A couple of important issues in this one, especially concerning OSS and DRM.
PGA -------- Original Message -------- Subject: EFFector 19.31: Action Alert - Tell Congress To Let the Courts Do Their Job Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 14:43:30 -0500 (CDT) From: EFFector list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: EFFector list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: EFF To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EFFector Vol. 19, No. 31 August 23, 2006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 392nd Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert: Tell Congress To Let the Courts Do Their Job * Dangerous Patent Law Ruling Threatens Free and Open Source Software * Another DMCA Misuse: Macrovision v. Sima * miniLinks (17): RIAA Deposes Dead Defendant's Children * Administrivia For more information on EFF activities & alerts: <http://www.eff.org/> Make a donation and become an EFF member today! <http://eff.org/support/> Tell a friend about EFF: http://action.eff.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1061 effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired change. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Action Alert: Tell Congress To Let the Courts Do Their Job The courts have spoken -- now Congress needs to leave them to do their work. The EFF and the ACLU have scored significant victories in obtaining judicial review of the NSA's domestic wiretapping program. In EFF's case in California, the government's motion to dismiss on the grounds of state secrecy was thrown out by the judge. Also rejecting the government's secrecy arguments, the judge in the ACLU's case in Detroit issued an order last Thursday demanding an immediate halt to the program. But Senator Arlen Specter's surveillance bill still looms on the horizon and could put an end to this vigorous judicial oversight. Take action now -- we've identified one of your Senators as a key vote that can help stop Specter's dangerous proposal: <http://action.eff.org/fisa> Before recess, Specter and the White House negotiated a sham "compromise" bill. In addition to significantly weakening current legal protections against warrantless wiretapping, the bill would require that any lawsuit challenging the NSA program's legality be transferred to the FISA Court of Review, a secret court with no clear procedures for hearing argument from anyone but the government. Senator Specter originally argued that passage of his bill was the only way to guarantee court review of the NSA program, but our case and the ACLU's have proven him wrong. If Congress passes this bill now, effective judicial review of the NSA program by the federal courts will be brought to a grinding halt. One of your Senators plays a critical role on this bill. Please call him or her now and urge him or her to oppose, or abandon support for, Senator Specter's sham "compromise" surveillance bill, S.2453, as well as Senator DeWine's NSA spying bill, S.2455. For telephone numbers and a quick guide to the talking points, visit our action center: <http://action.eff.org/fisa> Spread the word to friends and family: <http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/NSA/fisabills/spreadtheword/> : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Dangerous Patent Law Ruling Threatens Free and Open Source Software EFF Asks Supreme Court to Protect Open Source Innovation San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn a dangerous patent law ruling that could pose a serious threat to Free and Open Source Software projects. In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its own "suggestion test" as the main method for determining when a patent should be found obvious over knowledge in the public domain. Under this test, even the most obvious incremental advances and add-ons can be patented unless the Patent Office or a defendant in court produces a document that shows someone else suggested it prior to the patent being filed. "The Federal Circuit's suggestion test forces litigants to search through reams of technical papers for a document in which someone, somewhere, bothers to state the obvious," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry, who co-authored the amicus brief. "This is inefficient and burdensome, and contrary to the principles, policies, and standards the Supreme Court has upheld." In its amicus brief filed Tuesday, EFF shows how this "suggestion test" has led to a massive surge in bogus patenting, especially in software. These bad patents then become weapons against legitimate innovators -- especially those working on Free and Open Source Software projects. "Free and Open Source Software projects have become an integral part of the software industry and our nation's economy," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz, a co-author of the brief. "They often lack the resources or formal documentation to fight against bogus patents under the suggestion test, so it is principally important that the Supreme Court set the appropriate standard to prevent the approval of bogus patents." The case, KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., and Technology Holding Co., is scheduled for oral argument in front the Supreme Court this fall. For the full amicus brief: <http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/KSR_v_Teleflex/ksr_amicus.pdf/> For this release: <http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_08.php#004881/> : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * Another DMCA Misuse: Macrovision v. Sima Last week, EFF joined an amicus brief filed in support of Sima in its battle against DRM-vendor Macrovision. In essence, Macrovision is trying to leverage the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) into a technology mandate, forcing all digital video products in the future to respond to its analog-era DRM system. Macrovision's "Analog Copy Protection" (ACP) technology is intended to degrade the quality of video copies made on analog VCRs. It does this by intentionally adding noise to the vertical blanking interval of analog video signals. This noise confuses the automatic gain control (AGC) circuit used by analog VCRs. In short, Macrovision's ACP is an exploit against