In our 684th issue:

• UPDATES
• MINILINKS
• ANNOUNCEMENTS

Offline: New Project Keeps Vigil for Imprisoned Coders and Bloggers

Around the world, repressive governments have arrested, imprisoned, and tortured coders, technologists, and bloggers. EFF's new project, Offline, raises awareness of these digital heroes to ensure that—even as they are locked away—their voices can be heard. The first five highlighted cases include free software developer Alla Abd El Fattah (Egypt), web developer Saeed Malekpoor (Iran), online columnist Eskinder Nega (Ethiopia), and the Zone 9 Bloggers (Ethiopia). Right now, we're trying to raise as much awareness as possible about free culture advocate Bassel Khartabil, who has been transferred from a civil prison in Syria to an unknown location.

Dear Facebook: "Authentic Names" Are Authentically Dangerous for Your Users

Facebook claims its policy to force users to go by their "real names" (or "authentic identities" as Facebook spins it) makes the social network a safer place. The reality is that this policy has facilitated harassment, silenced voices, and even led to physical violence towards its most vulnerable users. What's worse is that Facebook has relied on user complaints to enforce this policy, giving harassers yet another tool to wield against people they don't like or agree with. Our global coalition is speaking out against these policies. Join us in taking a bold stand for access to Facebook by signing your name in support of our demands.

A Fair Use Decision to Dance About

Back in 2007, EFF sued Universal Music Group on behalf of Stephanie Lenz after the company sent YouTube a copyright takedown over Lenz's home video of her baby dancing. The issue: Prince's song "Let’s Go Crazy" was playing on a stereo in the background. After an eight year legal battle, last month a federal appeals court ruled that companies need to take fair use into account before trying to have content taken down under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. EFF's Legal Director Corynne McSherry has been fighting for Lenz' rights since the beginning, and she said the ruling "sends a strong message that copyright law does not authorize thoughtless censorship of lawful speech."

EFF Updates

Tell the White House Why Crypto Matters

President Obama hasn't made up his mind about encryption, but he is expected to soon. On one side, certain members of Congress and the FBI are telling him tech companies should be forced to create backdoors into encrypted data. On the other side, cryptography experts agree that there's no such thing as a secure backdoor; any intentional vulnerability could and will be eventually exploited by bad actors. Now is the time to send the message that the president needs to defend uncompromised security.

Twitter Parodies Are Still Parodies

Twitter parodies are an emerging form of art and social commentary (some of EFF's favorites include @swiftonsecurity and @NSA_PR), so it should come as no surprise that EFF has waded into a Michigan case in which a self-proclaimed "BadAss Lawyer" is suing the creator of a Twitter parody account mocking his marketing strategy. As EFF and Prof. Eugene Volokh's clinic at the UCLA School of Law wrote in an amicus brief, the First Amendment's parody protections apply to social media sites like Twitter just as they do to any other form of communication.

First Online Ad Company Embraces Do Not Track

Online advertising and privacy aren't mutually exclusive concepts. Case in point: Adzerk has become the first online advertising company to provide a system for its customers to comply with EFF's "Do Not Track" standard for Web browsing. This means plugins like Privacy Badger won't block ads on websites that use Adzerk's DNT-compliant system, while consumers can rest assured their clicks aren't non-consensually tracked across the Internet; their privacy preferences are being respected.

FBI Quietly Supercharges Its Biometrics Programs

The FBI is moving behind the scenes to expand its Next Generation Identification databases. In Part 1, we explain the agency's plans to merge criminal fingerprints with civil fingerprints into a giant database. In Part 2, we dig into how the FBI is massively expanding its facial recognition databases.

Podcasting Patent Troll Still Won't Quit

EFF's legal team successfully busted the so-called "podcasting patent" a patent troll was using to shakedown podcasters, from major networks to individuals broadcasting from their garages. The company, Personal Audio, isn't done yet: they've filed an appeal. As we explain, it will be an uphill battle for the troll, and one that we'll keep fighting.

Trade Officials Announce Conclusion of TPP. Now the Real Fight Begins

After more than five years of secret backroom negotiations, trade ministers have reached a final deal over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). We have no reason to believe that the TPP has improved much at all from the last leaked version. As long as it contains a retroactive 20-year copyright term extension, bans on circumventing DRM, massively disproportionate punishments for copyright infringement, and rules that criminalize investigative journalists and whistleblowers, we are going to fight to keep TPP from being signed, ratified, and put into force.

Senator Wants to Make the Already Broken Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Even Worse

If you've been following our legislative work, you know that the Cyber Information Sharing Act (CISA) is a terrible bill. You also know that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is an archaic and draconian law. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wants to use CISA to expand CFAA. Speak out now to block Whitehouse's plans.

Happy Birthday No Longer a Symbol of Copyright Gone Wrong

Happy Birthday Day to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to it-doesn't-really-matter-because-we're-just-singing-this-to-make-a-point-that-we-all-can-now. Happy Birthday to you. You may have read celebratory news articles about how a federal judge has ruled that the copyright claim to lyrics of the "Happy Birthday" song is no longer valid. It's a huge victory indeed, but some of the absurdities of our copyright system ensure it's not quite as clear cut as the initial media reactions suggest.

How DMCA Reform Could Have Prevented the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal

EFF asked the Librarian of Congress to dispel legal uncertainty around automobile research and tinkering by creating an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibition on circumventing DRM a year ago. This issue has come into sharp focus over the last week as the Environmental Protection Agency accused Volkswagen of programming a fleet of vehicles to fool emission tests .Had independent researchers been given the green light to take apart these systems, they could have caught the alleged emissions cheat much earlier.

Gov. Jerry Brown, CalECPA, and the Legacy of Digital Privacy

In 1982, California Gov. Jerry Brown told the state: "California is now the leader in these technologies, but we will not remain so unless we mobilize the political will and individual responsibility to act." Now it's his turn: if he signs S.B. 178, to require law enforcement get a warrant before accessing private, digital records, he'll ensure California continues to lead on electronic privacy.

Argentina's New Copyright Term Extension Would Erase Thousands of Images Off the Internet

Lawmakers in Argentina are proposing a vast extension of copyright terms on photography—from 20 years after publication to 70 years after the photographer's death. That means that the term of restriction over photographic works would be extended by an average 120 years. If this bill passes, many tens of thousands of photographs that have been uploaded into cultural archives, including Wikipedia, would disappear from the Internet.

miniLinks

Edward Snowden joins Twitter

The well-known whistleblower picked up more than a million followers on his first day on Twitter. Meanwhile, Snowden is only following one other user: the NSA.

Can PETA sue on behalf of the "Monkey Selfie" macaque?

Writer Sarah Jeong casts a skeptical eye over PETA's new copyright infringement lawsuit on behalf of "Naruto," a Sulawesi crested macaque, over the so-called "monkey selfie" that a photographer previously claimed he had the exclusive rights to sell.

Mobile news site data is mostly ads

When the average mobile phone user visits the Boston Globe's homepage, the embedded ads alone cost the reader 32-cents worth of data to load. That's just one of many frustrating findings from the New York Times' investigation into news site data.

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Editor: Dave Maass, Investigative Researcher
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EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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