In our 635th issue:
Stop the Secret Copyright Agenda
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has
for years pressed for secret negotiations to obscure its efforts to add
Hollywood-approved copyright provisions into international law. Now the
White House is set to announce a new nominee for the position, and we
have a chance to speak up. These tainted processes must be stopped if we
are to ever work towards creating copyright regimes that balance the
needs of creators and users. Sign this petition today and help us usher
in a new era of transparency for the USTR.
Supreme Court Victory for Common Sense and Owners' Rights
In a long-anticipated decision, the Supreme Court held last
week in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley that the first sale doctrine applies to works
made outside of the United States. In other words, if you bought it,
you own it: no matter where it was manufactured. That's a major victory
for consumers--and also libraries, used bookstores, and all kinds of
groups that depend on the right to lend or resell the goods they've
legally purchased.
EFF Joins Coalition Urging White House to Veto CISPA
Thirty-seven digital rights groups and businesses have come
together to urge the White House to defend privacy and promise to veto
the dangerous cybersecurity bill CISPA. Such legislation poses a number
of privacy risks to individuals, allowing levels of information sharing
between companies and the government that supersede existing privacy
laws. Privacy advocates aren't the only ones speaking out against CISPA;
online companies like Reddit and Mozilla--as well as web hosts like
Gandi and Namecheap--have chosen to stand up for their users' rights
rather than support ill-defined legislation.
EFF Updates
There's a new front in the battle against digital rights management (DRM) technologies. These technologies, which supposedly exist to enforce copyright, have never done anything to get creative people paid. Instead, by design or by accident, their real effect is to interfere with innovation, fair use, competition, interoperability, and our right to own things. That's why we were appalled to learn that there is a proposal currently before the World Wide Web Consortium's HTML5 Working Group to build DRM into the next generation of core Web standards.The head of the U.S. Copyright Office has called for Congress to update U.S. copyright law. If Congress takes up the challenge, supporters of free expression and the promise of digital technology will have a great opportunity to forge a copyright law that reflects our fundamental values. Of course, a major reform of copyright law could lead the other way--back towards a world of more centralization, censorship, and technology regulation.
EFF is excited to announce a visual collaboration with SHARE Defense: a three-part series visualizing the data from over three years of Google transparency reports. Part 1 covers which countries are requesting data from Google; part 2 addresses how Google responds to these requests; and part 3 goes into depth on the relative numbers of requests from different countries.
EFF is pleased to learn that Oman's monarch has pardoned "all dissidents jailed for defaming the ruler or taking part in protests." According to the Reuters news agency, "His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has issued a royal pardon for those convicted of defamation, information technology crimes and unauthorized rallies." Those "information technology crimes" included comments about the Sultan made on Facebook pages and blogs.
A recent settlement between 38 states and Google over the company's Wi-Fi snooping fiasco sure is puzzling. While the settlement, called an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, does little to punish Google for slurping up massive amounts of content from wireless networks using its roaming Street View vehicles, it does require the company to carry out a gratuitous and poorly thought out song and dance regarding wireless security practices.
In January of this year, EFF called for Microsoft to publish a report on government requests for Skype user data. Microsoft has answered that letter not only on behalf of Skype, but on behalf of the entire company, releasing a first transparency report covering all law enforcement requests and court orders received in 2012 related to all of their online and cloud services, including Hotmail/Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Microsoft Account, and Messenger.
A federal district judge in New York City issued a troubling ruling holding that an electronic news clipping service infringed copyright when it republished excerpts of news stories in search results for its clients seeking news coverage based on particular keywords.
miniLinks
The House Judiciary has begun circulating a draft cyber-security bill that, instead of fixing the CFAA, expands it.
There are currently three different proposals to make sure that
you can unlock your phone, despite the Library of Congress's thoughts
on the matter. Public Knowledge has put together a chart that runs
through some of the pros and cons of each.
Gizmodo spoke with EFF's IP Director Corynne McSherry about how
the DMCA is broken, and how we can work together to fix it.
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: Parker Higgins, Activist
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EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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