Don't Break The Internet

["DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: EFFector List <editor () eff org>
> Date: September 8, 2018 at 06:33:36 GMT+9
> To: dfarber () me com
> Subject: Don't Break The Internet
> Reply-To: EFFector List <editor () eff org>
>
>
> This is a friendly message from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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> The EU's Copyright Law Could Break the Global Internet - EFFector 31.14
>
> In our 740th issue:
>
> Updates
> Announcements
> MiniLinks
>
>
> Members make it possible for EFF to fight for your rights. Become a member today.
>
> In our 740th issue:
>
> Updates
> Announcements
> MiniLinks
>
>
> Members make it possible for EFF to fight for your rights. Become a member today.
>
> Top Features
>
> The World Should Be Up in Arms About the EU's Looming Internet Catastrophe
>
> We have just days until the European Parliament debates and votes on the new Copyright Directive, with its dangerous 
> censorship machine and link tax measures.
>
> Under the censorship machine proposal, Article 13, websites with user-generated content would have to automatically 
> filter out anything that rightsholders designate – giving rise to the wrongful blocking, false assertions of 
> copyright, and disregard for free speech that we’ve seen with censorship machines elsewhere.
>
> The link tax, Article 11, would stop you from from linking to news articles on sites that generate previews unless 
> you're on a site that's negotiated a license with the publisher you're linking to. The proposal aims to shrink 
> protections for quotation that help readers decide whether to visit the linked site.
>
> Together, these extreme, unworkable proposals represent a grave danger to the Internet, and they won't just affect 
> Europeans.
>
> If you’re in the EU, get in touch with your MEP by visiting Save Your Internet, and help us stop Article 11 and 
> Article 13 from wrecking the Internet for everyone.
>
> Everyone else: Share this with your European friends and family and let them know that this is a red alert. We have 
> just days until the vote.
>
> Together, we stopped the MEPs from fast-tracking the link tax and censorship machine proposals over the summer. Now, 
> it's time to convince them to reject these measures entirely.
>
> California Bill Is a Win for Access to Scientific Research
>
> The California legislature scored a huge win in the fight for open access to scientific research. Now it’s up to 
> Governor Jerry Brown to sign it. Under A.B. 2192—which passed both houses unanimously—all peer-reviewed, scientific 
> research funded by the state of California would be made available to the public no later than one year after 
> publication. There’s a similar law on the books in California right now, but it only applies to research funded by 
> the Department of Public Health, and it’s set to expire in 2020. A.B. 2192 would extend it indefinitely and expand it 
> to cover research funded by any state agency.
>
> While we’re delighted to see A.B. 2192 pass, it’s only one step in the right direction. Science moves quickly, and a 
> one-year embargo period is simply too long. Lawmakers should work to ensure that more grantees publish their papers 
> in open access journals, available free of cost to the public on the date of publication. Lawmakers in California and 
> elsewhere should also consider requiring open licenses in future laws. Requiring that grantees publish research under 
> a license that allows others to republish, remix, and add value ensures that the public can get the maximum benefit 
> of state-funded science. 
>
> The Last Step for California To Pass a Gold Standard Net Neutrality Bill is the Governor's Signature
>
> California’s net neutrality bill, S.B. 822 has received a majority of votes in the Senate and is heading to the 
> governor’s desk. In this fight, ISPs with millions of dollars to spend lost to the voice of the majority of Americans 
> who support net neutrality. 
>
> ISPs like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast hated this bill. S.B. 822 bans blocking, throttling, and paid 
> prioritization—classic ways that companies have violated net neutrality principles. It also incorporates much of what 
> the FCC learned and incorporated into the 2015 Open Internet Order, preventing new assaults on the free and open 
> Internet. This includes making sure companies can’t circumvent net neutrality at the point of interconnection within 
> the state of California. It also prevents companies from using zero rating—the practice of not counting certain apps 
> or services against a data limit—in a discriminatory way. It’s a practice much like discriminatory paid 
> prioritization, where ISPs create fast lanes for those who can pay or for other companies they own.
>
> If you live in California, help this bill cross the finish line by telling Governor Jerry Brown to sign it. If you 
> live elsewhere, keep in mind that this is a victory that can be replicated. 
>
> EFF Updates
>
> Don’t Shoot Messenger
>
> Reuters reported that Facebook is being asked to “break the encryption” in its Messenger application to assist the 
> Justice Department in wiretapping a suspect's voice calls, and that Facebook is refusing to cooperate. The report 
> alarmed us in light of the government’s ongoing calls for backdoors to encrypted communications, but on reflection we 
> think it’s unlikely that Facebook is being ordered to break encryption in Messenger and that the reality is more 
> complicated.  
>
> Google Needs To Come Clean About Its Chinese Plans
>
> Eight years after Google initially took a stand against Internet censorship by exiting the Chinese search market, we 
> are disappointed to learn the company has been secretly re-considering an extended collaboration with the massive 
> censorship and surveillance-wielding state. 
>
> The public, Google’s users, and Google’s employees have been kept increasingly in the dark about compromises on the 
> company’s own values that could massively affect the lives of not only citizens within China or the U.S., but also 
> Internet users around the world. Google has already committed to processes that consider human rights when entering 
> new markets in the Global Network Initiative. Is it following them here?
>
> After Patent Office Rejection, It is Time For Google To Abandon Its Attempt to Patent Use of Public Domain Algorithm
>
> Google is trying to patent the use of a known data compression algorithm - called asymmetric numeral systems (ANS) – 
> for video compression. In one sense, this patent application is fairly typical. The system seems designed to 
> encourage tech giants to flood the Patent Office with applications for every little thing they do. Google’s 
> application stands out, however, because the real inventor of ANS did everything he could to dedicate his work to the 
> public domain.
