EFFector 22.30: Record 12-Million Digit Prime Number Nets $100,000
Prize

EFFector Vol. 22, No. 30 October 21, 2009  editor@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424

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In our 521st issue:

* Record 12-Million Digit Prime Number Nets $100,000 Prize

A worldwide volunteer computing project called the Great Internet
Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) has discovered a 12-million-digit prime
number, netting $100,000 and a Cooperative Computing Award from the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The GIMPS PrimeNet network made the discovery on a computer at the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Mathematics Department.
Computing manager Edson Smith installed and maintained the GIMPS
software at UCLA, and thousands of other volunteers also participated
in the search process. The discovery was hailed by Time magazine as
the 29th top invention of 2008.

EFF is able to give this award through a generous grant from an
anonymous donor. The $100,000 prize was earmarked for the first
discovered prime number of over 10 million digits.

For the full press release:
https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/10/14-0

For more about the Cooperative Computing Awards:
https://www.eff.org/awards/coop

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EFF Updates

* Hollywood Pressures FCC on Selectable Output Control Again
Our friends at Public Knowledge have been doing a great job in
Washington, DC, fighting against the MPAA's efforts to selectively
disable the high-definition analog (i.e., "component" video) outputs
on your cable box. In this anti-consumer, anti-innovation effort,
Hollywood is telling the FCC that it won't give Americans early access
to blockbuster movies unless the FCC lets it kill your analog
outputs.

For the full Deeplink:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/hollywood-pressuring-fcc-selectable-output-control

For the Public Knowledge update:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2696

* Court Rules that Phones Ringing in Public Don't Infringe
Copyright

In June, we reported on ASCAP's claim that when your cell
phone's musical ringtone sounds in a public place, you are
infringing copyright. A federal court firmly rejected that argument
last week, ruling that "when a ringtone plays on a cellular
telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from
copyright liability, and the [cellular carrier] is not liable either
secondarily or directly." This is exactly the outcome urged by
EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Center of Democracy & Technology in an
amicus brief filed in the case.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/court-rules-phones-ringing-public-dont-infringe-co

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miniLinks

~ Obama "Hope" Artist Admits Lying in Fair Use Case
Shepard Fairey confessed to fabricating evidence and deleting files in
his lawsuit with the AP.
http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2009/10/17/the-obama-hope-poster-case-whoa/

~ 100 years of Big Content Fearing Technology--In Its Own Words
ArsTechnica has assembled some choice quotes demonstrating how new
technologies have always threatened established business models in the
content industry.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/100-years-of-big-content-fearing-technologyin-its-own-words.ars

~ Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in OCW
For those designing Open Course Work, the Center for Social Media has
put together some guidelines.
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_of_best_practices_in_fair_use_for_opencourseware1

~ YouTube's Bandwidth Bill Is Zero. Welcome to the New Net
A new report says YouTube may not be costing Google all that much in
bandwidth.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/youtube-bandwidth/

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Announcements

* Attend the EFF Pioneer Awards!

Get your tickets now to the 2009 Pioneer Awards and help us honor this
year's winners: hardware hacker Limor "Ladyada" Fried, e-voting
security researcher Harri Hursti, and public domain advocate Carl
Malamud. We'll also be awarding a Cooperative Computing Award to the
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) project for discovering a
12-million-digit prime number.

Given every year since 1991, the Pioneer Awards recognize leaders who
are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier. The
award ceremony will be held at 7 p.m., October 22, at the Westin San
Francisco in conjunction with the Web 2.0 Summit, co-produced by
O'Reilly and TechWeb. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffmann will keynote the
event, and the celebration will include drinks, fine food, and
excellent company.

Tickets available at:
http://action.eff.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=100101

* Got Any Questions for LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman?

Keynote speaker Reid Hoffman will be answering pre-submitted questions
from EFF supporters at the Pioneer Awards. Wanna know how he came up
with the idea for LinkedIn? Curious about what he thinks the Next Big
Thing will be? Here's your chance to ask!
Reid Hoffman is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn, the
business-oriented social networking site. Before LinkedIn, Reid was
Executive Vice President of PayPal and has also held management roles
at Fujitsu Software Corporation and Apple. Reid serves on the Board of
Directors for SixApart, Kiva.org, and the Mozilla Corporation.
Reid will be interviewed on stage by EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn,
who will present pre-submitted questions alongside a collection of our
own inquiries on innovation and digital freedom. If you have a
question you'd like to ask, please submit it to events@eff.org no
later than noon on Thursday, October 22.

* See Jennifer Granick at Social Networks: Friends or Foes? And Get
MCLE credit!

EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick will be speaking at
Social Networks: Friends or Foes?, a conference hosted by UC
Berkeley's Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic; Berkeley
Center for Law and Technology; and Berkeley Center for Criminal
Justice. Her panel is on access to social network data by government,
criminal defendants and civil litigants. The event is on October 23,
and MCLE credit will be offered. Registration information, more
details and the schedule are available at:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/bclt/socialnetworking

* Visit EFF at LISA '09 in Baltimore!

Stop by the EFF booth at the 23rd Large Installation System
Administration Conference in Baltimore, MD!  The conference begins on
11/1, and the EFF booth will be open on Wednesday, 11/4 and Thursday,
11/5.  See you there!

Be sure to check out special conference registration discounts:
http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa09/discounts.html

Location:
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront
Grand Ballroom Salons VIX
700 Aliceanna Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

Exhibit Hall Hours:
Wednesday, November 4: 12-7 PM
Thursday, November 5: 10-2 PM

For More Information:
http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa09
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Administrivia

EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/about

Editor:
Eva Galperin, Referral Coordinator
eva@eff.org

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membership@eff.org

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http://www.eff.org/effector/