EFFector Vol. 13, No. 10 Oct. 19, 2000
editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THE 158th ISSUE OF EFFECTOR (now with over 25,600 subscribers!):
* EFF Urges Netizens to Support Digital Music Rights Bill, "MOLRA"
* EFF Challenges Effort to Silence Online Critic
* Nov. 2 "BayFF" Meeting Examines Posting of Private/Proprietary
Documents, & Free Speech
* Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts: http://www.eff.org
_________________________________________________________________
EFF Urges Netizens to Support Digital Music Rights Bill, "MOLRA"
"Music Owners' Listening Rights Act of 2000" (H.R. 5275) 1st Step to
Copyright Reform
Electronic Frontier Foundation ALERT -- Oct. 19, 2000
Please redistribute to relevant forums, no later than Feb. 1, 2001.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) encourages all Netizens to
contact their Congressional representatives and urge them to support
the "Music Owners' Listening Rights Act of 2000" (MOLRA, bill number
H.R. 5275). The Bill begins to reform unbalanced copyright law by
firmly establishing users' rights to access the music they lawfully
own via the Internet at any time from any place.
Large record companies have used tortured interpretations of copyright
law to stifle new Internet businesses that compete with these record
companies. For example, they sued MP3.COM (Universal Music Group, et
al., v. MP3.COM) to stop it from letting people play music over the
Internet even though the users proved that they possessed the CD.
Agreeing with the recording studios, the district court found MP3.COM
guilty of an act of "intermediate copying," without ever deciding
whether consumers are allowed to play audio of their own CDs. MP3.COM
is appealing the case, but it has also encouraged Congress to make its
intent clearer by passing this legislation.
H.R. 5275 would declare unequivocally that consumers can transmit an
audio recording over the Internet so it will play wherever they are,
if they've shown that they possess the CD (or otherwise lawfully own
the music). The bill legalizes copies made by a service company so
consumers and artists can begin to experiment with new models of
distribution better suited for a digital realm.
Copyright law was designed to strike a balance between authors' and
artists' rights to be compensated for their creations, and the
public's right to access and use that creation. Restrictions written
before the advent of digital technology should not be used to preclude
new technologies from coming into existence, depriving society of the
benefit of innovation. Updating the law to reflect the change in
real-world circumstances begins to address the threat that the
recording studios place on free expression in a digital world.
The bi-partisan MOLRA bill was introduced into Congress last month by
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and co-sponsored by several Republican
representatives. Contact your representative to stand up for free
expression and your rights to use digital audio. Let your voice be
heard!
For more information:
How to contact your legislators:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
Music Owners' Licensing Right Act (H.R. 5275), full text:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Audio/hr5275_molra_2000_bill.html
The "Million Email March" organized by MP3.COM:
http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/95/the_million_email_march.html
Floor statement of Rep. Boucher introducing MOLRA:
http://www.house.gov/boucher/docs/molra.htm
EFF's Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression (CAFE):
http://www.eff.org/cafe
_________________________________________________________________
EFF Challenges Effort to Silence Online Critic
Civil Liberties Group Challenges Corporate Lawyer's Effort to Undermine
Internet Writer's Right to Remain Anonymous
Electronic Frontier Foundation ALERT -- Oct. 17, 2000
October 13, 2000 - An Internet civil liberties group has teamed up
with a consumer group to weigh in against the common practice of using
unsubstatiated civil lawsuits to determine the identity of a
controversial speaker. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along
with the consumer group Public Citizen, filed a motion to quash a
subpoena presented to America Online (AOL) seeking the identity of an
anonymous poster absent proof from the plaintiff that statements made
were actually defamatory.
The brief was filed on behalf of an individual (Jane Doe) who had made
several comments on a Yahoo! message board devoted to AK Steel
(formerly Armco Steel), based in Middletown, Ohio. Among these
messages were statements that John Hritz, executive vice president and
general counsel of AK Steel, was too litigious. Hritz promptly filed a
"petition for discovery," generally alleging that "John and/or Jane
Doe" had made "disparaging, threatening and defamatory" comments on
the Internet. Ohio law allows Hritz to file a "petition for discovery"
even though he has not yet filed a lawsuit against Doe. Hritz then
used that petition to issue subpoenas to Yahoo! and AOL to identify
Doe.
EFF and Public Citizen stepped in to combat the growing problem of
powerful entities increasingly turning to their lawyers when they find
something online they don't like. Lauren Gelman, EFF's Director of
Public Policy, explained, "This is just one more example where the
legal system is being misused to chill Internet conduct. Lawyers are
churning out subpoenas with the sole purpose of intimidating
individuals into self-censoring speech. That's especially clear here,
where Hritz hasn't even filed a lawsuit."
The only specific web posting about himself that Hritz cited in his
request for discovery is "Hritz will litigate the time of day. OOPS I
will be in court." As Doe explains in her brief, not only is this
statement purely opinion, and hence not actionable as libel, but the
filing of this case against Doe seems to substantiate Doe's criticism
of Hritz.
Doe argues in her brief that because the main purpose of such suits is
often to unmask a company's critics, the identification of those
critics should be treated as a major form of relief that cannot be
awarded without proof of wrongdoing. "A company should not be able to
deny members of the public the right to speak anonymously simply by
making vague allegations of wrongdoing," clarified EFF's Legal
Director, Cindy Cohn.
EFF's Gelman explained further, "Given the complete lack of evidence
that Hritz was libeled, his use of the court as his own private
detective agency constitutes a blatant disregard for the Supreme
Court's ruling that the First Amendment protects Jane Doe's right to
speak anonymously. This is unacceptable behavior, especially from a
lawyer for a major corporation."
