EFF

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There's a disturbing provision buried in the government spending bill that could upend the way we use the internetNancy PelosiKenny Stancil and Common Dreams December 22, 2020   Lawmakers in Congress are under fire from digital rights campaigners for embedding three controversial changes to online copyright and trademark laws into the must-pass $2.3 trillion legislative package—which includes a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill and a $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill—that could receive floor votes in the House and Senate as early as Monday evening.
The punitive provisions crammed into the enormous bill (pdf), warned Evan Greer of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, "threaten ordinary Internet users with up to $30,000 in fines for engaging in everyday activity such as downloading an image and re-uploading it... [or] sharing memes."
While the citizenry had almost no time to process the actual contents of the 5,593 page legislative text, Greer said Monday afternoon that the CASE Act, Felony Streaming Act, and Trademark Modernization Act "are in fact included in the must-pass omnibus spending bill."
As Mike Masnick explained in a piece at TechDirt on Monday:
The CASE Act will supercharge copyright trolling exactly at a time when we need to fix the law to have less trolling. And the felony streaming bill (which was only just revealed last week with no debate or discussion) includes provisions that are so confusing and vague no one is sure if it makes sites like Twitch into felons."The fact that these are getting added to the must-pass government funding bill is just bad government," Masnick added. "And congressional leadership should hear about this."

According to Fight for the Future, "More than 20,000 people had called on House and Senate leadership to remove these dangerous and unnecessary provisions from the must-pass bill," yet Congress chose to include them anyway.
"This is atrocious," Greer said in her statement. "We're facing a massive eviction crisis and millions are unemployed due to the pandemic, but congressional leaders could only muster $600 stimulus checks for Covid relief."
And yet, lawmakers "managed to cram in handouts for content companies like Disney?" Greer continued. "The CASE Act is a terribly written law that will threaten ordinary Internet users with huge fines for everyday online activity. It's absurd that lawmakers included these provisions in a must-pass spending bill."

Explaining why the inclusion of these provisions is dangerous, Masnick said "there's a reason [why] copyright is generally controversial." Even "small changes" threaten a "massive impact on... the public's ability to express themselves," he wrote.
As The Verge's Makena Kelly reported:
The CASE Act would create a quasi-judicial tribunal of "Copyright Claims Officers" who would work to resolve infringement claims. As outlined in the bill, copyright holders could be awarded up to $30,000 if they find their creative work being shared online.Proponents of the CASE Act, like the Copyright Alliance, argue that the bill would make it easier for independent artists to bring about copyright claims without having to endure the lengthy and expensive federal courts process. Still, critics of the bill, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future, argue that the CASE Act could fine ordinary internet users for engaging in everyday online behavior like sharing memes.Greer echoed Masnick, saying that "we've seen time and time again that changes to copyright law have profound implications for online freedom of expression and human rights."
"Frivolous copyright takedowns are already a huge problem for the next generation of artists and creators, streamers, gamers, and activists," Greer noted, advocating instead for what she called "a fair system that protects human rights and ensures artists are fairly compensated."
Considering how artists and musicians "are suffering immensely during the pandemic," Greer added, "Congress should be working quickly to provide immediate relief, not cramming controversial, poison-pill legislation into budget bills to appease special interests."
The way Congress jammed through these changes "is a total and complete travesty," said Masnick. "People should be mad about this and should hold the congressional leadership of both parties responsible."
Calling on "House and Senate leadership to remove the copyright provisions from the continuing resolution and move them through regular order so we can have transparent and open debate about the right balance," Greer said that "these types of decisions should never be made in closed-door negotiations between politicians and industry or rushed through as part of some must-pass spending package."
FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLESYes, a Monkey Should Absolutely Be the Copyright Owner of His ... ›Aaron Swartz on the Fight for Internet Freedom - Alternet.org ›How Copyright Law Changed Hip Hop - Alternet.org ›RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEBH.R.2426 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Copyright Alternative in ... ›HR2281 - Digital Millennium Copyright Act105th Congress (1997 ... ›House overwhelmingly approves contentious new copyright bill ... ›<div></div><div>
</div><div>https://www.eff.org/takedowns</div><div>
</div><div>DMCA</div><div>
</div><div>former Navy chaplain and Colorado Assembly candidate Gordon Klingenschmitt launched a campaign to use the DMCA to shut down the YouTube account of People for the American Way's <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Right Wing Watch</a> (“RWW”) project. RWW reports and comments on the political views of folks like Klingenschmitt, using their own words. Klingenschmitt sent a series of takedown notices claiming that RWW's use of clips of his program infringed his copyrights—never mind that RWW was obviously posting them as part of its critical work. Because YouTube has a policy of shutting down accounts after three takedown notices, Klingenschmitt’s bogus complaints caused RWW’s entire account to be taken offline—twice. The harassment finally stopped only when PFAW, also with EFF's help, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/12/no-more-downtime-free-speech-eff-helps-people-american-way-challenge-dmca-abuser" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">threatened to take Klingenschmitt to court.</a></div><div>=</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-ghost-of-john-perry-barlow-lives-in-his-posthumous-memoir/">https://www.wired.com/story/the-ghost-of-john-perry-barlow-lives-in-his-posthumous-memoir/</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>Ghost of John Perry Barlow Lives in His Posthumous Memoir</div><div>
</div><div>Mother American Night will become the crucial document for understanding the trippy, contradictory life and work of the internet pioneer and Grateful Dead lyricist.</div><div>Image may contain Face Human Person and Beard</div><div>
</div><div>John Perry Barlow's memoir captures the trippy contradictions of a mind that helped invent the future</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>IN THE MID-1980S, John Perry Barlow tried to follow his father into the Wyoming state senate, losing the election by one vote. But Barlow—cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and “junior lyricist” for the Grateful Dead—became a statesman anyway, if such a term can be applied to the borderless territory he made his home.</div><div>
</div><div>When Barlow died in February at age 70, remembrances came from United States senators and exiled dissidents, hackers and psychedelics enthusiasts, Harvard fellows and members of the Grateful Dead. Founding WIRED executive editor Kevin Kelly called him “the mayor of the internet.” Edward Snowden’s eulogy suggested that Barlow may have provided the seed of his own radicalization.</div><div>
</div><div>Mother American Night, a newly published posthumous memoir cowritten with Robert Greenfield, tells of Barlow’s journey from rural, Mormon Wyoming to the virtual domain that he was—in 1990—the first to call cyberspace, after the term from William Gibson’s Neuromancer. As Barlow surely would have noted, the scope of those remembering him demonstrated exactly the sentiment he was trying to express: The emerging internet was—and is—a place....</div></div>=<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.57;"><div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.57; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><a href="https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy&ved=2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQFjALegQIBBAB" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; cursor: pointer;"><cite class="iUh30 bc" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.3;">www.eff.org › school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy</cite></a></div>
<h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 2px 0px 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.3;">Spying on Students: School-Issued Devices and Student Privacy</h3><div class="B6fmyf" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; height: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.57; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30 bc" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.3;" /></div><div class="yWc32e" style="display: inline-block; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 2px; visibility: visible;"><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=school+chromebook+spying&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8y7mRysznAhVBWK0KHcF9Dx8Q1QIoBnoECAoQBw&biw=1600&bih=757#" id="am-b11" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQ7B0wC3oECAQQBA" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="text-align: left; border-color: rgb(60, 64, 67) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQqR8wC3oECAQQBQ" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OazLnGxt67MJ:https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:OazLnGxt67MJ:https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy%2B%26cd%3D12%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQIDALegQIBBAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.57;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OazLnGxt67MJ:https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:OazLnGxt67MJ:https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy%2B%26cd%3D12%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQIDALegQIBBAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px;"></a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OazLnGxt67MJ:https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:OazLnGxt67MJ:https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy%2B%26cd%3D12%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQIDALegQIBBAG" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px;">Jump to </a><a class="fl" href="https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy#case-study-parent" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy%23case-study-parent&ved=2ahUKEwivibCpysznAhUREawKHcGABEgQygQwC3oECAQQBw" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.57;">Case Study: A California Parent Caught Off-Guard by ...