In our 631st issue:
CISPA, the Privacy-Invading Cybersecurity Spying Bill, is Back in Congress
It's official:
CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, has been
reintroduced in the House of Representatives. It's the contentious bill
that would provide a poorly-defined "cybersecurity" exception to
existing privacy law. CISPA offers broad immunities to companies who
choose to share data with government agencies -- including the private
communications of users -- in the name of cybersecurity. It also creates
avenues for companies to share data with any federal agencies,
including military intelligence agencies like the National Security
Agency.
EFF is adamantly opposed to CISPA. Join us in calling on Congress to stop this and any other privacy-invasive cybersecurity legislation.
EFF is adamantly opposed to CISPA. Join us in calling on Congress to stop this and any other privacy-invasive cybersecurity legislation.
New Bill Helps Expand Public Access to Scientific Knowledge
Internet users
around the world got a Valentine's Day present last week in the form of
new legislation that requires U.S. government agencies to improve public
access to federally funded research. Under the bill's proposal,
agencies like the National Science Foundation, which invests millions of
taxpayer dollars in scientific research every year, must design and
implement a plan to facilitate public access to -- and robust reuse of
-- the results of that investment.
Rebooting Computer Crime Law: The Punishment Should Fit the Crime
The Computer Fraud
and Abuse Act's broad language and draconian penalty scheme allows
overreaching prosecutors to abuse their discretion. This can turn minor
incidents with no real harm into serious criminal prosecutions, with the
threat of long prison sentences and the consequences that go along with
a felony conviction -- like not being able to vote. Computer crime can
be serious and law enforcement should properly investigate and prosecute
those who use computers to cause financial harm and violate the privacy
of others. But at the same time, punishments should fit crimes.
EFF Updates
The Federal
Aviation Administration has finally released a new drone authorization
list. This list, released in response to EFF's Freedom of Information
Act lawsuit, includes law enforcement agencies and universities across
the country, and -- for the first time -- an Indian tribal agency. In
all, the list includes more than 20 new entities over the FAA's original
list, bringing to 81 the total number of public entities that have
applied for FAA drone authorizations through October 2012.
Score one for the
space marines. Last month, the UK game developer Games Workshop
complained to Amazon that an ebook, Spots the Space Marine, infringed
its trademarks in the term "space marine." When the author protested,
Amazon initially refused to reinstate the book and instead politely
suggested she resolve the dispute directly with Games Workshop. We were
able to intervene and, to Amazon's credit, the company reviewed the
claim and restored the book.
In a welcome turn
of events, President Barack Obama spoke directly to the patent troll
problem and the need for more comprehensive patent reform in a live
online question and answer session. The president was responding to a
question by the prominent electrical engineer and entrepreneur Limor
"Ladyada" Fried, who in 2009 won an EFF Pioneer Award for her work with
free software and open-source hardware.
The Center for
Copyright Information has claimed in a recent blog post that the
copyright surveillance machine known as the Copyright Alert System -- or
"Six Strikes" -- would not cripple libraries and cafes that provided
open wireless networks. To put it bluntly: We disagree.
The Cairo
Administrative Court has issued a 30-day ban order on YouTube and all
other websites that host or link to content from the anti-Islam film
"The Innocence of Muslims," which was protested worldwide after footage
from the trailer was shown on Egyptian television. The court's ruling
may force the hand of the National Telecom Regulation Authority and the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which have
refrained from pursuing such a ban themselves.
A few months ago, EFF warned of a secretive new
surveillance tool, commonly referred to as a "Stingray," being used by
the FBI in cases around the country. Recently, more information on the
device has come to light and it makes us even more concerned than
before.miniLinks
Obama didn't say much about copyright in his State of the Union speech. But in a perfect world, he might have delivered something along these lines.Should privacy policies be limited to 100 words, as outlined in one California lawmaker's proposed bill? In a word: no.
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Administrivia
Editor:
Parker Higgins, Activist
editor@eff.org
editor@eff.org
EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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