Privacy - the disappearing web |
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Privacy - the disappearing web |
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Bulletin:
EFFector Vol. 15, No. 31 October 3, 2002 ren@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation-ISSN 1062-9424
In the 230th Issue of EFFector:
* Hollywood Slams Electronic Frontier Foundation
* Electronic Frontier Foundation Supports
Digital Fair Use Bills
* Internet Community Supports Verizon's User
Privacy Defense
* FISA Appeals Court Accepts Amicus Brief
from Civil Liberties
Organizations
* EFF Supports ACLU Effort to Protect Anonymity
of Online Speech in
Landmark Case
* Deep Links: So Scary It's Funny: Ed Felten's
"Fritz's Hit-List"
* Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org/
To join EFF or make an additional donation:
http://www.eff.org/support/
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today!
\_____________________________________________________________/
* Hollywood Slams Electronic Frontier Foundation
Tries to Limit Legal Representation in ReplayTV Case
Los Angeles - Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) attorneys
yesterday rejected an attempt by Hollywood
entertainment companies to
prevent access to critical court documents
in a case involving the
rights of five ReplayTV owners.
Craig Newmark of craigslist.org, and four other
ReplayTV customers,
are suing the companies to clarify their rights
to record television
programs and to skip commercials using digital
video recorders
(DVRs). Hollywood representatives have publicly
stated that skipping
commercials is "stealing."
The current dispute arises from the entertainment
companies' attempt
to deny the ReplayTV owners effective representation
from EFF, their
chosen counsel.
The entertainment companies are seeking a broad
court order
prohibiting EFF attorneys from reviewing --
or using in any way
during the case -- the vast majority of the
documents the court has
ordered the companies to provide as part of
the usual legal discovery
process. The companies claim that EFF is a
"competitor" with
Hollywood because of public statements about
copyright law policy and
advocacy to Congress on pending and current
technology legislation,
including the proposed Consumer Broadband
Digital Television
Promotion Act.
"If EFF's advocacy on behalf of consumers hurts
Hollywood, it's only
because it convinces Congress and the public
not to pass laws that
Hollywood favors," said EFF Legal Director
Cindy Cohn. "This is about
the marketplace of ideas, not commercial competition."
"Apart from the obvious harm this ruling would
have on the five
ReplayTV owners in this case, a rash decision
here could have much
broader consequences," noted EFF Staff Attorney
Gwen Hinze. "If the
court restricts EFF's representation in this
case on the basis of its
other speech activities, the court will set
a disturbing precedent
that could apply to other public interest
law organizations and even
to commercial attorneys who speak to the press
and Congress about the
issues involved in their cases."
The court hearing on the request is scheduled
for 9:00am PDT on
October 15, 2002, before Magistrate Judge
Charles F. Eick in the
Central District of California, Court Room
20, 3rd Floor, 312 N.
Spring Street, Los Angeles.
Links:
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/Cases/Newmark_v_Turner/20021003_eff_pr.html
Most recent court filing in Newmark v. Turner
case:
http://www.eff.org/Cases/Newmark_v_Turner/
20021002_joint_stipulation_documents.html
Other documents related to Newmark v. Turner
case:
http://www.eff.org/Cases/Newmark_v_Turner/
Location of Newmark v. Turner court hearing:
http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/cacd/CourtInfo.nsf/
c755da45cb6a17bc882567d10055026e/
fb17db7d346de192882567d100550d07?OpenDocument
For more information on the entertainment industry's
suit:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Paramount_v_ReplayTV/
EFF Fair Use FAQ:
http://www.eff.org/IP/eff_fair_use_faq.html
\____________________________-end-____________________________/
* Electronic Frontier Foundation Supports Digital Media Bills
Legislation Balances Copyright Owner and Consumer Rights
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) supports new
legislation from Rep. Rick Boucher and Rep.
Zoe Lofgren regarding
copyright issues in the digital realm.
Here are specific statements from EFF related
to the newly proposed
legislation:
On Boucher's bill:
EFF strongly supports Rep. Boucher's Digital
Media Consumers' Rights
Act of 2002.
The bill's CD labeling provisions will make
certain that consumers
know what they are getting when they buy music
CDs. If record labels
choose to sell "copy protected" CDs that offer
consumers less for
their money than the CDs they are accustomed
to, these dysfunctional
CDs should, at a minimum, be prominently labeled.
The bill also amends the DMCA to make it clear
that technological
protections should not trump the public's
traditional fair use rights
under copyright law. Since the DMCA's passage
in 1998, it has been
used not against copyright pirates, but instead
to chill the
legitimate activities of scientists, journalists,
and computer
programmers. Rep. Boucher's bill will go a
long way toward restoring
in the digital world the traditional balance
between the rights of
the public and those of copyright owners.
EFF strongly supports the Digital Media Consumers'
Rights Act of 2002
and will encourage its 7,000+ members, as
well as the 27,000
supporters who receive its weekly newsletter,
to support it as well.
On Lofgren's bill:
"EFF welcomes Rep. Lofgren's bill as an important
step toward
creating a fair and balanced copyright law
for the digital age."
Links:
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20021003_eff_pr.html
For more information on the Digital Media Consumers'
Rights Act:
http://www.house.gov/boucher/internet.htm
Press release from Rep. Lofgren on "Digital
Choice and Freedom Act of
2002" (H.R. 5522):
http://www.house.gov/lofgren/press/107press/021002_release.htm
\____________________________-end-____________________________/
* Internet Community Supports Verizon's User Privacy Defense
Recording Industry Tries to Subvert Online User Rights
Washington, D.C. - The Recording Industry Association
of America
(RIAA) recently tried to subvert the legal
process and trounce on the
privacy rights of Internet users by invoking
an invalid subpoena on
an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The subpoena
sought to turn over
user information of an individual allegedly
engaged in peer-to-peer
(P2P) file sharing. The ISP - Verizon Online
- refused to comply with
the subpoena and the RIAA recently sued to
enforce the subpoena.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed
the first amicus brief
in the matter in defense of the privacy of
Internet users. Other
industry and consumer groups followed suit.
On Friday, Oct. 4, oral arguments will be heard
at 9:30 AM at
Courtroom 21 (4th Floor) in the United States
District Court for the
District of Columbia. Members of the Internet
user community and
providers of Internet service, including parties
who filed briefs in
the case, will present their views on what
will be the first case of
its kind in this exclusive briefing. This
case is about personal
privacy, but it also raises important First
Amendment and due process
issues affecting all Internet users.
Links:
For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/Cases/RIAA_v_Verizon/20021001_eff_pr.html
\____________________________-end-____________________________/
* FISA Appeals Court Accepts Amicus Brief from
Civil Liberties
Organizations
Washington, D.C. - The Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court of
Review recently accepted a brief of amicus
curae submitted by a
coalition of civil liberties organizations,
including EFF. This is
the first time that a case has been appealed
from the lower Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in
the quarter-century since
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
established both courts.
Until the brief was accepted, it was unclear
who would be arguing
against the Department of Justice in favor
of citizens' rights.
The case began in May after the mysterious
Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court (FISC), which hears all
FISA wiretap requests in
secret, rejected a DOJ proposal to allow FISA
to be used for criminal
investigations and to allow prosecutors to
direct and control FISA
surveillance. Instead, the FISC modified the
DOJ proposal, reciting a
history of government abuse that included
serious errors in at least
75 cases.
The ACLU-led coalition includes EFF, the Center
for Democracy and
Technology, the Center for National Security
Studies, the Electronic
Privacy Information Center, and the Open Society
Institute.
\____________________________-end-____________________________/
* EFF Supports ACLU Effort to Protect Anonymity
of Online Speech in
Landmark Case
EFF joined Public Citizen and the Electronic
Privacy Information
Center in an amicus brief supporting the ACLU's
appeal in a libel
case brought by Pennsylvania Superior Court
Judge Joan Orie Melvin.
The target of the claim is an unnamed AOL
user who criticized Melvin
about three years ago for allegedly lobbying
the governor over a
judicial appointment. The first "Doe" case
to reach a state's highest
court, Melvin v. Doe is of special interest
because it involves
public criticism of a public official, a core
concern of the First
Amendment. The ACLU is asking the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court to
require people who bring defamation lawsuits
to prove they have
suffered actual economic harm before they
can learn their critics'
identities. The trial court ordered AOL to
reveal Doe's identity, but
no disclosure will occur before the appeal
is reviewed.
Online anonymity has come under much pressure
from "Doe" lawsuits
recently. AOL, which also submitted an amicus
brief, said that it had
handled about 432 "Doe" subpoenas in 2001.
Paul Levy of Public
Citizen wrote the brief on behalf of Public
Citizen, EFF, and EPIC.
Links:
The ACLU's legal brief is online at:
http://www.aclu.org/court/melvin_brief.pdf
The AOL legal brief is available on the ACLU
website at:
http://www.aclu.org/court/melvin_aolamicus2.pdf
The Public Citizen legal brief is available
online at:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/Melvin%202.pdf
\____________________________-end-____________________________/
* Deep Links
Deep Links features noteworthy news items,
victories, and threats
from around the Internet.
So Scary It's Funny: Ed Felten's Fritz Hit-List
Professor Ed Felten on the unintended consequences
of Sen. Hollings'
CBDTPA.
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/cat_fritzs_hit_list.html
Record Companies Pay States Millions to Settle
Antitrust Case
A battle over cd price-fixing ends with record
companies paying over
$67 million in refunds to consumers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24910-2002Sep30.html
Liquid Audio Sells Patents, Including DRM for
Music, to Microsoft
Software company Liquid Audio sells Microsoft
its patent porfolio,
complete with DRM schemes for digital music.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,575773,00.asp
Profits from Piracy
Interesting piece on Microsoft's decision
to reduce pressure on
Chinese piracy as a business tactic.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/26/piracy_unlimited/
RIAA Sues Radio Stations For Giving Away Free
Music
The Onion makes us cry from laughing so hard.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3836/riaa_sues_radio_stations.html
\____________________________-end-____________________________/
* Administrivia
EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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http://www.eff.org/
Editor:
Ren Bucholz, Activist
ren@eff.org
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