</a> - Katherine's father, Jeff, was concerned. Jeff feared that Chromebooks and G Suite for Education ...</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/11/22/save-dot-org.html" style="font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://boingboing.net/2019/11/22/save-dot-org.html</a><h2 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.1em 0px 0.25em; line-height: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/11/22/save-dot-org.html" rel="bookmark" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Civil society groups protest the sale of .ORG to a private equity fund and a collection of Republican billionaires</a></h2>11/19<div class="entry-content" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">Earlier this month, management of the .org top-level domain <a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/11/14/private-equity-company-acquire.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">underwent a radical shift</a>: first, ICANN dropped price-caps on .org domains, and then the Internet Societ (ISOC) flogged the registry off to Ethos Capital, a private equity fund, and a consortium of <a href="https://medium.com/@jacobmalthouse/whos-going-to-run-org-in-a-word-the-gop-8809ef6f9679" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">three families of Republican billionaires</a>: the Perots, the Romneys, and the Johnsons. <a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/11/22/save-dot-org.html" class="read-more" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Read the rest</a></div>=<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/paramilitary-security-tracked-and-targeted-nodapl-activists-as-jihadists-docs-show/">https://www.revealnews.org/article/paramilitary-security-tracked-and-targeted-nodapl-activists-as-jihadists-docs-show/</a><p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" em="em" padding="padding" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">As people nationwide rallied last year to support the Standing Rock Sioux’s <a href="http://grist.org/justice/inside-the-camp-thats-fighting-to-stop-the-dakota-access-pipeline/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit;">attempts to block the Dakota Access Pipeline</a>, a private security firm with experience fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan launched an intrusive military-style surveillance and counterintelligence campaign against the activists and their allies, according to internal company documents.<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" em="em" padding="padding" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">Its surveillance targets included everyone from Native American demonstrators to the actress Shailene Woodley, along with organizations including Black Lives Matter, 350.org, Veterans for Peace, the Catholic Worker Movement, and Food and Water Watch. The records label the protestors “jihadists” and seek to justify escalating action against them.<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" em="em" padding="padding" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">The activities of the company spanned, but were not limited to, the four states through which the pipeline passes: South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.The documents also show that its surveillance efforts continued after the breakup of the Standing Rock camps this winter, including at ongoing pipeline protests in southeastern Pennsylvania, Iowa, and South Dakota.<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" em="em" padding="padding" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">The internal documents from the firm, called TigerSwan, take the form of situation reports, or “sitreps,” prepared between September and April for its employer, Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners. The records detail a range of tactics that experts from the American Civil Liberties Union, National Lawyers Guild, and Electronic Frontier Foundation say would likely be illegal if conducted by law enforcement.<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" em="em" padding="padding" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">A private security company probably doesn’t face the same prohibitions, legal scholars say, but the close collaboration between TigerSwan and local, state, and federal authorities detailed in the firm’s internal reports raised red flags with them. Several legal experts described the contractor’s tactics as highly disturbing and perhaps unprecedented.<p style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" em="em" padding="padding" line-height="line-height" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">“It’s like a big brother society, with a private corporation — with even less restraints than the government — totally interfering with our right to privacy, free speech, assembly, and religious freedom,” said prominent civil rights attorney Jeff Haas, who works with the National Lawyers Guild and represents several of the nearly 800 people arrested while opposing the pipeline.<div></div><div><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052017/foia-donald-trump-interior-department-missing-climate-change-data-websites">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052017/foia-donald-trump-interior-department-missing-climate-change-data-websites</a></div><div>
