EFFector Vol. 20, No. 30 July 30, 2007 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 434th Issue of EFFector:
- Action Alert: Call Congress Now - NSA Spying Bill Headed for Vote This Week!
- Mom Sues Universal Music for DMCA Abuse
- Copycrime Bill Raises its Ugly Head, Again
- Stopping Inadvertent P2P Sharing, and Another Knock on Filtering
- Dangerous College P2P Legislation Withdrawn
- Give Your Website a Free Speech-Friendly Home
- Visit EFF at DEFCON and LinuxWorld!
- miniLinks (13): Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over U.S. Spying
- Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org/ Make a donation and become an EFF member today! http://eff.org/support/ Tell a friend about EFF: http://action.eff.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1061 effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired change. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Action Alert: Call Congress Now - NSA Spying Bill Headed for Vote This Week! House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Congress may take action this week on a bill that could rubberstamp the NSA's spying program. The Bush Administration is trying to sell its latest proposal as a serious compromise, but don't be fooled -- it represents an unprecedented power grab that endangers the checks and balances that define our democracy. Please call your representatives now before it's too late: http://action.eff.org/fisa Contrary to the Administration's characterizations, its "FISA Modernization" bill is not simply about updating the law and allowing surveillance of foreign-to-foreign communications. Instead, it could radically expand the government's ability to spy on Americans without a warrant. On its own terms, this bill is awful, and it's highly irresponsible for Congress to even consider it before uncovering the truth about the still-shadowy spying program. In recent weeks, Congress has made strides towards more vigorous oversight and authorized subpoenas for key information, but the proposed bill would short-circuit such scrutiny. Tell your representatives to stand strong against the Administration and stop the abuse of surveillance powers: http://action.eff.org/fisa "Bush Urges Congress to Update Terrorism Surveillance Program," (Bloomberg, July 28): http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aNO.ihVL7fOo&refer=us To learn about EFF's case against AT&T for its role in the spying program: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att For this post and related links: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005382.php : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Mom Sues Universal Music for DMCA Abuse Home Video of Dancing Toddler Yanked From YouTube After Bogus Claim San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit last Tuesday against Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), asking a federal court to protect the fair use and free speech rights of a mother who posted a short video of her toddler son dancing to a Prince song on the Internet. Stephanie Lenz's 29-second recording shows her son bouncing along to the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy," which is heard playing in the background. Lenz uploaded the home video to YouTube in February to share it with her family and friends. But last month, YouTube informed Lenz that it had removed the video from its website after Universal claimed that the recording infringed a copyright controlled by the music company. Under federal copyright law, a mere allegation of copyright infringement can result in the removal of content from the Internet. "I was really surprised and angry when I learned my video was removed," said Lenz. "Universal should not be using legal threats to try to prevent people from sharing home videos of their kids with family and friends." "Universal's takedown notice doesn't even pass the laugh test," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Copyright holders should be held accountable when they undermine non- infringing, fair uses like this video." Last May, UMPG's parent company, Universal Music Group, sent a baseless copyright takedown demand to YouTube for a video podcast by political blogger Michelle Malkin. That video was quickly reposted after Malkin fought back. "Copyright abuse can shut down online artists, political analysts, or -- as in this case -- ordinary families who simply want to share snippets of their day-to-day lives," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Universal must stop making groundless infringement claims that trample on fair use and free speech." The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment that Lenz's home video does not infringe any Universal copyright, as well as damages and injunctive relief restraining Universal from bringing further copyright claims in connection with the video. This lawsuit is part of EFF's ongoing work to protect online free speech in the face of bogus copyright claims. EFF is currently working with Stanford's Fair Use Project to develop a set of "best practices" for proper takedowns under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For the video (since reposted): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KfJHFWlhQ For the full complaint: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/lenz_v_universal/lenz_complaint_final.pdf For more on DMCA abuse and free speech: http://www.eff.org/IP/freespeech/ For this release: http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_07.php#005376 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Copycrime Bill Raises its Ugly Head, Again Two months ago, the Justice Department floated draft legislation to expand the scope of, and stiffen the penalties for, criminal copyright infringement, and now a related bill has been introduced in the House. This isn't the first time that Congress has taken up the DoJ's copycrime wishlist, and, as we said last year in our post, "The Season of Bad Laws, Part 2: Criminal Copyright Infringement, Drug War Style" -- H.R. 3155 is an awful idea. Let's hope this bill meets the same fate as last year's DoJ proposal and is stopped dead in its tracks. Take action now to stop it, and make sure you also support the FAIR USE Act, which would put much-needed limits on statutory damages: Fight the Justice Department's Copycrime Proposal: http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=299 Support the FAIR USE Act of 2007: http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=271 Read the bill: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.3155: The Season of Bad Laws, Part 2: Criminal Copyright Infringement, Drug War Style: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004586.php For this post and related links: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005381.php : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Stopping Inadvertent P2P Sharing, and Another Knock on Filtering Last Tuesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held an interesting hearing on the inadvertent sharing of sensitive information over P2P networks. Some users mis-configure their P2P software and end up sharing far more than they bargained for, including credit card numbers, tax returns and medical records. The issue becomes even more serious when the user happens to be a government contractor who has brought home classified or sensitive national security documents. The good news is that, while everyone took this problem seriously, many of the witnesses and members of the committee clearly understood that P2P is a useful technology and is likely to become even more critical to the Internet in years to come. The bad news is that other participants (particularly those from Southern California and Nashville) appeared more interested in carrying water for the music and movie industries. They took the opportunity to castigate LimeWire CEO Mark Gorton (who was brave enough to testify) for failing to implement copyright filtering at the entertainment industry's behest. As we've said before, a better solution is to help empower users with control over their computers. Well-designed P2P applications should seek to inform users and give them clear, simple mechanisms to determine what is shared. So far, LimeWire has been among the best applications in this regard. Watch the video of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's hearing here: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1430 See EFF's article, "How To Not Get Sued for File Sharing": http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/howto-notgetsued.php Read EFF Senior Attorney Fred von Lohmann's entire post: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005378.php : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Dangerous College P2P Legislation Withdrawn News.com reports that Sen. Harry Reid has withdrawn a dangerous proposal that threatened to make universities do the entertainment industry's dirty work and use ineffective, burdensome copyright filtering tools on their networks. The Higher Education Reauthorization Act has now passed the Senate without that language. Thanks to everyone who took the time on Tuesday to call their Senators! We won this battle in Congress, but we're not out of the woods yet. Unfortunately, the RIAA's college lawsuit campaign rages on, and universities remain under intense pressure to bully their students and install network surveillance technologies. While some schools have implemented draconian penalties for file sharing -- including one strike and you're off the network policies -- others have gone further and started blocking certain P2P tools. Meanwhile, Congress has recently been scolding and scrutinizing colleges for file sharing on their networks, and more legislation may be in the pipeline. Hopefully, last week's fight in the Senate will be another reason for the university community to push hard towards a better solution that gets the entertainment industry off schools' backs, ensures that artists are paid, and lets students keep sharing. For more on this topic, read Fred von Lohmann's Washington Post editorial, "Copyright Silliness on Campus": http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005291.php Read EFF's article, "A Better Way Forward on University P2P": http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005291.php For the News.com article, Universities Win Senate Fight Over Anti-P2P Proposal: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9749071-7.html For our complete post and related links: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005377.php : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Give Your Website a Free Speech-Friendly Home There are countless web hosting services that will help you get your site on the Internet. But do you know what to expect if someone decides to dispute