Intellectual Property Law

2010 Pioneer Award Winner Hari Prasad Defends India's Democracy

Posted on November 01, 2010
It has been some time since EFF blogged about Hari Prasad. Earlier this year, a team of security researchers led by Prasad, Alex Halderman, and Rop Gonggrijp was able to study an electronic voting machine (EVM) in actual use in India. The study was limited, because the researchers had agreed to return the machine intact, thus preventing them (for example) from getting to the software source code that is baked into the CPU...

Total Election Awareness: Track Voting Problem Reports in Real Time

Posted on November 01, 2010
This election day, EFF is once again assisting the Election Protection Coalition (EPC) in their nationwide voter-protection efforts. Right now, you can follow their work and keep an eye on election problems across the US live at OurVoteLive.org. We've already logged over 1,000 reports today (November 1), and are expecting to see tens of thousands tomorrow on election day...

Criminal Justice Blog Battles Copyright Troll

Posted on November 01, 2010
Las Vegas - A criminal justice blog that provides resources for difficult-to-prosecute murder cases is fighting bogus infringement claims from copyright troll Righthaven LLC and asked a Las Vegas judge Friday to dismiss Righthaven's baseless attempt to seize his domain name...

DHS Singles Out EFF?s FOIA Requests for Unprecedented Extra Layer of Review

Posted on October 30, 2010
The Identity Project notes on its blog today that the Department of Homeland Security singled out EFF, along with other activist groups and media representatives such as the ACLU, EPIC, Human Rights Watch, AP, etc, for an extra layer of review on its FOIA requests...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

The Message of Firesheep: "Baaaad Websites, Implement Sitewide HTTPS Now!"

Posted on October 29, 2010
Co-authored by Richard Esguerra The Firesheep Firefox extension has been scaring users across the Internet since its introduction at the Toorcon security conference this past weekend by security researchers Eric Butler and Ian Gallagher. Firesheep demonstrates a security flaw that the computer security community has been concerned about for years — that any network eavesdropper can take over another user's session (say, a login to a webmail or social networking account) just by sniffing packets and copying the victim's cookie...

Government Withholds Records on Need for Expanded Surveillance Law

Posted on October 28, 2010
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against three agencies of the Department of Justice (DOJ) today, demanding records about problems or limitations that hamper electronic surveillance and potentially justify or undermine the Administration's new calls for expanded surveillance powers...

An Upgrade for MyTube: Protect Your Drupal Website's Visitors from Tracking

Posted on October 28, 2010
Students at the Ohio State University Open Source Club have made some excellent and much-needed upgrades to EFF's MyTube software. Real privacy risks are presented by all of the Web's solutions for embedded video — from user-generated-content sites like YouTube to proprietary sites like MSNBC and Comedy Central...

EFF Urges EU Data Protection Authorities to Call for the Repeal of the EU Data Retention Directive

Posted on October 26, 2010
This week, EFF is taking part in the 32nd Annual Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, where we urged the Privacy Authorities to call for the repeal of the European Union's 2006 Data Retention Directive, which requires Internet service providers operating in Europe to retain telecom and Internet traffic data about all of their customers' communications for a period of at least six months and up to two years, for possible use by law enforcement...

Eight Epic Failures of Regulating Cryptography

Posted on October 21, 2010
They can promise strong encryption. They just need to figure out how they can provide us plain text. - FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni, September 27, 2010 [W]e're in favor of strong encryption, robust encryption. The country needs it, industry needs it...

Mom Asks Court to Declare Universal Violated Law in "Dancing Baby" Case

Posted on October 21, 2010
Back in 2007, Stephanie Lenz posted a video to YouTube of her children dancing and running around in her kitchen. Stephanie wanted to share the moment with her family and friends. But they weren't the only ones watching: a few months later, Universal Music Corp...

EFF Advises California PUC on Smart Grid Privacy Protections

Posted on October 20, 2010
California and other states are moving towards a "Smart Grid" -- touted by the federal government as a way to boost reliability, security, and conservation in America's electrical systems. But while a Smart Grid has great potential for consumers, there are still critical questions unanswered about the privacy and security of customers' information...

Transparency Activist, Public Domain Scholar, Legal Blogger, and Imprisoned E-Voting Researcher Win Pioneer Awards

Posted on October 19, 2010
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce four winners of its 2010 Pioneer Awards: transparency activist Stephen Aftergood; public domain scholar James Boyle; legal blogger Pamela Jones and the website Groklaw; and e-voting researcher Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who was recently released on bail after being imprisoned for his security work in India...

Targets of Predatory Lawsuits Fight Copyright Troll in Washington, D.C.

Posted on October 18, 2010
Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked a judge in Washington, D.C., to dismiss copyright infringement claims against two defendants wrongfully ensnared in mass movie-downloading lawsuits. In an amicus brief filed Friday, EFF argues that the copyright troll behind the suits -- a law firm calling itself the "U...

Facebook's Broken Promises: Facebook Apps Leaking Private Data to Advertisers and Trackers

Posted on October 18, 2010
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today on yet another major Facebook privacy blunder. Despite Facebook's various polices and promises about users' privacy when using apps, apps have been feeding Facebook users' information to advertisers and Internet tracking companies regardless of the individual user's Facebook privacy settings...

In Jewel v. NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Appeal, Government Still Singing Same Old State Secrecy Tune

Posted on October 18, 2010
Last Friday, in a brief filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Obama Administration continued the government's half-decade-long battle to ensure that no judge ever rules on the legality of the National Security Agency's warrantless dragnet surveillance program, a program first revealed in 2005 by the New York Times and detailed by technical documents provided by former AT&T technician Mark Klein...