</div><div>As <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Donald Trump</a>'s administration continues to strip <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">climate change</a> information from federal websites, two advocacy groups and a conservation biologist are using a novel technique to try to force the government to republish the pages.A new provision in open records law, added by Congress last year, requires agencies to publish electronically any information that is<a href="https://www.justice.gov/oip/freedom-information-act-5-usc-552" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> requested at least three times through the federal Freedom of Information Act</a>, so long as that information is not otherwise exempt from disclosure. Last week, the advocacy groups and the biologist submitted identical requests for climate change information, hoping to trigger that provision, and they just might succeed."The law is pretty explicit," said Aaron Mackey, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes transparency. "The law just says, if you get three, then you have to affirmatively disclose it. This should work."The effort by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Media and Democracy, and Stuart Pimm, a professor at Duke University, is the latest in a broad campaign by scientists and advocates to cache federal data about climate change and other topics that they fear may be deleted by the Trump administration.Volunteers have gathered for<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19012017/climate-change-data-science-denial-donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> massive "data rescue" events</a> to download information. Advocates have sued. Now, the groups are trying to use the Freedom of Information Act and the new provision to get the government, starting with the Interior Department, to re-post its old climate change webpages.Last month, the <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-interior-department-scrubbed-its-climate-change-page-doi-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Department of Interior quietly edited its climate change</a> page, removing an <a href="https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20170226013128/https://www.doi.gov/climate" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">extensive discussion</a> of the effects of global warming and the department's work on the issue and replacing it with <a href="https://www.doi.gov/climate" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">two short paragraphs</a> that do not discuss any details of the impacts of climate change. Instead, it provided links to its bureau's climate change pages, including the <a href="https://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/climatechange.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">page of the Bureau of Land Management</a>,  which no longer exists, and others that have been edited."The changes basically remove any information about the causes of climate change, most notably mankind's contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere," said Amy Atwood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's just absurd."Paul Ross, a spokesman for the Interior Department, said in a statement emailed to InsideClimate News that "the Department's website has been updated periodically over the past few months to include additional priorities of the Department under new leadership." He declined to address the public records requests.The department has 20 business days to reply to the requests. Atwood said her group would appeal if the requests are denied.The new requirement in the open records law was an attempt to codify what has long been considered best practice, Mackey said. The overarching goal of the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is to make government more transparent, so it encourages agencies to publish information that is frequently requested or may be of broad interest, such as administrative decisions. Many agencies, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/oha/foia-reading-room" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">including the Interior Department</a>, have online "reading rooms" where they make such documents available.Mackey said that while the spirit of the law implies that agencies should publish information that's requested three times in an easily accessible area, like an online reading room, it contains no explicit direction beyond requiring them to make it "available for public inspection in an electronic format."After the EPA removed its climate change page, it <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">published an archived version</a> following a series of <a href="https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/insideepaarticle_internalEPAemail.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">FOIA requests</a>. But it also removed links that would have made that archived page easy to find from the EPA's homepage. Atwood said the groups would use the same FOIA tactics to retrieve the information if the EPA deletes the archived page, or if the EPA or any other agency removes similar information.This isn't the first time the groups have attempted to use the FOIA provision. In March, they<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/publc-records-03-23-2017.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> submitted requests to eight federal agencies</a> seeking hundreds of environmental data sets out of concern that the Trump administration would remove them from public view.Atwood said they've gotten a range of responses so far. The Department of Agriculture has been working with them to try to identify and publish the data, she said, while others have simply rejected their requests or claimed—sometimes erroneously, according to Atwood—that the data was already published. The group is currently preparing to appeal those denied requests, and ultimately will go to court if the appeals fail.The Center for Biological Diversity has also used more conventional FOIA requests to try to pry loose documents from the Trump administration, including records regarding whether leaders at several agencies<a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/climate-change-03-30-2017.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> directed their staffs</a> to stop using the term "climate change." Last week, the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/scott-pruitt-05-03-2017.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">group sued the EPA</a> in attempt to compel it to release emails and a schedule for its administrator, Scott Pruitt, after the agency denied a request seeking those records. Atwood said she expects to file an average of one lawsuit each week as the group's FOIA requests are denied."We're really in a position to be able to pursue information from the Trump administration," Atwood said, "and we're doing it at every turn.</div><div>=</div>jpb, John podesta,cf brewster kahle internet archives
promoted to 2ndary b/c of:Letter re: Yes Men parody site ...
