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In our 616th issue:
Since the first national security letter statute was passed in 1986, the FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of such letters seeking private telecommunications and financial records of Americans without any prior approval from courts. EFF is releasing an FBI-redacted briefing from a major new ongoing case in which it is challenging one of the NSL statutes on behalf of a telecommunications company that received an NSL in 2011.
The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman was subject to a frivolous lawsuit designed to shut him up. Known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), litigation like this -- and the big legal fees that can come with it -- threatens free speech across the country. Urge Congress today to pass a federal anti-SLAPP statute to protect bloggers, journalists, creators, and more.
EFF recently received information about drone flights in the United States, including extensive details about the specific drone models some entities are flying, where they fly, how frequently they fly, and how long they stay in the air. The 125 drone certificates and accompanying documents the FAA released total thousands of pages and were released in response to EFF's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, which has already uncovered the list of all entities licensed to fly domestic drones.
EFF Updates
EFF Urges Congress to Protect Privacy in Face Recognition
On Wednesday, EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch urged Congress to limit the collection of biometrics and protect privacy with respect to the use of face recognition technology. Jennifer's testimony in a Senate hearing on "What Facial Recognition Technology Means for Privacy and Civil Liberties" outlined the privacy and security concerns that are inherent to automatic face recognition. The use of face recognition technology raises important First and Fourth Amendment concerns, though the scope of Constitutional protections in this area is unclear.
Fifth Circuit Upholds Sanctions Award Against Copyright Troll Attorney
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court order imposing sanctions on Evan Stone, attorney for adult film producer Mick Haig Productions. Stone improperly issued subpoenas without leave of court to ISPs seeking the identities of anonymous subscribers in a mass end-user copyright infringement case.
Singing Obama Ad Takedown Means More Trouble for Political Speech Online
An official Romney campaign ad that showed President Obama singing a line from the Al Green song "Let's Stay Together" has been hit with a takedown from BMG Rights Management -- the group that controls the publishing rights of the original song -- and pulled from YouTube. This kind of takedown abuse is all too common, and we're likely to see it again this campaign season.
House Quietly Reintroduces a Piece of SOPA
Even after millions rallied against the passage of SOPA/PIPA, the House is still quietly trying to pass a related bill that would give the entertainment industry more permanent, government-funded spokespeople. Rep. Lamar Smith's IP Attache Act would create an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, as well as broaden the use of IP attaches in particular U.S. embassies.
Victory for Open WiFi: Judge Rejects Copyright Troll's Bogus "Negligence" Theory
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. district court in Manhattan ruled that the owner of an Internet connection cannot be found liable for "negligence" simply because another person uses his wifi connection to commit copyright infringement -- even if he knows about it. After this decision, copyright trolls should find it harder to coerce settlement payments from innocent people for the commonplace act of sharing an Internet connection.
EFF to FCC: Consumers Face Uphill Battle in Fight for Mobile Device Privacy
EFF filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission about the privacy and data security practices of mobile wireless service providers. Mobile privacy is an issue we've been increasingly concerned about in the wake of the Carrier IQ privacy scandal, which was part of the inspiration for our Mobile User Privacy Bill of Rights.
Australian Government Moves to Expand Surveillance Powers
Australia is the latest democratic nation to introduce new national security measures that would vastly expand governmental surveillance powers, following an alarming legislative pattern that unfolded in the United Kingdom and Canada in recent months.
Spy Games
With the opening ceremony of the London Olympics 2012 drawing near, the colossal security apparatus surrounding the Summer Games has come into focus.
Russian Duma Approves Internet Blacklist Bill
The Russian Duma overwhelmingly approved a controversial Internet regulation bill, which would create a national blacklist and legal partnership with a content-monitoring bureau.
ACTA's Defeat in Europe and What Lies Ahead
There's a majority consensus that ACTA now lies dead in Europe. There are however, a few murmurs of concern ahead.
Is the TPP the Best Way to Build a 21st Century Society?
The TPP agreement has been framed by the USTR as a 21st century agreement, but we're still not convinced -- especially in an environment where the public, Congress, and civil rights organizations are denied access to the treaty's official text, while corporate representatives have full access to it.
Raising Global Awareness of the Plight of Syrian Bloggers
The number of citizen journalists killed or arrested in Syria rises daily. While some have received ample international attention for their plight, many others have gone largely ignored by the media.
New Malware Targeting Syrian Activists Uses Blackshades Commercial Trojan
Pro-Syrian government hackers appear to have started using a surveillance tool, called Blackshades Remote Controller, whose capabilities include keystroke logging and remote screenshots.
Court Won't Shut Down Aereo Before Trial -- Round 2 Begins for Internet Startup
Aereo, a startup that lets viewers watch broadcast TV over the Internet from tiny, personal antennas, can stay up and running -- at least for now. Several television networks are trying to sue it out of existence, but lost a motion asking a federal court to shut it down until a legal decision is reached.
miniLinks
How effective are free speech campaigns?
EFF's Jillian York asks prominent players in the international activism space about the efficacy of free speech campaigns.
Brief of amici curiae supporting EPIC's petition for writ of mandamus (EPIC v. DHS)
EFF has joined this brief from the Competetive Enterprise Institute supporting EPIC in their call for TSA to follow the law and conduct a court-ordered notice-and-comment period for their new scanners.
Professional wrestler boycotts WWE for supporting SOPA/CISPA
Wrestler Sean Morley, known as Val Venis, tweeted that he would not appear on WWE RAW if they continued supporting SOPA/CISPA.
Administrivia
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