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———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 13:43:00 -0800
From: EFFector list <[email protected]>
To: joy garnett <[email protected]>
Subject: EFFector 17.44: Supreme Court to Hear MGM v. Grokster
EFFector Vol. 17, No. 44 December 10, 2004 [email protected]
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424
In the 315th Issue of EFFector:
* Supreme Court to Hear MGM v. Grokster
* Libel Case Could Chill Online Speech
* Nominate a Pioneer for EFF's 2005 Pioneer Awards!
* EFF Seeks Systems Administrator
* MiniLinks (14): Artists: "We're Not Threatened by Filesharing"
* Administrivia
For more information on EFF activities & alerts:
<http://www.eff.org/>
To join EFF or make an additional donation:
<https://secure.eff.org/>
EFF is a member-supported nonprofit. Please sign up as a
member today!
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* Supreme Court to Hear MGM v. Grokster
The US Supreme Court today granted certiorari in MGM v.
Grokster. The Court will hear oral arguments in the case
in March 2005. EFF represents one of the defendants in
the case, StreamCast Networks, makers of the Morpheus
peer-to-peer (P2P) software application.
"The copyright law principles set out in the Sony Betamax
case have served innovators, copyright industries, and the
public well for 20 years," said Fred von Lohmann, senior
intellectual property attorney at EFF. "We at EFF look
forward to the Supreme Court reaffirming the applicability
of Betamax in the 21st century."
For this breaking news item:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_12.php#002139>
Background in MGM v. Grokster:
<http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/>
AP: "Filesharing Goes to High Court":
<http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,65995,00.html>
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* Libel Case Could Chill Online Speech
EFF, ACLU Ask California Supreme Court to Restore Free
Speech Protections for Internet Users and Service
Providers
California - EFF and the ACLU of Northern California
have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a case
that could undermine a federal statute protecting the
free speech of bloggers, Internet Service Providers,
and others who use the Internet to post content written
by others. The case in question is a libel suit filed
against Ilena Rosenthal, a women's health advocate, after
she posted a controversial opinion piece on a Usenet
news group. The piece was written not by Rosenthal,
but by Tim Bolen, a critic of plaintiff Terry Polevoy.
In the brief, EFF and the ACLU argue that Section 230
of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 protects
Internet publishers from being held liable for allegedly
harmful comments written by others. Similar attempts
to eliminate the protections created by Section 230
have almost universally been rejected, until a
California Court of Appeals radically reinterpreted
the statute to allow lawsuits against non-authors. The
case is now being reviewed by the California Supreme
Court.
"Section 230 protects the ordinary people who use the
Internet and email to pass on items of interest written
by others, free from the fear of potentially ruinous
lawsuits filed by those who don't like what was said
about them," ACLU of Northern California Staff Counsel
Ann Brick. "The vitality of the Internet would
quickly dissipate if the posting of content written by
others created liability. The impulse to self-censor
would be unavoidable."
"Every other jurisdiction addressing Section 230 has
given effect to Congress' broad protections and
Internet speech has flourished as a result," said
EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "The Court of Appeals
upset this settled law, and we are simply asking
the California Supreme Court to set things right."
For the full release:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_11.php#002132>
EFF, ACLU brief in Barrett v. Clark:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID'2>
(EFF; PDF)
Background on Barrett v. Clark:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID'3>
(EFF)
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* Nominate a Pioneer for EFF's 2005 Pioneer Awards!
EFF established the Pioneer Awards to recognize leaders on
the electronic frontier who are extending freedom and
innovation in the realm of information technology. This
is your opportunity to nominate a deserving individual
or group to receive a Pioneer Award for 2005.
The Pioneer Awards nominations are open to individuals
and organizations from any country.
All nominations are reviewed by a panel of judges chosen
for their knowledge of the technical, legal, and social
issues associated with information technology.
This year's award ceremony will be held in Seattle in
conjunction with the Computers, Freedom and Privacy
conference (CFP), which takes place in mid-April.
Details are available at the Pioneer Awards website:
<http://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/>
: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :
* EFF Seeks Systems Administrator
EFF is seeking a full-time Systems Administrator to work in
our busy office in San Francisco's Mission District.
The sysadmin at EFF is a support position, keeping EFF's
web server, email server, LAN, and other systems running
while also providing desktop support to EFF's staff of 25.
The ideal candidate must work well with a very busy staff
with varying levels of technical expertise. EFF's sysadmin
is on call 24x7 for response to systems emergencies.
The ideal candidate must have three to five years of systems
administration experience. In addition, the candidate must
meet or exceed Sage level "Intermediate/Advanced." (See:
<http://www.sage.org/pubs/8_jobs/core.mm#Intermediate>.)
A successful candidate will be able to administer a wide
variety of different operating systems, including Windows
(2K, XP, etc.), MacOS X, and Unix/Linux. Since this
position requires desktop support, knowledge of applications,
including MS Office and various email clients, is required.
This position also requires knowledge of applications
running on servers, including Apache, Mailman, qmail and/or
Postfix, and anti-spam and virus products. This person
should be able to write administrative utilities in at
least one language, such as Perl, Python, Unix shell, or
C/C++. We're looking for a person who will make sure
software updates and backups are done religiously.
To apply, send a cover letter and your resume by December
20 to [email protected]. Please send these materials in
a non-proprietary format, such as an ASCII text file.
No phone calls please! Principals only.
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* miniLinks
miniLinks features noteworthy news items from around the
Internet.
~ Starbucks CD Sales Gives Record Industry the Shakes
In the latest fit of music distribution ingenuity, the
coffee chain sold 350,000 copies of "Genius," the Ray
Charles duet album that it helped to market and produce:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID40>
(Yahoo)
~ Artists: "We're Not Threatened by Filesharing"
Mary Madden of the Pew Internet and American Life Project
says, "What we hear from a wide spectrum of artists is
that, despite the real challenges of protecting work
online, the Internet has opened new ways for them to
exercise their imaginations and sell their creations":
<http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5478329.html>
~ EFF Meme Gets Northern Exposure
The Globe and Mail, one of Canada's biggest papers, recently
ran an article about the Induce Act that focused on how
the bill threatens devices like the iPod:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID41>
~ FL E-vote Study May Be Flawed
The Berkeley report on statistical anomalies in Florida's
e-voting results is being criticized by other scientists:
<http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65896,00.html>
~ DVD Jukebox Maker in Hollywood Crosshairs
Kaleidescape, a company that makes super-expensive DVD
jukeboxes for the home, is being sued by the DVD Copy
Control Association for violating the terms of its
CSS license:
<http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5482206.html>
~ Big Content Snubbed by Congress this Year
The public can sleep easier now that Congress has officially
adjourned without passing any of the copyright lobby's
biggest requests. Props to groups like Public Knowledge,
the librarians, the consumer electronics industry, Downhill
Battle, the EFF supporters who used our Action Center,
and many others who helped hold the line:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID43>
(LA Times)
~ George Tenet Calls for Restricted Net Access
"Access to networks like the World Wide Web might need to be
limited to those who can show they take security seriously,
he [Tenet] said." Wow:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID44>
(Washington Times)
~ Australia Rejects Mandatory Net Filtering
The plan to combat child pornography was going to be
expensive, but Communications Minister Helen Coonan
clarified, "The biggest issue is not so much the money
but such an expensive scheme would not necessarily
solve the problem and small to medium ISPs would be
driven out of business for little or no benefit":
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID42>
(Australian IT)
~ When EULAs Bite
Ben Edelman bites back:
<http://www.benedelman.org/news/112904-1.html>
LawMeme coverage:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID45>
~ Former Bush Campaign Official Indicted for Dirty Tricks
He apparently conducted a "low tech" denial of service
attack against Democratic offices during the 2002
election. Just how "low tech" was it? He repeatedly
called the offices and then hung up the phone:
<http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5473524.html>
~ Public Domain Case Appealed to 9th Circuit
The Internet Archive's Brewster Kahle and the Prelinger
Archive's Rick Prelinger will appeal their public
domain-protection case up to the 9th Circuit in the
wake of the court dismissal last month:
<http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65898,00.html>
~ Australian ISPs Rock "Free" Trade Agreement Boat
They succeeded in making an impact on what was
supposed to be a done deal - new amendments to bulk up
already-overfed copyright legislation:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID47>
(News.com.au)
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID48>
(Australian IT)
~ ACLU Files FOIAs on Anti-Terror Surveillance
The group is using Freedom of Information Act requests
to back up its contention that the FBI has engaged in
widespread, unwarranted surveillance of activist
organizations:
<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65909,00.html>
~ Lycos Stops Hilarious Anti-Spam Program
The company distributed a SETI@Home-style screen saver that
enlisted its host in denial-of-service attacks against
sites that Lycos designated as spam-sources:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID46>
(AP)
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* Administrivia
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EFFector 17.44: Supreme Court to Hear MGM v. Grokster (fwd)
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Type: discussion