DOCUMENT | OCTOBER 22, 2009 - 5:23PMDMCA notice for Yes Men site
DMCA notice for Yes Men site ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 18, 2009 - 5:14PMEFF defends Yes Men from business rage over climate hoax
But lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation are telling the Chamber to cool off about the whole affair.What's the furor about? The Yes Men...... off about the whole affair. What's the furor about? The Yes Men staged a fake press conference this week at the National Press Club in ...PRESS RELEASE | OCTOBER 22, 2009 - 1:58PMEFF: Chamber of Commerce Takes Aim at Yes Men
San Francisco - Attorneys for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have issued a takedown notice in an attempt to silence a parody website that was posted in...... silence a parody website that was posted in support of the Yes Men's embarrassing prank poking fun at the Chamber's stance on climate change ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 20, 2009 - 3:09PMEFF to Represent Yes Men in Court Battle Over Chamber of Commerce Action
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said Wednesday that it will represent the Yes Men in fighting a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...... Foundation said Wednesday that it will represent the Yes Men in fighting a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against the ...DEEPLINKS BLOG | JUNE 13, 2013 - 8:27AMChamber of Commerce Cries Uncle, Abandons Spurious Trademark Lawsuit Against the Yes Men
The United States Chamber of Commerce has come to its senses at last and withdrawn its lawsuit against political activists the Yes Men. In the...... and withdrawn its lawsuit against political activists the Yes Men . In the lawsuit, the Chamber had claimed that a 2009 press conference—in which a Yes Man posing as a Chamber of Commerce spokesperson announced the Chamber was ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 20, 2009 - 2:57PMYes Men punk US Chamber of Commerce on climate change, sued
The EFF, having worked with the Yes Men to keep their fake site accessible, has announced that it will continue with what it terms a "free speech...The EFF, having worked with the Yes Men to keep their fake site accessible, has announced that it will continue ... Free Speech Chamber of Commerce v. Servin Yes Men punk US Chamber of Commerce on climate change, sued ...PRESS RELEASE | NOVEMBER 11, 2009 - 8:24AMEFF to Represent Yes Men in Court Battle Over Chamber of Commerce Action
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP, will defend the Yes Men and other activists in a lawsuit...... (EFF) and Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP, will defend the Yes Men and other activists in a lawsuit filed against them by the U.S. Chamber of ...EFFECTOR | MAY 22, 2012 - 1:16PMEFF, The Yes Men, and Protesters Fight Secret Negotiations to Regulate the Internet
13 608th 25 EFF, The Yes Men, and Protesters Fight Secret Negotiations to Regulate the Internet ...EFF IN THE NEWS | JANUARY 25, 2010 - 3:15PMYes Men Won't Take No For An Answer, Allege Suit Against Them Is Meant As Punishment For Political Parody
"The court should recognize the Chamber's lawsuit for what it is -- an attempt to use intellectual property and related law to punish a political...... light on its controversial position on climate change," the Yes Men argue in a motion filed on their behalf by the digital rights group ...EFF IN THE NEWS | SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 - 7:59AMNSA spying may give Somali men new trial
“This is the only case where the government has said, ‘Yes, we used it,’” said Hanni Fakhoury, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in...“This is the only case where the government has said, ‘Yes, we used it,’” said Hanni Fakhoury, a lawyer with the Electronic ...   NSA Spying NSA spying may give Somali men new trial ...PRESS RELEASE | AUGUST 20, 2014 - 11:18AMU.N. Free Expression Champion, Congressional Internet Defender, and Groundbreaking Counter-surveillance Artist Win EFF Pioneer Awards
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce the distinguished winners of the 2014 Pioneer Awards: United Nations...... will be Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, better known as the Yes Men, who are known for their elaborate parodies and impersonations to fight ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 19, 2009 - 1:14PMISP Takes Down Parody After Chamber Of Commerce Complains
The digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation fired back a letter on behalf of the Yes Men, arguing that the site is protected by...... Frontier Foundation fired back a letter on behalf of the Yes Men, arguing that the site is protected by fair use principles because it "is ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 19, 2009 - 1:25PMPunked US Chamber sues faux press release pranksters
But even after the Yes Men acknowledged the hoax, the press release remained online, and the Chamber couldn't help but toss a DMCA takedown at the...But even after the Yes Men acknowledged the hoax, the press release remained online, and the Chamber ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 19, 2009 - 4:38PMDirty Air, Dirty Fight
Neither the Chamber's copyright nor its trademark claims have legal merit, countered Matthew Zimmerman, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic...... Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the Yes Men. "It seems rather clear that this is a fair use of copyright material," he ...EFF IN THE NEWS | AUGUST 24, 2010 - 2:35PMElectronic Frontier Foundation warns of Epersonation Bill
"For example, the Yes Men, a group of artists and activists, pioneered "identity correction," posing as business and government representatives and..."For example, the Yes Men, a group of artists and activists, pioneered "identity correction," posing ...EFF IN THE NEWS | MARCH 21, 2011 - 1:22PMYour Online Impersonation Is Illegal in California
