In our 621st issue:
YouTube's Censorship of Anti-Islam Video Raises Numerous Questions Around Online Free Expression
In an unusual move, YouTube announced that it was blocking access in some countries to a video showing clips from "The Innocence of Muslims" after the anti-Islamic film sparked violent protests in the area. By the company's own admission, the video falls within its Terms of Service. YouTube appears to have made the decision to self-censor on their own.It is easy to understand why YouTube might feel compelled to act in response to the rioting over this video, but once YouTube has made the decision to proactively censor its content, they start down a slippery slope that ends in YouTube Knows Best moral policing of every video on their site.
Speak Out Against TPP
Earlier this month, negotiators from the United States and eight other countries held backroom meetings about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement at a golf resort outside Washington, D.C. Leaked language from the agreement's intellectual property chapter has been worrisome, and the public has no idea what is in the latest official draft. There has been zero transparency in a process that is being pushed to the finish.What's worse is that the people who do have access to TPP's official language are the same content industry executives that tried pushing through harmful laws like SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA.
Join us in demanding an end to these backroom negotiations.
EFF Updates
Senator Leahy proposed detailed language to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the primary law governing privacy rights for stored email. ECPA is woefully outdated -- it was passed in 1986 before cloud computing and archived email even existed -- so this is great news. Unfortunately, the proposed language would also weaken privacy-protective measures in the Video Privacy and Protection Act.Rather than face contempt charges, Twitter handed over data requested by the government about an Occupy Wall Street protester, under seal, to the New York Criminal Court. Twitter was faced with a terrible choice between giving ground on its fight for user privacy, or risk a potentially expensive contempt of court citation.
The House of Representatives voted to renew the dangerous FISA Amendment Act -- which hands the NSA broad, warrantless surveillance powers over Americans' international communications -- for another five years. Sadly, the House refused to add any new oversight powers or privacy protections, despite ample evidence the NSA has used it to unconstitutionally spy on Americans.
The secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) negotiations were held earlier this month in a golf resort outside D.C. TPP is yet another example of how the U.S. entertainment industries are pressuring lawmakers to push forward overprotective intellectual property laws that will also put the Internet and its users at risk. EFF attended the events to speak to delegates and demand transparency; however, the U.S. Trade Representative would have none of it.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the original jury verdict against Jammie Thomas-Rasset: a $222,000 penalty for sharing 24 songs on a peer-to-peer network. That's $9,250 per song, for songs that sell for about a dollar at retail.
The French anti-piracy law, Hadopi, has claimed its first victim. The individual was convicted of allowing his WiFi connection to be used to download songs without obtaining prior permission from the copyright owners. While we were heartened that the individual's Internet connection was not suspended, EFF condemns the ongoing application of Hadopi, which threatens our rights to access and publish content freely online. This ruling serves as further evidence that such three-strikes laws must be repealed.
In a case challenging California's warrentless DNA collection program, EFF asked the court to consider new research that confirms that over 80% of our DNA that was once thought to have no function actually plays a critical role in controlling how our cells, tissues, and organs behave.
EFF interviewed the Executive Director of OpenMedia, Steve Anderson, to discuss their international Stop The Trap coalition campaign.
EFF interviewed Professor Michael Geist to capture some of the main Canadian concerns specifically related to some of the most controversial intellectual property issues present in TPP.
In a submission to the U.K. Parliament's Communications Data Bill Joint Scrutiny Committee, the Global Network Initiative outlined serious concerns with the proposed Snoopers' Charter, which would expand governmental powers to access the online communications of all U.K. citizens.
In the Philippines, where the Internet is free from censorship, President Benigno Aquino III recently signed into law the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, a troubling development for free expression.
miniLinks
KEI's James Love found out firsthand about the USPTO's filtering system that blocked access to EFF, ACLU, KEI, and more advocacy organizations.The Internet Archive released every TV news broadcast since mid-2009. Segments are available online and captions are completely searchable.
Dutch Member of European Parliament Marietje Schaake spoke out against the detainment of several web-administrators by Belarusian authorities.
Administrivia
ISSN 1062-9424EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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Editor: Adi Kamdar, Activist
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