99% Coalition.
July 31, 2012
Oakland, CA
Long Now and the Electronic Frontier Foundation bring Cory
Doctorow to San Francisco for a glimpse into the future of computing and
the increasing fight for control over our freedom both online and
offline. The talk is at the Novellus Theater in San Francisco at 7:30
pm.
July 31, 2012
San Francisco, CA
EFF is proud to announce that we've joined the
International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) as a 2012 interim
member. IFEX is a network of more than 90 independent organizations in
more than 50 countries worldwide that works to expose free expression
violations around the world.
Referencing the Internet Defense League's launch party, community member Liberty Smith
comments on our Google Plus page: "This couldn't be more important in
the world of information, EFF couldn't be more of a leader in keeping
information free, and there could be little cooler than having a Bat
Signal for (well, anything, but especially) this work."
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