Supporters say the law will be interpreted to target internet stalkers and harassers, but critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation worry that...... mushrooming ranks of satirical online impersonators like The Yes Men, who arguably intend to harm the reputation of their targets by making fun ...EFF IN THE NEWS | NOVEMBER 19, 2009 - 4:15PMAmerica's Chamber of horrors
You might think that an organisation boasting as long a history and as much accumulated savvy about how the American political system works as the US...... Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the Yes Men in its legal battle with the Chamber, told Salon, "We are surprised and ...LEGAL CASE | JULY 1, 2011 - 4:04PMChamber of Commerce v. Servin
EFF and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP are defending the Yes Men and other activists in a lawsuit filed against them by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over...EFF and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP are defending the Yes Men and other activists in a lawsuit filed against them by the U.S. Chamber of ...PRESS RELEASE | JANUARY 6, 2010 - 8:30AMPolitical Parodists Strike Back Against U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Washington - A group of political activists including members of the Yes Men and the Action Factory have moved to dismiss a meritless lawsuit filed...... - A group of political activists including members of the Yes Men and the Action Factory have moved to dismiss a meritless lawsuit filed by ...DEEPLINKS BLOG | DECEMBER 29, 2010 - 5:02AM2010 Trend Watch Update: Fair Use of Trademarks=<a href="https://www.eff.org/pages/not-terribly-brief-history-electronic-frontier-foundation">https://www.eff.org/pages/not-terribly-brief-history-electronic-frontier-foundation</a>A <span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" inherit="inherit" font-variant-ligatures="font-variant-ligatures" font-variant-caps="font-variant-caps" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> Not Terribly Brief History of the Electronic Frontier Foundation<div class="panel-pane pane-page-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="long-read" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="onecol column content-wrapper" style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="onecol column content-banner" style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both;"><div class="onecol column content-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="column main-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="panel-pane pane-node-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><article role="article" class="node node--page node--full node--page--full" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="nodecontent" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="eff-translation-links" style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="fielditems" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="field__item even" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">by John Perry Barlow<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Thursday, November 8, 1990<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The Electronic Frontier Foundation was started by a visit from the FBI. In late April of 1990, I got a call from Special Agent Richard Baxter of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He asked if he could come by the next day and discuss a certain investigation with me. His unwillingness to discuss its nature over the phone left me with a sense of global guilt, but I figured turning him down would probably send the wrong signal.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On Mayday, he drove to Pinedale, Wyoming, a cow town 100 miles north of his Rock Springs office (where he ordinarily investigates livestock theft and other regional crimes). He brought with him a thick stack of documents from the San Francisco office and a profound confusion about their contents.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He had been sent to find out if I might be a member of the NuPromtheus League, a dread band of info-terrorists (or maybe just a disaffected former Apple employee) who had stolen and wantonly distributed source code normally used in the Macintosh ROMs. Agent Baxter's errand was complicated by a fairly complete unfamiliarity with computer technology. I realized right away that before I could demonstrate my innocence, I would first have to explain to him what guilt might be.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The three hours I passed doing this were surreal for both of us. Whatever this source code stuff was, and whatever it was that happened to it, had none of the cozy familiarity of a few yearling steers headed across the Wyoming border in the wrong stock truck.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">What little he did know, thanks to the San Francisco office, was also pretty well out of kilter. He had been told, for example, that Autodesk, the publisher of AutoCAD, was a major Star Wars defense contractor and that its CEO was none other than John Draper, the infamous phone phreak also known as Cap'n Crunch. As soon as I quit laughing, I started to worry.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I realized in the course of this interview that I was seeing, in microcosm, the entire law enforcement structure of the United States. Agent Baxter was hardly alone in his puzzlement about the legal, technical, and metaphorical nature of datacrime.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I also found in his struggles a framework for understanding a series of recent Secret Service raids on some young hackers I'd met in a Harper's magazine forum on computers and freedom. And it occurred to me that this might be the beginning of a great paroxysm of governmental confusion during which everyone's liberties would become at risk.When Agent Baxter had gone, I wrote an account of his visit and placed it on the WELL, a computer BBS in Sausalito which is digital home to a large collection of technically hip folks, including Mitch Kapor, the father of Lotus 1-2-3.Turns out Mitch had also been visited by the FBI, owing to his having unaccountably received of one of the source code disks which NuPrometheus scattered around. Mitch's experience had been as dreamlike as mine. He had, in fact, filed the whole thing under General Inexplicability until he read my tale on the WELL. Now he had enough corroboration for his own strange sense of alarm to begin acting on it.