"This lawsuit is a blatant attempt to intimidate all of AK Steel's
employees and other members of the public," said Paul Levy of Public
Citizen Litigation Group, who plans to argue the case on behalf of
Doe. "Hritz is in effect warning workers not to exercise their First
Amendment right to speak freely about the company on the Internet."
"It would be disturbing if courts were to permit the disclosure of the
identities of people who post messages anonymously," Levy said. "The
First Amendment guarantees people a right to speak out and participate
in public debates. A message board is just that -- an ongoing public
debate."
EFF decided to put together a legal team to defend Doe because of the
free speech implications of the case. Robert Corn-Revere and Ronald
Wiltsie of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Hogan and Hartson,
and Timothy Connors and Mark Belleville of the Ohio-based law firm of
Calfee, Halter & Griswold, also are representing Doe as local counsel
in the Virginia and Ohio courts, respectively.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org ) is the
leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges
industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and
openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to Web sites in the
world. EFF sees its action in this case as part of its larger mission
to protect speech online. EFF was a plaintiff in ACLU v. Reno, the
landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Internet is a
constitutionally protected medium. EFF is currently providing the
legal defense for Eric Corley, publisher of 2600 Magazine, in a
lawsuit before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals where the movie
industry has sued to keep Corley from publishing or even linking to
controversial software.
Contact:
Lauren Gelman, Electronic Frontier Foundation, +1 202 487 0420
Cindy Cohn, Electronic Frontier Foundation, +1 415 436 9333
Paul Levy, Public Citizen, +1 202 588 1000
Full text of the EFF/Public Citizen brief is available at:
http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/Jane_Doe_v_John_Hritz
_________________________________________________________________
Nov. 2 "BayFF" Meeting Examines Posting of Private/Proprietary Documents, &
Free Speech
Media Advisory
BayFF Speaks Up
Free Speech Advocate, Hastings Law Professor, and Bay Area Cyberjournalist
Explore the Limits of Free Expression on the Net
WHO: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Keith Henson, Joe Liu, Damien
Cave.
WHAT: "BayFF" Meeting exploring the posting of private documents, and
free expression on the Web
WHEN: Thursday, November 2nd, 2000, at 7:00PM PT
WHERE: Moscone Center, Room 101
747 Howard St.
San Francsico, CA, USA
In honor of its 10th Anniversary of defending civil liberties online,
EFF presents a series of monthly meetings to address important issues
where technology and policy collide. These meetings, entitled "BayFF"
(Bay-area Friends of Freedom), kicked off on July 10, 2000, and will
continue on a monthly basis.
The upcoming BayFF includes panelists Keith Henson, a free speech
advocate who was sued by the Church of Scientology, Prof. Joe Liu, an
expert on intellectual property law, and Damien Cave, a Bay Area
reporter with Salon.com who covers tech issues. They will focus on the
publishing/posting of documents on the Web that are later claimed to be
private, or to contain trade secrets. What are the repercussions of
this type of publication? Can litigation to prevent or punish such
publishing be seen as a violation of the publisher's First Amendment
rights?
Keith Henson, an electrical engineer and programmer by trade, and long
a free speech advocate, was troubled by the Church of Scientology's
1995 attempt to destroy a Usenet news group (alt.religion.scientlogy).
He was sued by them in early 1996 over an open letter to a federal
judge which quoted from a Scientology instruction manual ("NOTs 34,"
available on the Net). Most recently, he has been exercising his First
Amendment rights by picketing Scientology's desert compound near
Hemet, CA. He has been charged with making "terrorist threats" to the
organization, which he denies. He is also well known for founding the
L-5 Society in 1975, and was heavily involved in space politics for 6
years. He is a major character in the multi-person biography, "Great
Mambo Chicken and the Trans-Human Condition" by Ed Regis. In recent
years he has been deeply involved with cryonics.
Professor Liu was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He received
his B.A. in Physics and Philosophy in 1989 from Yale University, and
his J.D. in 1994 from Columbia Law School, where he was
Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Law Review. After law school, he
clerked for Judge Levin H. Campbell, U.S. Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit. Following his clerkship, Professor Liu worked as a
litigator at Foley, Hoag & Eliot in Boston, where his practice
consisted of intellectual property litigation, securities litigation,
and white collar criminal defense. Professor Liu then spent two years
as a Climenko Teaching Fellow at Harvard Law School. He also serves as
general counsel to an Internet startup company. Professor Liu's
primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of
intellectual property, property, and internet regulation.
Damien Cave is a staff writer for the technology section of Salon.com,
where he focuses on policy, intellectual property and digital culture.
He has written several stories on DeCSS, Napster, ICANN and other
hot-button issues, while trying to keep his computer from crashing and
his inbox from overflowing. Before coming to Salon.com, he attended
the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, wrote for
several publications while backpacking through South America, and
covered health care at a daily newspaper in New Hampshire. His stories
have also won several awards, none of which were Pulitzers.
For directions to the event, you can use free services like
http://www.mapquest.com or http://maps.yahoo.com to generate driving
directions or maps. For BART, CalTrain and Muni directions, please
call their information lines.
This month's BayFF will be Webcast. BayFF is first and foremost a real
space event, meant to serve as an educational forum for the local
community, as well as a catalyst for like-minded activists. Locals,
please show your support in person! BayFF fans and followers that are
scattered across the country can check the EFF Website for a link to
the Webcast. See the BayFF homepage at:
http://www.eff.org/bayff
You can subscribe to receive future BayFF announcements. To subscribe,
email majordomo@eff.org and put this in the text (not the subject
line): subscribe bayff.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org) is the leading
civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital
world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges
industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and
openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to Web sites in the
world.
Contact:
Katina Bishop
Education & Offline Activism Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
+1 415 436 9333 x101
katina@eff.org
_________________________________________________________________
Administrivia
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