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Hold the government accountable

Wired has an article up discussing AT&T’s attempts to get back 140 pages of documents given to the EFF by a whistleblower.

The EFF is suing AT&T based on AT&T’s efforts to assist the NSA in tapping phone calls.

If half what the whistleblower says is true, the government needs to be held accountable for this gross breach of civil liberties. Wiretapping and providing information to the government for U.S. citizens is expressly forbidden by law – but that doesn’t seem to stop the NSA or the current administration.

Wisconsin Gets It

Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin signed into law a bill requiring any vendor who provides electronic voting machines must provide the code that runs on those machines.

This, combined with paper copies of the vote you cast for (which Wisconsin also requires) are a must when it comes to electronic voting. Not just to avoid the fraud as seen in Ohio in 2004, or as a check against corrupt CEOs who publicly say they’ll do everything in their power to see an election go a certain way and they also just happen to provide e-voting machines, but the code and paper voting provide trust to the end user that their vote counts.

Learn more about e-voting courtesy of the EFF.

  • in EFF
  • 1 min read

Support Bloggers' Rights

The EFF has launched their latest campaign, in support of bloggers’ rights.

Follow the link to see the rights you should have, and how the EFF is fighting to defend your rights every day.

Like many other sites, including BoingBoing, I’ve added a badge to the right in support of the EFF and their efforts.

Join the EFF – they’re even offering a discount off their member rate. It’s tax deductible, and one of the best non-profits you can donate too. I’ve been a Pioneer member going on 4 years now.

Defend your rights before it’s too late. They need your support.

EFF Defends Right to Read Public Web Pages Without Getting Sued

Here’s why I like the EFF.

The EFF has filed a brief in support of DirecTV against a website operator who is suing DirecTV for accessing his website. Basically, if you want to make your website private, set up a password – you don’t have a right to say “don’t enter here if you work for so and so” which this yahoo is trying to do.

What do I like about it? EFF has gone after DirecTV in the past. From the article:

EFF has opposed DirecTV in the past for its legal campaign against “smart cards,” and co-sponsors a website, www.directvdefense.org, designed to help those who have been sued by DirecTV. However, as Bankston said, “When it comes to protecting the rights of Internet users, EFF doesn’t hold a grudge. We may oppose DirecTV in other cases, but here, it’s plainly on the correct side.”

But the EFF is on the side of what’s right – it doesn’t always matter who.

EFF Blog-a-thon

The EFF, in celebration of their 15th anniversary, is sponsoring a Blog-a-thon.

I can’t say it any better than they did:

We want to hear about your “click moment” — the very first step you to took to stand up for your digital rights — whether it was blogging about an issue you care about, participating in a demonstration, writing your representatives, or getting involved with EFF. As a thank you, we’ve enlisted an independent panel of judges to choose from among your posts for “Most Inspirational,” “Most Humorous,” and “Best Overall.” At the end of the Blog-a-thon, we’ll announce the names of the three bloggers with the best posts on our website and in our weekly newsletter, EFFector. We’ll also publish the three best posts on our site and send the authors a blogging “kit” as an extra thank you: an EFF bloggers’ rights T-shirt, special EFF-branded blogger pajama pants, a pound of coffee, and a pair of fuzzy slippers.

I’ve been thinking about my story for the last few days since I first came across this. It will definitely be up by Aug. 2nd.

EFF Suprise

I was surprised in the mail about a week and a half ago, when out of the blue I received:

eff-sticker

I had re-upped my membership with the EFF in May, like I have for the last few years, and I was delighted to receive the bumper sticker, especially as I wasn’t expecting it. It was a nice touch, as was the accompanying letter.

Once I get this basement finished (someday), I’m going to have Kelly build me a shadow box to put that in, along with the silver membership sticker and letter I received when I first joined. It’s probably best to frame it, as I’m looking to sell my car in the next year or so.

Supreme Court rules against Grokster

The verdict is in this morning and the Supreme Court has ruled against Grokster in MGM vs. Grokster.

Here’s a couple of key points from the article:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that companies that sell file-sharing software can be held liable for copyright infringement.

(Emphasis mine) – Companies that market and sell P2P software for the sole purpose of infrigmenent is what the court is saying. Software such as bittorrent – which was developed to transfer large files such as movie trailers and linux distributions – wouldn’t be an issue. That, and bittorrent is free.

“One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright … is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device’s lawful uses,” Justice David Souter wrote in the ruling.

The Supreme Court has remanded the case back to the lower court that originally ruled for Grokster.

The good news is that 1984’s Betamax ruling is still law. Devices made, that could infringe, can still be made. What the court has said is don’t create a device and market to the fact that it’s only made to infringe copyright. The bad news is, that burden of proof is now on the manufacturer’s to prove that they didn’t create and/or market to the fact that a device can infringe.

It’s not over yet. I’ll update the post when the EFF gets their opinion up.

Broadcast Flag not dead yet – we have 48 hours!

The EFF is reporting that Congress may sneak in the Broadcast Flag into other legislation in the next 48 hours. This is not trivial – HD content is available over the airwaves unmodified already today and the Broadcast Flag will stop that single-handedly – once it goes forward there will be no going back to using your media and your hardware the way you want to.

Fill out the Action Alert now and / or contact your Senators.

Just say no to the Broadcast Flag.

Broadcast Flag Struck Down

On Fri., May 6th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled the FCC overstepped it’s bounds when it created the Broadcast Flag.

The EFF has the story, as well as CNet’s News.com.

This is big, very big. It was unexpected, especially a unanimous decision by the Court. Congress needs to legislate, not the FCC.

My favorite quote from the judges:

“You’re out there in the whole world, regulating. Are washing machines next?” asked Judge Harry Edwards. Quipped Judge David Sentelle: “You can’t regulate washing machines. You can’t rule the world.”

Here’s to all the groups that opposed the travesty that was the Broadcast Flag, from the EFF article:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) joined Washington DC-based advocacy group Public Knowledge in fighting the rule in the courts, together with Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association. The coalition argued that the rule would interfere with the legitimate activities of technology innovators, librarians, archivists, and academics, and that the FCC exceeded its regulatory authority by imposing technological restrictions on what consumers can do with television shows after they receive them.