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Several days later, he found his bizjet about to fly over Wyoming on its way to San Francisco. He called me from somewhere over South Dakota and asked if he might literally drop in for a chat about Agent Baxter and related matters.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">So, while a late spring snow storm swirled outside my office, we spent several hours hatching what became the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I told him about the sweep of Secret Service raids which had taken place several months before and their apparent disregard for the Bill of Rights.Alarmed, he gave me the phone number of Harvey Silverglate, whose willingness to champion unpopular causes was demonstrated by his current defense of Leona Helmsley. He said that Harvey would probably know if this were as bad as it was starting to sound. He also said that he would be willing to pay the bills that generally start to appear whenever you call a lawyer.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I finally found Harvey in the New York offices of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman, a firm whose long list of successfully defended liberties includes the Pentagon Papers case. I told him and Eric Lieberman what I knew about recent government flailings against cybercrime. They were even less sanguine than I had been.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The next day a trio code-named Acid Phreak, Phiber Optik, and Scorpion entered the walnut-panelled chambers of Rabinowitz, Boudin and told their tales to a young lawyer there named Terry Gross. While EFF as a formal organization would not exist for another two months, its legal arm was already flexing its muscle.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">A few days later I received a phone call from the technology writer for the Washington Post. He was interested in following up on the Harper's forum, and knew nothing of Mitch's and my joint endeavors. I filled him in, hoping to expose the Secret Service. Several days later, the Post published the first of many newspaper stories, all of which could have shared the same headline: LOTUS FOUNDER DEFENDS HACKERS.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">While this was an irritating misrepresentation...we were more interested in defending the Constitution than any digital miscreants...the publicity produced a couple of major supporters: Steve Wozniak, who called and offered an unlimited match to Mitch's contributions, and John Gilmore (Sun Microsystems employee #5) who e-mailed me a six figure offer of support.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Meanwhile, the list of apparent outrages lengthened. We learned about an Austin role-playing games publisher named Steve Jackson whose office equipment had been confiscated by the Secret Service in an apparent effort to restrain his publication of a game called Cyberpunk which they thought, with ludicrous inaccuracy, to be "a handbook for computer crime.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">All over the country computer bulletins being confiscated, undelivered e-mail and all. A Secret Service dragnet called Operation Sundevil seized more than 40 computers and 23,000 data disks from teenagers in 14 American cities, using levels of force and terror which would have been more appropriate to the apprehension of urban guerrillas than barely post-pubescent computer nerds.And there was the Craig Neidorf case. Neidorf, also known by the nom de crack Knight Lightning, had published an internal BellSouth document in his electronic magazine Phrack. For this constitutionally protected act, Neidorf was being charged with interstate transport of stolen property with a possible sentence of 60 years in jail and a $122,000 in fines.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I wrote a piece about these events called Crime & Puzzlement. Although I did so at the request of the Whole Earth Review...it made its first print appearance in the Fall 1990 issue of WER...I "published" it on the Net in June and was astonished by the response. It was like planting a fence-post and discovering that the "ground" into which you've driven it is actually the back of a giant animal which quivers and heaves at the irritation.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">By July, I was receiving up to 100 e-mail messages a day. They came from all over the planet and expressed nearly universal indignation. I began to experience datashock, but I also realized that Mitch and I were not alone in our concerns. We had struck a chord.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In Cambridge, Mitch was having something like the same experience. Since the Washington Post story, he found himself bathed in media glare. However, the more he learned about ambiguous nature of law in Cyberspace, the more of his considerable intellectual and financial resources he became willing to devote to the subject.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In late June, Mitch and I threw several dinners in San Francisco, to which we invited major figures from the computer industry. We weren't surprised to learn than many of them had exploits in their past which, undertaken today, would arouse plenty of Secret Service interest. It appeared possible that one side-effect of current government practices might be the elimination of the next generation of computer entrepreneurs and digital designers.It also became clear that we were dealing with a set of problems which was a great deal more complex and far-reaching than a few cases of governmental confusion. The actions of the FBI and Secret Service were symptoms of a growing social crisis: Future Shock. America was entering the Information Age with neither laws nor metaphors for the appropriate protection and conveyance of information itself.