In our 633rd issue:
Demand Access to Tax-Funded Research
Government agencies like the National Science Foundation invest
millions of taxpayer dollars into scientific research every year. But
taxpayers can't access any of the results of this research unless they
pay thousands of dollars to buy academic journals. The Fair Access to
Science & Technology Research (FASTR) Act would fix this, making
tax-funded research available to the public. Tell Congress to support
open access to knowledge by sending a note to your elected representative now.
Students: Get Your University Press to Support FASTR
Many schools have associated nonprofit publishing bodies known
as university presses. This gives students and universities a unique,
powerful role to play in pushing for open access reform like the FASTR
Act. Here's what you can do to get your university to support access to
knowledge.
How To Opt Out of Receiving Facebook Ads Based on Your Real-Life Shopping Activity
Facebook has announced that it’s teaming up with four of the
world’s largest corporate data brokers to "enhance" the ad experience
for users. In practical terms, this means that limiting how much
information you put on Facebook is not enough to limit how ads are
targeted to you on Facebook. Your interests, age, shopping history
(including offline), web browsing, location, and much more could be
stored by these data brokers and utilized to market to you – even if
you’ve been careful not to share this type of information with Facebook.
Check out EFF's guide to opting
out.
White House Supports Unlocking Phones -- But the Real Problem Runs Deeper
The White House has come out in support of legalizing the
unlocking of cell phones for use on different carriers, saying it makes
"common sense." The White House is correct: the failure to protect phone
unlockers from legal threats was misguided. But the more important
problem is that the DMCA puts an unelected official in charge of
regulating personal devices in the first place. What really rubs against
the grain of common sense is the premise, set forth in DMCA's section
1201, that the Librarian of Congress should have to temporarily
whitelist certain uses every three years.
EFF Updates
In an unprecedented win for transparency, Google began
publishing generalized information about the number of National Security
Letters that the company received in the past year as well as the total
number of user accounts affected by those requests.
In a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Cornyn
asked Attorney General Holder about the prosecution of late digital
rights activist Aaron Swartz. Unsurprisingly, the Attorney General
denied any prosecutorial misconduct but, at the behest of Senator Leahy,
did promise to look into the aggressive use of the Computer Fraud and
Abuse Act (CFAA)—one of the laws used to prosecute Aaron.
We've long criticized the vague language of the Cyber
Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act(CISPA). One particularly
dangerous provision, designed to enable corporations to obtain and share
information, is drafted broadly enough to go beyond just companies,
creating a government access loophole.
The 16th round of negotiations over the Trans-Pacific
Partnership agreement (TPP) began in Singapore, where trade delegates
and private stakeholders from 11 participating countries gather to
discuss this the contours of Pacific trade. EFF and many others are
deeply concerned about TPP, because it may contain an intellectual
property chapter that would ratchet up enforcement at the expense of
digital rights.
The Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in Maryland v. King,
a case considering the constitutionality of warrantless DNA collection
from arrestees. One idea that surfaced in these oral arguments—that
technological advances making DNA analysis faster means warrantless
collection may be OK—should leave you worried about the fate of privacy
going forward in the digital age.
Some 28 states are weighing legislation addressing the issue of
employers demanding user names and passwords for social media accounts
as a contingency for employment. But the proposed laws vary greatly in
whether they would effectively safeguard the privacy of employees.
A group of investigators from Chinese magazine Caixin recently
uncovered the activities of Beijing's "dark PR" agencies, which take
money from private companies to bribe Internet censors to delete
unfavorable commentary on Chinese forums and microblogging sites, using
the infrastructure that the Chinese authorities have built for political
censorship.
miniLinks
The new Humble Bundle with Android 5 lets you pay what you want for six great cross-platform, DRM-free games -- while also supporting charities like EFF.Namecheap is running a campaign to raise awareness about the privacy-invasive CISPA while also supporting EFF: they are donating $1 to EFF for every tweet using the hashtag #CISPAAlert.
Join a grassroots campaign to fix the anti-circumvention provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (section 1201).
Supported by Members
Our members make it possible for EFF to bring legal and
technological expertise into crucial battles about online rights.
Whether defending free speech online or challenging unconstitutional
surveillance, your participation makes a difference. Every donation
gives technology users who value freedom online a stronger voice and
more formidable advocate.
If you aren't already, please consider becoming an EFF member today.
Administrivia
Editor: Rainey Reitman, Activism Director
editor@eff.org
editor@eff.org
EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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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. MiniLinks do not necessarily represent the views of EFF.
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