[Infowarrior] - Fwd: EFFector 21.19: URGENT ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress "No Deal on Telecom Immunity!"

[Richard Forno]

> Subject: EFFector 21.19: URGENT ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress "No Deal  
> on Telecom Immunity!"
> Reply-To: EFFector list <editor at eff.org>
>
> EFFector Vol. 21, No. 19  June 11, 2008  editor at eff.org
>
> A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
> ISSN 1062-9424
>
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>
> In our 472nd issue:
>
> * URGENT ACTION ALERT: TELL CONGRESS "NO DEAL ON TELECOM
> IMMUNITY"! Recent intelligence indicates that high-ranking
> Republicans and Democrats are hoping that a "compromise"
> foreign intelligence surveillance bill can be rushed
> through both the House and the Senate before the July 4th
> holiday -- maybe even next week.
>
> The drafting process has been secretive, but one thing is
> clear: the "compromise" is almost certain to contain
> blanket immunity for phone companies that assisted in the
> NSA's warrantless wiretapping program and prevent any court
> from ruling on whether they broke the law.
>
> We've stopped telecom immunity in its tracks before, but
> the empty "compromise" rhetoric surrounding this bill makes
> it extremely dangerous. Please contact your Senators and
> Congressperson to remind them that we're watching, and that
> we won't accept any false compromises on immunity for
> lawbreaking telecoms!
> http://www.eff.org/action/no-false-compromises
>
> * IN ANOTHER BATTLE AGAINST ABUSIVE DMCA TAKEDOWNS, EFF has
> asked a federal court to protect the free speech rights of
> an animal welfare group after its video critiques of animal
> treatment at rodeos were removed from YouTube due to sham
> copyright claims. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys
> Association (PRCA) filed takedown demands for 13 videos
> from the group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness
> (SHARK), claiming that the videos infringed their
> copyrights -- even though the PRCA has no copyright claim
> in live rodeo events. The lawsuit is part of EFF's No
> Downtime for Free Speech Campaign, a response to increasing
> misuse of the DMCA to demand that material be removed from
> the Internet without providing any proof of infringement.
> http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/09-0
>
> * EFF WELCOMES LEADING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ATTORNEY
> MICHAEL KWUN, who brings years of copyright, trademark, and
> patent litigation experience to EFF's legal team. A
> long-time geek, Kwun worked on early DMCA cases and, as
> Google's litigation managing counsel, defended Google in
> copyright cases about YouTube, Google Book Search, and
> Google Image Search; trademark cases about Google AdWords;
> and patent cases in connection with a wide variety of
> Google products.
> http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/06/09
>
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>
> EFF Updates
>
> * Supreme Court Victory for Patent First Sale Doctrine
> Supreme Court backs the patent world's version of the "you
> bought it, you own it" principle.
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/supreme-court-victory-patent-first-sale-doctrine
>
> * Laser Printers Found Guilty of "Making Available" Crimes
> Researchers at the University of Washington discover severe
> flaws in the mass collection of IP addresses for the
> entertainment industry's DMCA takedown campaign.
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/laser-printers-found-guilty-making-available-crime
>
> * McCain Revises Stance on Warrantless Wiretapping, Again
> Between voicing skepticism and completely embracing the
> administration's flawed legal justifications for
> warrantless wiretapping, McCain settles on describing the
> President's actions as "ambiguous."
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/mccain-revises-stance-warrantless-wiretapping
>
> * McCain Campaign Staffed By Telecom Immunity Lobbyists
> Strong connections between telecom immunity lobbyists and
> the McCain campaign raise serious questions about McCain's
> about-face on warrantless wiretapping.
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/mccain-campaign-staffed-telecom-immunity-lobbyists
>
> * Fair Use Defense Ruled "Likely to Prevail" in "Imagine"
> Copyright Infringement Suit
> Filmmakers making use of John Lennon's "Imagine" win the
> first round in a copyright infringement suit brought by
> Yoko Ono.
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/fair-use-defense-ruled-likely-prevail-imagine-copy
>
> : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :
>
> miniLinks
>
> ~ What the FISA Debate Is Not About
> Marty Lederman asks why reverting to the old FISA rules is
> supposedly such a problem for the intelligence community.
> http://balkin.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-fisa-debate-is-not-about.html
>
> ~ ISP Plan to Block Child Porn -- Will There Be Chilling
> Effects?
> The New York Attorney General says 3 major ISPs have agreed
> to block child porn -- but the plan could set a precedent
> that challenges the Communications Decency Act's
> protections for online content hosts.
> http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/analysis-commun.html
>
> ~ Movies on Cable Before DVD?
> A plan would bring movies to cable faster -- but you won't
> be able to watch on a high-def TV, and don't even think
> about TiVo.
> http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/2008/06/movies-on-cable.html
>
> ~ Wiki for Listing Legitimate Uses of P2P
> A wiki has been set up to collect all the various
> legitimate uses for P2P software.
> http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/06/wiki-for-listing-leg.html
>
> For more miniLinks:
> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/06/minilinks-2008-06-10
>
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>
> Announcements
>
> * EFF at RoboGames
> Can't get enough extreme robot action?  Neither can we! EFF
> will be at the 2008 RoboGames at Fort Mason in San
> Francisco on June 13-15:
> http://www.eff.org/calendar/2008/06/12/eff-robogames
>
> * Music Benefit for EFF in San Francisco on Wednesday, June
> 18th
> http://www.eff.org/calendar/2008/06/18/sf-wiretap-music-benefit-eff
>
> * EFF at Personal Democracy Forum 2008
> Visit EFF at Personal Democracy Forum 2008 in New York City
> on June 23-24, 2008.
> http://www.eff.org/calendar/2008/06/23/eff-personal-democracy-forum-2008
>
> * EFF at Velocity
> Velocity is the new O'Reilly conference for people building
> at Internet scale, taking place on June 23-24, 2008, at the
> San Francisco Airport Marriott in Burlingame, California.
> http://www.eff.org/calendar/2008/06/23/eff-velocity-2008
>
> * Second Annual Institute on CyberLaw in Washington D.C.
> June 19-20, the American Bar Association, in cooperation
> with the Association for Computing Machinery, presents a
> conference on cutting-edge legal topics: copyright
> enforcement, the future of ICANN, and much more.
> http://www.abanet.org/cle/programs/n08ceh1.pdf
>
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>
> Administrivia
>
> EFFector is published by:
> The Electronic Frontier Foundation
> http://www.eff.org/about
>
> Editor:
> Richard Esguerra, EFF Activist
> richard at eff.org
>
> Membership & donation queries:
> membership at eff.org
>
> General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries:
> information at eff.org
>
> Back issues of EFFector are available at:
> http://www.eff.org/effector/