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">We realized that our legal actions on behalf of a few teen-age crackers would go on indefinitely without much result unless something were done to ease social tensions along the electronic frontier. The real task at hand was the civilization of Cyberspace. Such an undertaking would require more juice and stamina than two men could muster, even amplified by the Net and a solid financial supply. We would need some kind of organizational identity.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">With this in mind, we hired a press coordinator, Cathy Cook (who had formerly done PR for Steve Jobs), set a squad of lawyers to work on investigating the proper organizational tax status, and, over a San Francisco dinner with Stewart Brand, Nat Goldhaber, Jaron Lanier, and Chuck Blanchard, we selected a name and defined a mission.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">We announced the formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation at the National Press Club on July 10. Mitch and I were joined for the announcement by Harvey Silverglate, Terry Gross, and Steve Jackson.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">We were also joined by Marc Rotenberg of the Washington office of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. One of our first official acts had been to grant that organization $275,000 for a project on computing and civil liberties. CPSR would keep a wary eye on developments "inside the Beltway" and work in conjunction with congressional staffers to see that any legislation dealing with access to information was sensibly drafted.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">While in Washington, we also took inventory of the terrain, meeting with congressional staffers, the Washington civil liberties establishment, and officials from the Library of Congress and the White House. The area to be covered, from intellectual property to telecommunications policy to law enforcement technique, was daunting, as were the ambient levels of confusion and indifference.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">We also generated an enormous amount of press. And it became apparent that not everyone was persuaded of our cause. Business Week called Mitch naive for his willingness to believe that computer crackers were somehow less dangerous that drug kingpins. Various burghers of the computer establishment, ranging from the executive director of the Software Publishers Association to a columnist for ComputerWorld, called us fools at best and, more likely, dangerous fools.The Wall Street Journal printed a particularly hysterical piece which alleged that the document Craig Neidorf (into whose case we had entered a supporting amicus brief) had published was a computer virus capable of bringing down the emergency phone system for the entire country. In fact, the text file which Neidorf distributed dealt with the bureaucratic procedures of 911 administration in the BellSouth region and contained nothing which could be used to crack a system. Indeed, it contained nothing which could not be easily obtained through by legal means.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">We persevered. Our first major break came in late July. Thanks in part to the expertise of John Nagel, a witness we introduced to Neidorf's lawyer, the government was forced to abandon its case against Neidorf after 4 days in Chicago's Federal Court.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Although our briefs supporting Neidorf's activities under the 1st Amendment were not admitted, it became apparent, before such loftier matters could even be broached, that the Secret Service had indicted him with no clear understanding of the purpose or availability of the document he had distributed. Like Agent Baxter, they knew too little to critically examine the misinformation they had been given by the corporate masters, in this case, officials at Bellcore.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Following the resolution of the Neidorf case, and, to some extent because of it, skepticism of EFF has moderated considerably. If anything, the most recent press accounts of our activities have been almost fulsome in their praise. Recent favorable coverage has appeared in the New York Times, The Economist, Infoworld, Information Week, PCweek, and Boston Magazine.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Since July, we have been absurdly busy on numerous fronts: We've worked on raising public awareness of the issues at stake. We are organizing legal responses to the original and continuing intemperance of law enforcement. We have worked on the political front, developing and lobbying for rational computer security legislation. We have started to create a network of interested experts on computer security, intellectual property, telecommunications policy, and international information rights. And lately we've been attending to the organizational demands of the non-profit equivalent of a hyper-successful computer startup.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The following is a cursory digest of these activities.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 900; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" /><center style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The EFF in Public</center><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2.3rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">We believe that critical to taming the electronic frontier is creating a sense of the stakes among both the computer literate and the general public. We have combined public appearances, that incredibly blunt instrument, the Media, and electronic interaction to cover a lot of consciousness since July. It's a good thing Mitch has that airplane....[much more]</div></div></div></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></div>==

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