Intellectual Property Law

Help EFF Research Web Browser Tracking

Posted on January 27, 2010
What fingerprints does your browser leave behind as you surf the web? Traditionally, people assume they can prevent a website from identifying them by disabling cookies on their web browser. Unfortunately, this is not the whole story. When you visit a website, you are allowing that site to access a lot of information about your computer's configuration...

Browser versions carry 10.5 bits of identifying information on average

Posted on January 27, 2010
This is part 3 of a series of posts on user tracking on the modern web. You can also read part 1 and part 2. Whenever you visit a web page, your browser sends a "User Agent" header to the website saying precisely which operating system and web browser you are using...

A Primer on Information Theory and Privacy

Posted on January 27, 2010
If we ask whether a fact about a person identifies that person, it turns out that the answer isn't simply yes or no. If all I know about a person is their ZIP code, I don't know who they are. If all I know is their date of birth, I don't know who they are...

FCC's Net Neutrality Plan Would Permit Blocking of BitTorrent

Posted on January 27, 2010
Remember what put the debate over net neutrality into high gear? In 2007, EFF and the Associated Press confirmed suspicions that Comcast was clandestinely blocking BitTorrent traffic. It was one of the first clear demonstrations that ISPs are technologically capable of interfering with your Internet connection, and that they may not even tell you about it...

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ACTA: International Harmonization at What Cost?

Posted on January 26, 2010
The next round of negotiations on ACTA start today in Guadalajara, Mexico. This week?s negotiations will apparently focus on civil enforcement, border measures, and enforcement procedures in the digital environment, and briefly, transparency. One of the main goals of ACTA is creating new harmonized international IP enforcement standards above those in the 1994 TRIPs agreement...

Terms of (Ab)Use: US and UK Consumers Dance to Different iTunes

Posted on January 26, 2010
Too often, online services draft their "Terms of Service" (TOS) agreements in ways that are one-sided and overreaching. In Europe, however, regulators are beginning to step in to protect consumers. In late November, the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading (or OFT) announced that Apple, Inc...

Free Press Blogs on FCC's Net Neutrality Plans

Posted on January 26, 2010
Chris Riley, Policy Counsel for Free Press (and former EFF legal intern), has worked up an illuminating multi-part series of blog posts explaining some of the key issues that have been raised in the FCC's net neutrality proceedings (EFF's comments to the FCC echo many of the points discussed)...

Blogging ACTA Across The Globe: FFII's Ante Wessels on Exporting Europe's Flaws

Posted on January 26, 2010
Every major country in the ACTA negotiations claims that its own laws will remain unchanged by the treaty. But without changing a word of domestic law, ACTA can still be dangerous to a country's — or a continent's — economy. This week at Deeplinks, we've asked guest bloggers from around the world to give their perspective on the trade agreement...

EFF Experts to Speak at FTC Privacy Roundtable

Posted on January 25, 2010
Berkeley, CA - On Thursday, January 28, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is hosting a day-long public roundtable in Berkeley, California, exploring the privacy challenges posted by new developments in technology. Three experts from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are taking part...

Clinton on Internet Freedom, and Principled Stands

Posted on January 25, 2010
Secretary Clinton's speech last week on Internet Freedom was an important step in bringing online free expression and privacy to the forefront of the United States' foreign policy agenda. But for all the strong language, it was also a speech of caveats: powerful statements like "we stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas" sat close to hedges about the dangers of anonymous speech, and how it might be used to distribute "stolen intellectual property"...

Blogging ACTA Across the Globe: CIPPIC's David Fewer on What ACTA Means for Canadian Citizens

Posted on January 25, 2010
The next round of negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) — the secret copyright treaty that targets the Internet — starts tomorrow in Guadalajara, Mexico. From January 26-29, negotiators from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States will discuss civil enforcement, border measures, enforcement procedures in the digital environment (a...

HOWTO: Thrive as a Musician Without Suing Your Fans

Posted on January 25, 2010
TechDirt's Mike Masnick is at the Midem music industry conference in Cannes this week. He put together a fantastic memo to the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers: "The Future Of Music Business Models (And Those Who Are Already There)"...

EFF Plans Appeal of Jewel v. NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Case

Posted on January 22, 2010
San Francisco - A federal judge has dismissed Jewel v. NSA, a case from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of AT&T customers challenging the National Security Agency's mass surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls and emails...

Over Redaction in Audit of FBI?s Use of Illegal Exigent Letters

Posted on January 22, 2010
Earlier this week, the DOJ?s Inspector General issued a heavily redacted report about the FBI?s Communications Analysis Unit (CAU), which found "shocking" violations, including embedded telecom employees providing customer phone records in response to post-it notes...

EFF Turns 20 With Adam Savage and Friends

Posted on January 21, 2010
Every year we put together a birthday fund-raiser to commemorate another 365 days of fighting for your digital civil liberties. This year, we're celebrating two decades of determined advocacy for freedom wherever bits are found, and the revelry will be unmatched by celebrations past! So on February 10, 2010, come join the celebration of EFF's 20th year defending your digital rights! The fundraiser will be hosted by beloved TV geek Adam Savage at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, where he will celebrate EFF's two decades as only he can, with the help of many EFF legends and luminaries...