Holding Nokia Responsible for Surveilling Dissidents in Iran

Posted on October 14, 2010
EFF has long pointed out that technology companies are complicit in human rights violations when they knowingly sell customized human surveillance technologies to repressive regimes that are then used to target people for arrest, torture, and disappearance...

EFF Asks Appeals Court to Review Dangerous 'First Sale' Decision

Posted on October 13, 2010
EFF asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday to review its ruling in Vernor v. Autodesk, a decision that could undermine the rights of software buyers and other consumers. Last month, a three-judge panel held that copyright's first sale doctrine ? the law that allows you to resell books and that protects libraries and archives from claims of copyright infringement ? may not apply to software if the vendor saddles the transfer with enough restrictions to transform what the buyer may think is sale into a mere license...

Search Engines Protect Privacy with Outbound HTTPS Links

Posted on October 13, 2010
One great trend for Internet users' privacy and security has been that search engines — among other popular sites — are making their services available in a secure HTTPS form. But users can still run into a privacy problem when they click on search results: the destination page could be unencrypted, potentially revealing lots of information to eavesdroppers about a user's interests and activities...

Judge Allows Trial of CFAA Claim Against Wiseguys

Posted on October 13, 2010
While noting that it took seriously the concerns raised by EFF and others in an amicus brief, a federal judge in New Jersey in the case of U.S. v. Lowson yesterday decided to delay a decision on the thorny question of whether the government can use the Ticketmaster website's terms of use to smack ticket resellers with criminal charges...

New FOIA Documents Reveal DHS Social Media Monitoring During Obama Inauguration

Posted on October 12, 2010
This is part two of a two part series. Read part one. As noted in our first post, EFF recently received new documents via our FOIA lawsuit on social network surveillance that reveal two ways the government has been tracking people online: Citizenship and Immigration?s surveillance of social networks to investigate citizenship petitions and the DHS?s use of a ?Social Networking Monitoring Center? to collect and analyze online public communication during President Obama?s inauguration...

Applying for Citizenship? U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Wants to Be Your ?Friend?

Posted on October 12, 2010
EFF recently received new documents as a result of our FOIA lawsuit on social network surveillance that reveal two ways the government has been tracking people online: surveillance of social networks to investigate citizenship petitions and the Department of Homeland Security?s use of a ?Social Networking Monitoring Center? to collect and analyze online public communication during President Obama?s inauguration...

Snuggly the Security Bear Speaks on Internet Wiretapping

Posted on October 08, 2010
Worried about the White House's recent proposal to wiretap the Internet? Please, allow yourself to be reassured by Snuggly The Security Bear: Other educational talks from Snuggly The Security Bear include The Spies Who Love You and Constitutional Compromise...

Copyright Abuse in Ohio Governor Election

Posted on October 07, 2010
With just weeks to go before Ohio votes on its next governor, the contest has devolved into a copyright squabble that is keeping a political video off YouTube on the basis of a bogus copyright claim. A couple of days ago, Congressman John Kasich put out a commercial that featured a man dressed as a steelworker discussing Governor Ted Strickland?s record...

Interview with Chiranuch Premchaiporn of Thai Netizen Network

Posted on October 07, 2010
@jiew, courtesy pittaya / CC BY Chiranuch Premchaiporn, known as Jiew, is the Director and webmaster of Prachatai, an alternative Thai news website, and is a founding member of the digital rights group Thai Netizen Network. News of her arrest upon her return from an Internet freedom conference spread quickly - a blog and #freejiew tag, a legal fund, news and opinion articles, condemnation by human rights institutions, a journalists' campaign, and critical analysis of the case and the Computer Crime Act under which she was charged...

Facebook Moves Closer to EFF Bill of Privacy Rights

Posted on October 06, 2010
Today Facebook announced three new features that help move the social networking giant closer to satisfying EFF's Bill of Privacy Rights for Social Networking. While EFF continues to have outstanding issues with Facebook, we greatly appreciate these important steps toward giving Facebook users more transparency and control when it comes to how the information they post to Facebook is shared, and more power to take their Facebook data with them if they ever choose to leave the service...

Victory: Internet Censorship Bill is Delayed, For Now

Posted on September 30, 2010
This morning's Politico brought with it great news for those who care about free speech and fair use online: A markup on SJC Chairman Leahy?s IP infringement bill was postponed late Wednesday, as staffers anticipated the chamber would finish legislative work and adjourn for recess before the hearing could commence...

Thai Webmaster Arrested for Online Speech

Posted on September 29, 2010
On Friday, the Director of a 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 "Lèse Majesté," or defamation of the Thai royal family...

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

Posted on September 29, 2010
Today EFF, joined by Public Knowledge, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Apache Software Foundation, filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case in which Microsoft is trying to make it easier to invalidate an issued U...

Tell Your Senator: No Website Blacklists, No Internet Censorship!

Posted on September 28, 2010
The "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act" (COICA) is yet another attempt to squash online copyright infringement — this time using dangerous, overbroad procedures that would take huge numbers of law-abiding websites offline, censor speech and curtail Internet freedom worldwide...

A Field Guide to Copyright Trolls

Posted on September 28, 2010
With all of this talk about copyright trolls and spamigation, it is easy to get confused. Who is suing over copies of Far Cry and The Hurt Locker? Who is suing bloggers? Who is trying to protect their anonymity? Who is defending fair use? What do newspapers have to do with any of this? In order to cut through the confusion, here?s a concise guide to copyright trolls currently in the wild, with status updates...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.