your speech with a nastygram to your web host? Jimmy Atkinson's first post to the Dedicated Hosting Guide may be a good place to start looking for answers. Titled "Free Speech Hosting: 11 Web Hosts That Won't Dump You at the First Sign of Controversy," Atkinson lists a few hosts that advertise defense of free speech as an important part of their business plan. We're pleased that individuals like Atkinson are publishing resources to support rights-conscious businesses and customers, and that free speech and privacy are increasingly important value propositions in the market, as evidenced by recent announcements by various search engines about changes to protect users' privacy. Check out the Dedicated Hosting Guide post, "Free Speech Hosting: 11 Web Hosts That Won't Dump You at the First Sign of Controversy": http://dedicatedhostingguide.net/2007/free-speech-hosting-11-web-hosts-that-wont-dump-you-at-the-first-sign-of-controversy/ For this post and related links: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005380.php : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Visit EFF at DEFCON and LinuxWorld! EFF will be at DEFCON in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 3-5, 2007. Along with hanging out at our booth, EFF staffers will present an "Ask the EFF" Q&A panel discussion. Mark your calendar and bring your questions! http://www.defcon.org/ "Ask the EFF" panelists: Marcia Hofmann, EFF Staff Attorney Danny O'Brien, EFF International Outreach Coordinator Kurt Opsahl, EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman, EFF Staff Attorney EFF will also be at this year's LinuxWorld in San Francisco, California, on August 7-9, 2007. Come visit us in the .org Pavilion, booth L.org 6, and grab some (more!) great schwag: http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/ : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * miniLinks The week's noteworthy news, compressed. ~ Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over U.S. Spying Data mining was the reason Bush administration officials were ready to resign in 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/washington/29nsa.html?hp ~ NSA Wiretapping Investigations to Continue A federal judge ruled that states may continue their suits against AT&T. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070727-federal-judge-allows-nsa-wiretapping-investigations-to-continue.html ~ FBI Program Would Circumvent the Law, Say Experts The FBI would like to pay private firms to store phone and Internet data. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/fbi-would-skirt.html ~ Are Files Stored on Password-Protected Sites Covered by the Fourth Amendment? A district judge ruled that users of online storage have a reasonable expectation of privacy. http://volokh.com/posts/1185284749.shtml ~ Does P2P Harm National Security? Some in Congress worry that sensitive documents could be leaked via P2P. http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6198585.html ~ Senate Rejects Extra $300 Million for Real ID An amendment that offered relatively small change to Real ID's mandate failed to pass. http://news.com.com/Senate+rejects+extra+300+million+for+Real+ID/2100-7348_3-6199220.html?tag=nefd.top ~ Travelers Face Greater Use of Personal Data The U.S. and the EU have agreed to expand a security program that shares personal data. http://news.com.com/Senate+rejects+extra+300+million+for+Real+ID/2100-7348_3-6199220.html?tag=nefd.top ~ CA Vote Machines Lose Test to Hackers A team of hackers testing voting machines broke through security on every model. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/28/MNGP6R8TJO1.DTL ~ Senators to Abandon '08 E-voting Paper Trail Mandate The deadline for updating e-voting systems to include paper records is pushed back to 2010. http://news.com.com/Senators+to+abandon+08+e-voting+paper+trail+mandate/2100-1014_3-6198789.html?tag=st_lh ~ YouTube Responds to Copyright Suit Video recognition technology may be working by September, YouTube says. http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6487317 ~ How DRM Becomes Law EFF Fellow Cory Doctorow takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of copyright policy. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201000854 ~ UK Caps Copyright at 50 Years The British government decided not to extend music copyright. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070724-uk-government-resists-music-industry-pressure-caps-copyrights-at-50-years.html ~ FBI Questions Cafe Loafer Reading the wrong thing in public can get you in trouble. http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A12715&status=rate&ratebtn=5 : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Administrivia EFFector is published by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation 454 Shotwell Street San Francisco CA 94110-1914 USA +1 415 436 9333 (voice) +1 415 436 9993 (fax) http://www.eff.org/ Editor: Julie Lindner, Education Outreach Coordinator julie@eff.org Membership & donation queries: membership@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: information@eff.org Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be reproduced individually at will. Current and back issues of EFFector are available via the Web at: http://www.eff.org/effector/ Click here to change your email address: http://action.eff.org/addresschange This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.
