Press Releases: February, 2005
March 1 Press Conference on Supreme Court File-Sharing Case
Discussion with Defendants and Friends-of-the-Court on the Day Briefs Are Filed
Texas Voting Forum Open to the Public
Public Comment Welcome at Feb. 28 Meeting About E-voting Machines
Patent Threats Hurt Scientific Research
EFF Asks Court to Protect Academic and Competitive Studies
Washington, DC - Three consumer advocacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked the Supreme Court today to protect scientific researchers from patent-based legal threats. The case, Merck v. Integra, deals specifically with information researchers submitted to the Food and Drug Administration regarding a potential cure for cancer. But it raises broader questions about whether patent owners can stop academic researchers and inventors from studying patented inventions in order to research or improve upon them.
In their friend-of-the-court brief, EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Consumer Project on Technology argued that patent law allows researchers the freedom to make and use patented products for the purpose of furthering academic study. They also argued that experimentation on patented items for the purpose of creating new inventions is also allowed -- as long the patented products aren't sold by the researchers.
"Patent law was created to help spread knowledge and spur innovation," said Jason Schultz, staff attorney at EFF. "Allowing patent owners to shut down important scientific research flies in the face of that purpose."
"The Court has the opportunity here to do tremendous good for society, by making clear that scientists have always been and remain free to perform research -- and competitors to innovate -- without being subject to the threat of patent infringement litigation or the tax of patent licenses," noted Joshua Sarnoff of American University's Glushko
Online Journalists to Get Their Day in Court
Apple Agrees to Delay Subpoenas Until March 4 Hearing
San Jose - After negotiations with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Apple agreed on Friday to extend the deadline on a subpoena it issued to an online journalist's Internet service provider (ISP) until after a hearing that will determine whether the subpoena is legal under the First Amendment and California's reporter's shield law. The subpoena seeks information about the journalist's confidential sources and unpublished notes for an article about a future Apple product.
Fight the Broadcast Flag from Your Armchair
EFF Releases HD PVR Cookbook and Build-In Kit
EFF Warns Consumers About the Dangers of EULAs
New White Paper Outlines How Click-Through Agreements Erode Privacy, Fundamental Liberties
San Francisco - Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a white paper warning consumers about how they can be harmed by end user license agreements (EULAs) for consumer electronics and online services. Many EULAs contain terms that damage consumer interests, including invitations for vendors to snoop on users' computers, prohibitions on publicly criticizing the product in question, and bans on customizing or even repairing purchased devices.
RFID Tracking Pilot Program Ended in Sutter School
Victory for Students, Parents and Civil Liberties Groups
NOTE: This is a press release from the ACLU of Northern California that EFF is passing along for your information.
San Francisco - The Sutter-based company InCom announced last night, at a packed special school district meeting, that it would end its pilot program that required students to wear radio frequency identification badges that tracked the students' movements. The company pulled out when parents and civil liberties groups mobilized to end the program. On February 7, the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a letter to the school district urging the school officials to end the program after being contacted by the parents.
"We are pleased that InCom is pulling out -our children never should have been tagged like pieces of inventory or cattle," said Michele Tatro, one of the parents that fought to end the tracking program. "The RFID tags violated the students' privacy, they were demeaning, and it put them in danger."
"Monitoring children with RFID tags is a very bad idea. It treats children like livestock or shipment pallets, thereby breaching their right to dignity and privacy they have as human beings. Any small gain in administrative efficiency and security is not worth the money spent and the privacy and dignity lost," said C
Celebrate Innovation with EFF on Feb. 22
BayFF Event to Feature Cool Gizmo Demos, Discussion of Legal Threats to Inventors
EFF Asks Court to Protect Online Journalists
Seeks to Stop Apple From Undermining Reporter's Privilege
Mandatory Student ID Cards Contain RFIDs
Parents and Civil Liberties Groups Urge School District to Terminate Use of Tracking Devices
NOTE: This is a press release from the ACLU of Northern California that EFF is recirculating for your information.
San Francisco - Parents in a northern California public school district and civil liberties groups are urging a school district to terminate the mandatory use of Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFIDs) by students. Several civil liberties groups, including the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a letter today expressing alarm at the Brittan School District's use of mandatory ID badges that include a RFID device that tracks the students' movements. The device transmits private information to a computer on campus whenever a student passes under one of the scanners. The ID badges also include the student's name, photo, grade, school name, class year and the four-digit school ID number. Students are required to prominently display the badges by wearing them around the neck at all times.
"Forcing my child to be tracked with a RFID device
EFF Announces New Privacy Tool
Logfinder Helps Eliminate Unwanted Logging of Personal Data
