EFFector 17.30: EFF Scores Landmark Win for P2P

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: EFFector list <editor () eff org>
Date: August 19, 2004 7:48:55 PM EDT
To: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: EFFector 17.30: EFF Scores Landmark Win for P2P
Reply-To: editor () eff org

EFFector  Vol. 17, No. 30  August 19, 2004  donna () eff org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424

In the 302nd Issue of EFFector:

 * EFF Scores Landmark Win for P2P
 * Hypocrite, Thy Name Is Real
 * Texas Secretary of State Backs Down, Agrees to Postpone
   Closed E-voting Meetings
 * EFF Releases "Best Practices" Guide for Online Service
   Providers
 * EFF Weighs in on Plan to Improve Public Access to
   Government Documents
 * EFF Welcomes Four New Hires
 * MiniLinks (7): Blacklisted Lately?
 * 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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* EFF Scores Landmark Win for P2P

Ninth Circuit Declares Grokster, Morpheus Not Liable for
Infringement

Pasedena, CA - Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made
a crucial decision in support of technology innovators by
declaring that distributors of the peer-to-peer software
Grokster and Morpheus cannot be held liable for the
infringing activities of their users.  The Electronic
Frontier Foundation argued on behalf of Streamcast, the
creators of the Morpheus software, in a case that pitted
dozens of entertainment conglomerates against two small
software companies.

The Ninth Circuit decision is based in part on the fact
that P2P networks have significant non-infringing uses, and
that they can help artists earn money.  The ruling is
similar to the Supreme Court's decision in the 1984 Betamax
case, which determined that Sony was not liable for
copyright violations by users of the Betamax VCR.

"Today's ruling will ultimately be viewed as a victory for
copyright owners.  As the court recognized today, the
entertainment industry has been fighting new technologies
for a century, only to learn again and again that these new
technologies create new markets and opportunities," said
EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann.
"There is no reason to think that file sharing will be any
different."

The court's decision was unanimous.

"This is a victory for innovators of all stripes," added
von Lohmann.  "The court's ruling makes it clear that
innovators need not beg permission from record labels and
Hollywood before they deploy exciting new technologies."

It is likely that the entertainment companies will appeal
the Ninth Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court.

Decision:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID=234>
(EFF, PDF)

For this release:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_08.php#001833>

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Hypocrite, Thy Name Is Real

By Fred von Lohmann
EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney

In the latest development in the ongoing spat between
RealNetworks and Apple over the iPod, RealNetworks has
launched its "Freedom of Music Choice" campaign. "Consumers
are getting a raw deal with the status quo in digital
music, which limits healthy, open competition that drives
down prices and encourages innovation," trumpets the
campaign website.

Lovely sentiment. We couldn't agree more. But it's not as
if Real is doing anything to change that status quo. After
all, Real keeps its customers in DRM shackles that look
pretty similar to Apple's FairPlay. In fact, Real's beef
with Apple is really about keeping those shackles on its
customers when they move songs to the iPod.

If Real actually cared about "Freedom of Music Choice,"
it would be telling its customers to burn the downloaded
music they purchase to CD, then rip to any DRM-free format
they like (including MP3, WAV, or AAC, all of which play
just fine on the iPod). That's a much better option than
being dragged into a feud between Apple and Real.

Meanwhile, Real's record for promoting the "healthy, open
competition" made possible by reverse engineering for
interoperability is less than inspiring. Consider, for
example:

 * In the RealNetworks v. Streambox case, Real was among
the first litigants to invoke the DMCA to squash a
competitor trying to interoperate with Real's proprietary
streaming software.

 * Real's own end-user licenses expressly forbid reverse
engineering, even where that activity would be lawful as
a fair use.

 * Real has been conspicuously silent when it comes to
legislative reforms, like H.R. 107, that have been
introduced to reform the DMCA to permit legitimate reverse
engineering.

"RealNetworks has launched the 'Freedom of Music Choice'
campaign to help consumers break the chains that tie their
music devices to proprietary music downloads."

Yeah, right.

#

For this piece online, including links to relevant articles
and documents:
<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001831.php>

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* Texas Secretary of State Backs Down, Agrees to Postpone
Closed E-voting Meeting

Austin, TX - The Texas Secretary of State on Friday agreed
to postpone indefinitely a closed meeting of the state's
voting examiners after the ACLU of Texas and a Texas voter
filed a lawsuit challenging the meeting's secrecy.  The
lawsuit, in which EFF is serving as co-counsel, charges
that the practice of holding closed voting examiner meetings
violates the state's Open Meetings Act.

"We are pleased that the voting examiners decided not to hold
the closed meeting," said Adina Levin of ACLU-Texas.
"However, we need to ensure that this will become a
permanent solution instead of just a temporary one.  We
will proceed with this lawsuit until the public is
guaranteed that the certification process of voting
technology will be an open and transparent one."

For the full press release:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_08.php#001823>

Previous release: "Sunshine Sought for Texas Election
Systems Examiners":
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_08.php#001809>

Texas Safe Voting:
<http://safevoting.org/>

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* EFF to Present "Best Practices" Guide for Online Service
Providers

As an intermediary, an Online Service Provider (OSP) is in a
position to collect and store detailed information about
its users and their online activities - details
that may be of great interest to third parties, including
attorneys pursuing cases, industry groups, and state and
federal law enforcement.  Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the
government has greatly expanded powers to request
this kind of information, and OSPs must respond to
law enforcement requests to hand over private user data
and logs.  Yet complying with these demands threatens the
OSP's goal of providing users with reliable, secure
network services.

To help OSPs respond to these increasing legal pressures,
EFF is producing a series of white papers outlining best
data practices for OSPs.  The first paper provides
suggestions, both technical and legal, for balancing the
needs of OSPs with protection for users' privacy and civil
liberties.

EFF: Best Practices for Online Service Providers
<http://www.eff.org/osp>

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* EFF Weighs in on Plan to Improve Public Access to
Government Documents

The US Environmental Protection Agency is developing
a new online system that will eventually contain records
of all regulatory proceedings undertaken by all federal
agencies, as well as provide the public with the
means to submit comments online.  Access to government
documents is key to a functioning democracy, and EFF
has been participating in the EPA proceeding to determine
the system's design (EPA Docket No. OEI-2004-0002).
After attending public hearings, we submitted comments on
Monday to supplement the record.  We propose that the EPA
enable bulk data retrieval and use modern technologies
such as web services interfaces and RSS feeds.

"We're glad that EPA is involving the public in the design
of the docket management system.  As advocates, we'll make
extensive use of this system ourselves," said EFF Staff
Technologist Seth Schoen.  "The right technology choices
here would help make the regulatory process much more
transparent for the public."

EFF comments in EPA proceeding:
<http://www.eff.org/Activism/20040818_regulations_gov.pdf>

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* EFF Welcomes Four New Hires

Organization Grows with Addition of Attorneys, Technical,
and Membership Staff

San Francisco, CA - EFF is pleased to announce the addition
of four new staff members.  Kurt Opsahl and Matt Zimmerman
join the legal team as staff attorneys, while systems
administrator Matt Peterson brings expertise to the
technical team and membership coordinator Kyle Pedersen
takes the helm of EFF membership development.

Kurt Opsahl graduated from the Boalt School of Law at UC
Berkeley and comes to EFF from law firm Perkins Coie, where
he was an associate.  There he represented technology
clients on intellectual property, privacy, defamation, and
other online liability matters, including working on
Kelly v. Arribasoft, MGM v. Grokster, and CoStar v. LoopNet.
Opsahl is proud to have been called a "rabid dog" by the
Department of Justice For his work responding to government
subpoenas.  As staff attorney at EFF, he will work on
privacy, surveillance, and other constitutional issues.

Matt Zimmerman earned his J.D. from Columbia University.
Prior to joining EFF, he worked as the Privacy Fellow at
the public interest law firm The First Amendment Project,
where he specialized in privacy and open government
issues; previously, he worked at law firm Morrison &
Foerster, where he focused on commercial litigation
matters including patent and technology licensing disputes.
At EFF, Zimmerman will be the first staff attorney to
dedicate himself entirely to electronic voting issues.

Matt Peterson, EFF's systems administrator, comes to us
from Surf and Sip, a wireless networking company.  He is
one of the founders of the Bay Area Wireless User Group
(BAWUG), and has spent several years working with nonprofit
organizations in Asia to set up wireless networks for
regions with little or no Internet access.

New membership coordinator Kyle Pedersen comes to EFF
from the Urban Justice Center in New York, where he worked
as an activist on mental health issues.  He has also been
active in tenant's rights causes.  At EFF, he will be in
charge of serving our existing members and inspiring others
to join us.

"EFF continues to attract some amazing talent," said EFF
Executive Director Shari Steele.  "Kurt and Matt are both
experienced attorneys who are already up to speed on our
issues.  And Matt and Kyle are both young and enthusiastic,
as well as well-suited to serve in their current roles."

With these new hires, EFF brings its lawyer total up to
nine, an unprecedented number for the organization.
"We have found that our legal expertise is needed on so
many fronts," added Steele.  "We're ready to continue to
make a difference as law develops in the digital world."

For this release:
<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_08.php#001821>

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* miniLinks
miniLinks features noteworthy news items from around the
Internet.

~ E-voting Mistake Caught on Paper
A demo of a Sequoia e-voting machine demonstrated more than
was originally intended - it showed that a voter-verifiable
paper printout is an effective way to catch the machine's
errors:
<http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,64569,00.html>

~ Blacklisted Lately?
The ACLU's Anthony Romero points out that his name appears
on a government terrorist watchlist - and that yours could,
too:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6680-2004Aug16>
(Registration unfortunately required.)

~ CBO: Copyright Issues in Digital Media
A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office argues
that "revisions to copyright law should be made without
regard to the vested interests of particular business and
consumer groups":
<http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5738&sequence=0>

~ NYT on the Induce Act
The New York Times praises the CBO report for its
even-handedness and criticizes Congress for kowtowing
to the recording industry on the Induce Act:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/17/opinion/17tue3.html>
(Registration unfortunately required.)

~ Teaching Kids About Copyright
The American Library Association is launching an education
campaign that balances the copyright-maximalist propaganda
pushed by Hollywood:
<http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64543,00.html>

~ iPod vs. the Cassette
A tongue-in-cheek look at the relative merits of the cassette tape
and the iPod.  We can't believe they failed to mention that
you can make unlimited noncommercial copies of music onto
analog media without fear of copyright infringement lawsuits,
per the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992!
<http://homepage.mac.com/danielturek/PhotoAlbum50.html>

~ DVD Jon Forces Apple to Play with Others
"DVD Jon" Johansen has figured out how to make Apple's
AirportExpress play music from non-Apple devices.  In
order to make it work, he had *added* encryption to the
streams of the other devices:
<http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID=233>
(San Jose Mercury News)

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* Administrivia

EFFector is published by:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation
454 Shotwell Street
San Francisco CA 94110-1914 USA
+1 415 436 9333 (voice)
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
 http://www.eff.org/

Editor:
Donna Wentworth, Web Writer/Activist
 donna () eff org

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 membership () eff org

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 ask () eff org

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