a weakness in analog VCRs. Thanks to Section 1201(k) of the DMCA, VCR makers are now forbidden by law from fixing the weakness, which means that analog VCRs have remained vulnerable to ACP. In other words, Macrovision's ACP is an antiquated DRM technology that owes its effectiveness in the analog world to a government mandate. The ACP technology, however, does not confuse digital video converters, because these converters simply ignore material in the vertical blanking interval (the vertical blanking interval was necessary in order to give analog CRT displays time to reset their electron beams, something entirely unnecessary for digital displays). Sima's products rely on a digital conversion as part of their "clean up" process. As a result, Macrovision's ACP noise is eliminated from the resulting video outputs. Macrovision sued Sima, arguing that "stripping" of ACP noise from analog video signals constitutes circumvention of a "copy-protection" technology, and that Sima's devices therefore violate Section 1201(b) of the DMCA. The district court granted a preliminary injunction against Sima, which Sima has now appealed to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Macrovision's legal arguments are bogus for a variety of reasons, detailed in the amicus brief. But there is a larger point here, as well -- this is an example of a DRM vendor trying to use the DMCA to turn its decades-old, analog-world DRM technology into a digital-age federal technology mandate. If Macrovision wins, digital video innovators will be stuck carrying the albatross of Macrovision's analog noise for years to come. For the brief: <http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Macrovision_v_Sima/sima_brief.pdf> For more on the DMCA: <http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/> For the original version of this post: <http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004878.php> : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * miniLinks The week's noteworthy news, compressed. ~ RIAA Deposes Dead Defendant's Children Lawyers allow 60 days for grieving process... <http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2006/08/riaa-wants-to-depose-dead-defendants.html/> ~ Demonstrates an "Abundance of Sensitivity" to the Press Outrage ...backing out when the case is publicized. <http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/14/riaas_abundance_of_s.html/> ~ You typed "Verb." Did you mean: Registered Trademark? Google(TM) decides that it's not such an everyday word, after all. <http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article1218805.ece/> ~ British Parliament Criticizes Net Companies' Complicity With China "We conclude that the collaboration of Western internet companies in the censorship and policing of the internet for political purposes is morally unacceptable." <http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2006/08/13/freedom-of-expression-chinas-internet/> ~ EU Mulls Censoring Bomb-Making Sites ... while EU ministers consider censoring and policing the European Net. <http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-08-16-voa24.cfm/> ~ Wiretap Manufacturers for More Surveillance The makers of wiretapping hardware lobby for government- mandated surveillance. <http://voipforsmb.tmcnet.com/news/articles/2196-group-works-dispel-misconceptions-calea-compliance-voip.htm/> ~ Anonymity Is the Substrate Ben Laurie on why all identity systems have to have anonymity as a base level. <http://www.links.org/?p=123/> ~ New York Times on AOL's Data Valdez "The FTC should uphold the [EFF's] complaint, and send a clear message that invasions of privacy of this sort will be punished." <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/opinion/21mon2.html/> ~ EFF Debates the Search Engine Industry in Wall Street Journal "Companies...are in the best position to judge how long [search] data should be kept", they claim. <http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115530662685133335-HngY8n_NgDIwH6u2m_o815kVaFk_20070814.html/> ~ AOL Sacks CTO, Staff Over Data Valdez ... while AOL decides on a one-year employee retention policy. <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060821-7551.html/> ~ Search Engine Watch Danny Sullivan looks at AOL's actions and their effect on the search engine market. <http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060815-110202/> ~ ATI: DRM Forbids Us From Providing Open Source Graphics Drivers "Multimedia elements such as content protection must not, by their very nature, be allowed to go open source." <http://news.com.com/2061-10791_3-6104655.html/> ~ Intel Motherboards to Get DRM Baked-In ... while codecs get wired closer to protected video paths. <http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/2936/intel-s_bearlake_g+/> ~ Thirty Days of DRM Michael Geist on the many checks and balances a Canadian DMCA law should include. <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/daysofdrm/> ~ Did SABRE Sell American's Passenger Name Records? American Airlines accuses the global reservation systems of shilling their users' privacy. <http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001096.html/> ~ Privacy International Announces the 2006 Stupid Security Competition Frustrated by security theater? Join the three terminals' long line. <http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-541996/> ~ "You Just Called..." Continuing the theme, a Flash movie (with sound) taps the NSA's thoughts. <http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-wh-nsawiretapping,0,1906650.flash/> : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : * 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: Derek Slater, Activist [EMAIL PROTECTED] Membership & donation queries: [EMAIL PROTECTED] General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be reproduced individually at will. Current and back issues of EFFector are available via the Web at: <http://www.eff.org/effector/> Click here to change your email address: http://action.eff.org/addresschange This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons. -- Paul G. Allen Owner, Sr. Engineer, BSIT/SE Random Logic Consulting Services www.randomlogic.com -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
