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In our 625th issue:
As part of the unfolding scandal that led to the resignation of CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, the FBI read massive amounts of private email messages that uncovered an affair between Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell. We've received a lot of questions about how this works, and what legal process the FBI needs to conduct its email investigation. The short answer? Our email privacy laws are hopelessly out of date. If we learn nothing else from the Petraeus scandal, it should be that our private digital lives can become all too public when over-eager federal agents aren't held to rigorous legal standards.
Internet radio is a favorite source of music for many, but there are relatively few big players in the medium. That's because success in this space depends the ability to navigate through an obscure, rough-and-tumble neighborhood of copyright-land known as digital performance royalties. Thus far, that's been a tough challenge: Internet radio services like Pandora pay about 50% of their revenues to record labels and artists, while satellite radio pays only about 10% and traditional AM/FM stations pay nothing. Thankfully, some of the same Congressmembers who helped lead the fight against the SOPA and PIPA bills this year want to level the playing field so that Internet radio can thrive.
A few hours after EFF and the ACLU of Northern California filed a class action lawsuit challenging California's recently enacted Proposition 35, the court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking implementation of the initiative due to the existence of "serious questions" about whether it violated the First Amendment. Proposition 35 is ostensibly about increasing punishment for human traffickers, but would also require all registered sex offenders in California to turn over a list of all their Internet identifiers and service providers to law enforcement.
EFF Updates
Privacy in Ubuntu 12.10: Full Disk Encryption
Full disk encryption is one of the best ways you can ensure all of the private information on your laptop stays private in case it's lost, seized, or stolen. In previous versions of Ubuntu, this feature was hidden away in the "alternate" text-mode installer that many non-technical users don't even know exists. But now the Ubuntu developers have made full disk encryption on Ubuntu easy and accessible for everyone.
When Congress Comes Back: How It Can Help Protect the Internet
Now that the election is over, Congress can get back to work doing the people's business. And if that work is going to affect online expression, innovation, and/or privacy, it should start with a simple proposition: bring in the nerds -- aka experts -- and Internet users who care deeply about protecting their digital rights.
ICE Releases Documents Detailing Electronic Surveillance Problems... and then Demands Them Back a Year Later
In a first for EFF's Freedom of Information Act litigation, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has demanded we return records it gave us more than a year ago. The release of these documents doesn't endanger national security or create a risk to an ongoing law enforcement investigation. Instead, it seems that ICE simply wants to stymie further FOIA requests from EFF as we try to get answers about the government's electronic surveillance procedures.
Payment Provider Stripe Upholds Free Speech, Reactivates Nifty Archives
Stripe initially suspended the account of Nifty Archive Alliance, a nonprofit entity that supports the Nifty Erotic Stories Archive, because they believed that some of the content on Nifty.org might violate Stripe's agreements with Visa and MasterCard. After hearing about the suspension, EFF reached out to Stripe. We're pleased to announce that Stripe has now reinstated Nifty's account and will continue to process payments for a website that hosts constitutionally protected speech.
Egyptian Prosecutor Orders a Ban on Internet Porn
Egypt's Prosecutor General, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, ordered government ministries to enforce a ban on pornographic websites. The order was based on a three-year old ruling by Egypt's administrative court, which declared that "freedom of expression and public rights should be restricted by maintaining the fundamentals of religion, morality and patriotism" and denounced pornographic content as "venomous and vile."
New Version of Marco Civil Threatens Freedom of Expression in Brazil
Brazil is in the midst of rolling out an Internet bill of rights, called Marco Civil da Internet, which is intended to afford strong protections for freedom of online expression and Internet intermediaries. Unfortunately, last-minute changes have made it increasingly clear that it is falling short of its original promise, leaving users and Internet service providers in an ocean of legal uncertainty.
Why Data Retention? Australian Government Hasn’t Backed Up Its Argument
Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies are pushing for legislative amendments that would broaden online surveillance powers around wiretapping. The most controversial proposal is a mandatory data retention framework, which would require blanket storage of all Australians' communications data for up to two full years. Despite the oft-repeated narrative that there is an urgent need for this new set of wiretapping capabilities, a recently published official overview points out that the government has offered very little in the way of concrete evidence to back up this claim.
Bahrain Goes from Bad to Worse
After nearly two years of non-stop social unrest and protests against the ruling monarchy, things have taken a precipitous turn for the worse for civil liberties in Bahrain. The government took the remarkable step of declaring a ban on all public rallies and demonstrations -- a move a government spokesman claims is "temporary" and intended to "calm things down" after the recent deaths of protesters and police officers.
miniLinks
Thailand to Enter TPP Talks When Obama Visits
Thailand will be the 12th country to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which threatens to impose a harsh intellectual property regime on numerous countries.
The Humble Android Bundle 4
Our friends at Humble Bundle have released their newest set of games for Android. Pay what you want for excellent DRM-free games and support charities like EFF!
WIPO's Broadcast Treaty: Still Harmful, Still Unnecessary
Creative Commons' Timothy Vollmer covers why the World Intellectual Property Organization's "Broadcasting Treaty" is largely problematic.
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Administrivia
Editor:
Adi Kamdar, Activist
editor@eff.org
EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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