Some Lessons from the AT&T/Facebook Switcheroo

Posted on January 20, 2010
Over the weekend, there was an odd story about people using AT&T's wireless network trying to log in to Facebook, and suddenly finding themselves logged in to somebody else's Facebook account. What could have caused such a strange phenomenon to occur? What does it tell us about the innards of the mobile web, and what lessons might it convey for network and application design? Ars Technica had a good post documenting some of the possibilities, and AT&T has now made some public statements containing a few key clues about the problem...

FBI Replaced Legal Process with Post-It Notes to Obtain Phone Records

Posted on January 20, 2010
Today, the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General issued a long awaited report on the FBI's use of 'exigent letters' to obtain phone records. While the report has many interesting and shocking revelations, three issues jumped out at us: Post-it note process; a secret new legal theory; and the need for accountability for the telecoms...

MPAA and RIAA Seek Net Neutrality Copyright Loophole

Posted on January 20, 2010
Last week the MPAA and RIAA submitted their comments in the FCC's net neutrality proceeding. As anticipated in EFF's comments, the big media companies are pushing for a copyright loophole to net neutrality. They want to be able to pressure ISPs to block, interfere with, or otherwise discriminate against your perfectly lawful activities in the course of implementing online copyright enforcement measures...

OK Stop: EMI Puts a Stop to Sharing for the Princes of Viral Video

Posted on January 20, 2010
Of all the bands experimenting with the Internet and its role in enriching their creativity and commerce, OK Go has become one of the canonical success stories, having produced two low-budget, immensely successful viral videos ("A Million Ways" and "Here It Goes Again" in 2006) that together drew more than 50 million views and broadened their fan base considerably...

Hello Streisand Effect: Takedown Hall of Shame Grows by Four

Posted on January 19, 2010
(The Streisand Effect describes the phenomenon by which an attempt to suppress information results in faster, broader dissemination of that information. Roughly explained, attempted censorship -- particularly by a famous or well-known entity -- can flag the information as more interesting...

Report Confirms FBI Misuse of Authority to Obtain Phone Records

Posted on January 19, 2010
The Washington Post reported today that the "FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records," using methods that FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni admitted "technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act when agents invoked nonexistent emergencies to collect records...

Google in China: Unanswered Questions

Posted on January 15, 2010
It will be a long time before we understand all the ramifications of Google's decision to cease censoring their Chinese services — and the cyber-attack on their corporate and user data that prompted that change of heart. The story is still confusing in parts (Sky Canaves at the WSJ clarifies some of the more muddled reports)...

EFF Weighs in on Proposed FCC Net Neutrality Rules

Posted on January 14, 2010
Today marks the deadline for the first round of comments to the FCC regarding its proposed "net neutrality" regulations. Here's a quick summary of what EFF had to say in its comments to the Commission: While the question of how to best protect the openness of the Internet is a timely and important one, EFF believes the FCC currently lacks the statutory authority to issue the broad regulations on ISPs that it has proposed...

EFF Files Comments on Net Neutrality

Posted on January 14, 2010
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today to close loopholes in its proposed regulations for network neutrality -- loopholes that could let the entertainment industry and law enforcement hinder free speech and innovation...

Tell the FCC: Don't Let Hollywood Hijack the Internet

Posted on January 14, 2010
Last fall, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules for "Net Neutrality"?a set of regulations intended to help innovation and free speech continue to thrive on the Internet. But is the FCC?s version of Net Neutrality the real deal? Or is it a fake? Buried in the FCC?s rules is a deeply problematic loophole...

EMI Attacks NirGaga Mashup

Posted on January 13, 2010
EMI, the smallest of the four major record labels, has sent a cease & desist letter to DJ Lobsterdust and Bootie SF regarding "NirGaga," a mashup combining Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." The song had appeared in Bootie SF's "best of 2009" compilation (and got a thumbs up from the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog), but now has been removed...

12 Trends to Watch in 2010

Posted on January 13, 2010
It's the dawn of a new year. From our perch on the frontier of electronic civil liberties, EFF has collected a list of a dozen important trends in law, technology and business that we think will play a significant role in shaping online rights in 2010...

Have You Been Subjected to Suspicionless Laptop Search or Seizure at the Border?

Posted on January 13, 2010
EFF has long fought for the privacy of your laptop and other digital devices at the border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has implemented program that authorizes searches of the contents of travelers? laptop computers and other electronic storage devices at border crossings, notwithstanding the absence of probable cause, reasonable suspicion or any indicia of wrongdoing...

Gmail takes the lead on email security

Posted on January 13, 2010
Last night, Google announced that Gmail sessions will now be fully encrypted with HTTPS by default. This is excellent news — EFF congratulates Google for taking this significant step to safeguard their users' privacy and security. Previously, it was possible to encrypt your access to Gmail, but it required altering the default configuration...

Uncensoring China: Bravo Google

Posted on January 12, 2010
Google has publically announced that that it will cease censorship of its Chinese language, Google.cn website, and is reviewing the feasibility of its entire operation in that country. This follows its detection of malicious attacks on the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and what Google calls an "attack on their corporate infrastructure originating from China...

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