By Electronic Frontier Foundation

News updates on internet freedom and privacy

Victory! Internet Censorship Bill Delayed, For Now

Great news for those who care about free speech and fair use online: the Senate Judiciary Committee won’t consider the dangerously flawed “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” (COICA) bill until after the midterm elections, at least. This is a real victory, and the support from all of you who used EFF’s Action Center to write to your Senators played a key role. Thanks as well to the 87 Internet scientists and engineers whose open letter to Congress reminded lawmakers what is at stake, and to all the other voices that helped sound the alarm.

For more information: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/victory-internet-censorship-bill-delayed

To see the full open letter: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/open-letter

Government Seeks Back Door into All Our Communications

The New York Times reported this week on a federal government plan to put government-mandated “back doors” in all communications systems, including all encryption software. But as the Internet security community explained years ago, intentionally weakening security and including back doors is a recipe for disaster for our already-fragile online security and privacy. To learn more: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/government-seeks

Political Forum Fights Back Against Righthaven Copyright Troll Suit

The online political discussion forum Democratic Underground is fighting back against a lawsuit filed by copyright troll Righthaven LLC. EFF argued in court documents filed Monday that the short excerpt of a news article at issue in the suit is a clear case of fair use. https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/09/27

A Field Guide to Copyright Trolls

With all of this talk about copyright trolls and spamigation, it is easy to get confused. Here’s a concise guide to copyright trolls currently in the wild, with status updates. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/field-guide-copyright-trolls

EFF Supports Microsoft in Seeking to Make It Easier to Invalidate Patents

EFF — joined by Public Knowledge, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Apache Software Foundation — filed an amicus brief Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case in which Microsoft is trying to make it easier to invalidate an issued U.S. patent. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/eff-supports-microsoft-seeking-make-it-easier

Thai Webmaster Arrested for Online Speech

Last Friday the director of popular alternative Thai news portal Prachatai was arrested by the Thai government. Chiranuch Premchaipoen — popularly known as Jiew — was charged under the intermediary liability provisions of the 2007 Computer Crime Act and for defamation of the Thai royal family. She faces a 32-year prison sentence. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/thai-journalist

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~ EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston on PBS Newshour

Kevin Bankston speaks out against the reported proposals from the Obama Administration that would mandate “back doors” into Internet communication systems. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/government_programs/july-dec10/wiretap_09-27.html

~ Supreme Court Could Take Its First RIAA File-Sharing Case

At issue: a federal appeals court’s decision ordering a university student to pay the RIAA $27,750 for file-sharing 37 songs when she was in high school. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/supreme-court-could-take-its-first-riaa-file-sharing-case.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss