Posts Tagged ‘Commentary’

EFF Supports Tunisian Internet Agency in Protecting Free Expression Online

For years, Tunisians suffered in relative media silence as the Ben Ali regime curtailed digital rights, blocking websites and surveilling citizens. Then, thanks to the hard work of Tunisian free expression advocates who for many years worked to raise awareness of the country’s pervasive Internet controls, censorship fell along with the regime, with Ben Ali promising an end to filtering in his ... Full story

Dangerous Cybercrime Treaty Pushes Surveillance and Secrecy Worldwide

As part of an emerging international trend to try to ‘civilize the Internet’, one of the world’s worst Internet law treaties--the highly controversial Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Cybercrime--is back on the agenda. Canada and Australia a... Full story

Why IP Addresses Alone Don’t Identify Criminals

This spring, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a search warrant at the home of Nolan King and seized six computer hard drives in connection with a criminal investigation. The warrant was issued on the basis of an Internet... Full story

Want Public Safety? Don’t Disable Cell Phones

In response to outrage over last week's shutdown of cell phone service in four San Francisco stations on rumors of a planned protest, BART officials have repeatedly claimed their decision was necessary to maintain public safety. BART spokesman Linton ... Full story

Publishers Decide They’d Rather Pay Songwriters Than Lawyers

Google announced yesterday that it has finally struck a deal with the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and it is calling the deal an important step forward in making sure publishers and songwriters benefit from the creative uses musicians a... Full story

Public Attention Keeps Threatened Blogger Safe in China

Dan Ward, attorney to pro-democracy activist and blogger Du Daobin, issued a statement yesterday that noted the efficacy of EFF's campaign to spread awareness about Cisco’s responsibilities to stand up for human rights: As I have previously stated, r... Full story

BART Pulls a Mubarak in San Francisco

This week, EFF has seen censorship stories move closer and closer to home — first Iran, then the UK, and now San Francisco, an early locus of the modern free speech movement. Operators of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) shut down cell ph... Full story

British Prime Minister Does a 180 on Internet Censorship

After several days of destructive riots throughout the UK, British Prime Minister David Cameron is practically tripping over himself in his eagerness to sacrifice liberty for security. In a speech before an emergency session of Parliament today, Camero... Full story

Developers and Fans Benefit From Humble Indie Bundle Pay-What-You-Want Model

By now, we’ve all heard the traditional content industries complain about how technology hurts their business model. But, of course, the story does not end there. While the record labels, movie studios, and video game producers have not figured out a... Full story

Spanish Court Rules That Linking to Potential Copyright Infringing Material Is Not Copyright Infringement

by Oscar Montezuma Panez, Google Policy Fellow We all know that HTML links are the heart of the World Wide Web. What many don’t appreciate is that legal liability for linking varies greatly across countries. Given the importance of linking to the Wor... Full story