Recent news

February 19, 2009

9:55 am

New York Times: Do We Need a New Internet?

The New York Times has published an interesting musing on the question, “Do we need a new Internet” in order to solve mushrooming online security and privacy problems? One answer involves restricting anonymity and privacy on the new Internet.
Bad enough that there is a growing belief among engineers and security experts that Internet security and [...]

9:54 am

Poll: Majority Want Investigations on Warrantless Wiretapping

A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds that a clear majority of Americans favor at least some kind of investigation into whether Bush administration officials and policies violated the law.
Respondents were asked about whether there should be a criminal investigation, an investigation by independent panel — or neither — into questions of politicization of the Justice [...]

9:54 am

Apple Says iPhone Jailbreaking is Illegal

Jailbreaking an iPhone constitutes copyright infringement and a DMCA violation, says Apple in comments filed with the Copyright Office as part of the 2009 DMCA triennial rulemaking. This marks the first formal public statement by Apple about its legal stance on iPhone jailbreaking.
Apple’s iPhone, now the best-selling cellular phone in the U.S., has been designed [...]

9:52 am

EFF Re-Launches Legal Guide for Bloggers

It has been almost four years since EFF first published our Legal Guide for Bloggers to help bloggers understand their rights and, when necessary, defend their freedom of expression. In that time, blogging has become more widespread, and more and more people need a better understanding of the laws surrounding blogging. Not a day [...]

9:52 am

Stolen Wallets, Not Hacks, Cause the Most ID Theft? Debunked

A new report from Javelin Research is getting attention for its extraordinary claim that data breaches are responsible for only a tiny minority of identity theft cases, compared to lost wallets and other low-tech exposures. But a closer look at Javelin’s numbers casts serious doubt on the company’s conclusions.
The stat that’s getting the most buzz [...]

9:51 am

Copyright Fight Brewing Over Amazon’s Kindle 2

The Authors Guild warned Thursday that Amazon’s newest digital e-book reader’s voice function is likely violating writers’ copyrights — an assertion intellectual property experts said was baseless.
“Until this issue is worked out, Amazon may be undermining your audio market as it exploits your e-books,” the guild told its members in a memo Thursday.
The issue concerns [...]

February 18, 2009

12:06 am

Facebook: “We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever.”

Facebook published a brand new terms of service which says anything you put on facebook belongs to them, FOREVER. Great. Before now they claimed that they could do anything with your content until you canceled your account and then it was yours again. So you could take back your privacy, just stop using facebook. Well, [...]

February 4, 2009

12:43 pm

New Tool Will Help Online Advertisers Develop Stronger Privacy Practices

CDT today released a new assessment tool to help online advertising companies develop strong, appropriate privacy protections for the users they serve. Released to coincide with Data Privacy Day 2009, the “Threshold Analysis for Online Advertising Practices,” is the result of extensive consultation among CDT, Internet companies and public interest advocates. It notes a [...]

12:42 pm

Obama’s Quick Response to Privacy Concerns

he incoming Obama administration has impressed advocates of open government, first by making a clear commitment to answer FOIA requests with a presumption of openness, and now by responding quickly — within 24 hours! — to criticism from CNET blogger Chris Soghoian and others that the retooled WhiteHouse.gov is placing cookies on user computers via [...]

12:41 pm

Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case

The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.
In a filing in San Francisco federal court, President Barack [...]