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EFF, The Yes Men, and Protesters Fight Secret Negotiations to Regulate the Internet
EFF's International IP Director Gwen Hinze traveled to Dallas
this week to demand transparency in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Agreement, a secret international trade negotiation that includes
provisions to regulate intellectual property
and the Internet. She was joined by hundreds of protesters rallying
outside the Dallas hotel as well as culture-jamming activist group The
Yes Men, who presented U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk with the
fictitious "2012 Corporate Power Tool Award." Over 18,000 Internet users
have used the EFF action center to speak out against the TPP; please
help us get to 20,000 by contacting Congress
today.
DHS Considers Collecting DNA From Kids
Documents just released by US Immigration & Customs
Enforcement (ICE) in response to one of EFF’s Freedom of Information Act
requests show that DHS is considering collecting DNA from kids ages 14
and up -- and is exploring expanding its regulations to allow collection
from kids younger than that. The proposal appears to be working its way
through DHS in the wake of regulations that require all federal
agencies to collect DNA from individuals arrested for federal crimes as
well as "from non-United States persons who are detained under the
authority of the United States," whether or not they have been involved
in criminal activity.
Unsealed Court Records Confirm that RIAA Delays Were Behind Year-Long Seizure of Hip Hop Music Blog
After a year-long seizure and six more months of secrecy, the
court records were finally released concerning the mysterious government
takedown of Dajaz1.com
-- a popular blog dedicated to hip hop music and culture. The records
confirm that one of the key reasons the blog remained censored for so
long is that the government obtained three secret extensions of time by
claiming that it was waiting for "rights holders" and later, the
Recording Industry Association of America. In other words, having goaded
the government into an outrageous and very public seizure of the blog,
the RIAA members refused to follow up and answer the government’s
questions.
EFF Updates
The New York City District Attorney is facing new obstacles in
its attempts to subpoena information from Twitter regarding the account
of Malcolm Harris, one of the 700 people arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge
in an October 2011 Occupy Wall Street protest. Faced with a written
order to comply with the subpoena, Twitter filed a motion to quash the
subpoena, arguing that complying would violate the law.
Experts from EFF will testify at public hearings held by the
U.S. Copyright Office this month, urging officials to renew and expand
the critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
that the Copyright Office granted in 2009 in response to EFF's requests
to protect the rights of American consumers who modify electronic
gadgets and make remix videos.
At stake in the case of Oracle v. Google is whether APIs can be
considered copyrightable, which would have a profound negative impact
on interoperability, and, therefore, innovation. Allowing a party to
assert control over APIs means that a party can determine who can make
compatible and interoperable software, an idea that is anathema to those
who create the software we rely on everyday.
EFF follows up on the FAA report showing the names of
government agencies which have received authorization to fly drones in
the US. Meanwhile, the annual Department of Justice report to Congress
shows DOJ applications to conduct electronic surveillance increased in
2011.
Our movie industry has created some memorable monsters on
screen. But Hollywood and the major music labels also helped create a
very real kind of monster: copyright trolls who coerce settlements from
Internet subscribers using intimidation and our out-of-whack copyright
laws.
Jason Weinstein, a deputy assistant attorney general in the
Department of Justice's criminal division, told a panel at the
Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's "State of the Mobile
Net" conference that requiring a search warrant to obtain location
tracking information from cell phones would "cripple" prosecutors and
law enforcement officials. We couldn't disagree more.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative released
its annual Special 301 report, a review of other countries’ intellectual
property laws and enforcement standards. What’s particularly obnoxious
about these reports is that countries are judged on whether they adopt
very particular implementations of international legal standards and
interpretations of controversial parts of U.S. law that only reflect the
interests of intellectual property (IP) rightsholder industries -- not
everyday Internet users.
miniLinks
Watch video footage from The Yes Men's organized action against
the TPP negotiations, including dozens of "delegates" disrupting the
gala event and a whimsical mass toilet paper replacement.
The Indie Allstars Bundle lets you pay what you want for music from up to 15 indie bands while benefiting EFF.
The UK Border Agency turned hundreds of people away from a key
office after the major foreign national ID card computer system shut
down.
Administrivia
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