>
> The Patent Office issued a non-final rejection of all claims in Google’s application. Even if it could overcome the 
> examiner’s rejection, that would only reflect the failings of a patent system hands out patents for tiny variations 
> on existing methods. It is time for them to abandon its attempt to patent the use of ANS for video compression.
>
> Sen. Wyden Confirms Cell-Site Simulators Disrupt Emergency Calls
>
> Researchers of cell-site simulator (CSS) technology have long suspected that using such technologies, even 
> professionally designed and marketed CSS’s, would have a detrimental effect on emergency services, and now—for the 
> first time—we have confirmation. Sen. Ron Wyden has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice concerning 
> disruptions to 911 emergency services caused by law enforcement’s use of this technology (also known as IMSI catchers 
> or Stingrays).
>
> In the letter, Sen. Wyden states that “Senior officials from the Harris Corporation—the manufacturer of the cell-site 
> simulators used most frequently by U.S. law enforcement agencies—have confirmed to my office that Harris’ cell-site 
> simulators completely disrupt the communications of targeted phones for as long as the surveillance is ongoing.“
>
> If It Doesn't Have Paper Backups and Automatic Audits, It's Not an Election Security Bill
>
> Right now, the U.S. Senate is debating an issue that’s critical to our democratic future: secure elections. Hacking 
> attacks were used to try to undermine the 2016 U.S. election, and in recent years, elections in Latin America and 
> Ukraine were also subject to cyber attacks.
>
> The current bill moving ahead in the Senate, S. 2593, falls far short. The bill once included both of these measures, 
> but following amendments, now has neither. It isn’t a mystery how to get this done. A competing bill introduced by 
> Sen. Ron Wyden would mandate both risk-limiting audits and a verifiable paper trail, and has gained three more 
> cosponsors since S. 2593 has been watered down. Secure and verifiable voting isn’t optional. Tell the Senate to 
> either pass a strong bill or oppose the Secure Elections Act.
>
> How Australia’s Proposed Surveillance Laws Will Break The Trust Tech Depends On
>
> In the last few years, we’ve discovered just how much trust — whether we like it or not — we have all been obliged to 
> place in modern technology. Third-party software, of unknown composition and security, runs on everything around us: 
> from the phones we carry around, to the smart devices with microphones and cameras in our homes and offices, to 
> voting machines, to critical infrastructure. The insecurity of much of that technology, and increasingly 
> discomforting motives of the tech giants that control it from afar, has rightly shaken many of us.
>
> But the latest challenge to our collective security comes not from Facebook or Google or Russian hackers or Cambridge 
> Analytica: it comes from the Australian government. Their new proposed “Access and Assistance” bill would require the 
> operators of all of that technology to comply with broad and secret government orders, free from liability, and 
> hidden from independent oversight.
>
> Win! Seventh Circuit Decision Says Fourth Amendment Applies to Smart Meter Data
>
> The Seventh Circuit handed down a ruling 3-0 that the Fourth Amendment protects energy-consumption data collected by 
> smart meters. The court recognized that data from these devices reveals intimate details about what’s going on inside 
> the home that would otherwise be unavailable to the government without a physical search. The court held that 
> residents have a reasonable expectation of privacy in this data and that the government’s access of it constitutes a 
> “search.” We applaud the Seventh Circuit for recognizing that smart meters pose serious risks to the privacy of all 
> of our homes, and that rotely applying analog-era case law to the digital age simply doesn’t work.
>
> Announcements
>
> CyberStarts Boston
>
> Eva Galperin, EFF's director of cybersecurity, will be speaking at CyberStarts Boston on September 20, 2018. 
> CyberStarts Boston is free one-day event hosted by Kaspersky Lab that empowers the next generation of cybersecurity 
> professionals.
>
> Antisocial Media at the World Affairs Council
>
> Join Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Modern Media Studies at the University of Virginia, along with Danny O'Brien, 
> International Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, for a conversation about the state of online privacy 
> and the challenges to democracy presented by social media and the global net, on September 19.
>
> Pioneer Awards 2018
>
> Join us! We're excited to announce the renaming of the Pioneer Award in honor of our co-founder John Perry Barlow!
>
> On September 27, we will celebrate the work of our 2018 honorees: Stephanie Lenz, Joe McNamee, and Sarah T. Roberts. 
> The celebration will include drinks, bytes, and excellent company. 
>
> MiniLinks
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/technology/tech-industry-federal-privacy-law.html
>
> Tech companies hope to introduce a federal privacy law that will “neuter” California’s law before it is even 
> implemented (New York Times)
>
> In Defense of ROMs, A Solution To Dying Games And Broken Copyright Laws
>
> Video game history is relatively short, yet some of it is already in danger of being lost because of copyright law. 
> (Kotaku)
>
> Spyware Company Leaves ‘Terabytes’ of Selfies, Text Messages, and Location Data Exposed Online
>
> Spyfone, a company that makes smartphone "monitoring" software, "appears to be a magical combination of shady, 
> irresponsible, and incompetent” (MotherBoard)
>
> Did the Repeal of Net Neutrality Impede Firefighting Efforts?
>
> Verizon throttling hampered firefighting in California. Those firefighters say they aren't just worried about the 
> firehouse — your personal bandwidth could be a matter of life and death (KQED)
>
> YouTube, Netflix Videos Found to Be Slowed by Wireless Carriers
>
> “ISPs are happy to use words like ‘unlimited’ and ‘no throttling’ in their public statements, but then give 
> themselves the right to throttle certain traffic by burying some esoteric language in the fine print," says EFF’s 
> Jeremy Gillula (Bloomberg)
>
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> Administrivia
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> Editor: Jason Kelley, Digital Strategist editor () eff org
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> About EFF
>
> The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading organization protecting civil liberties in the digital world. 
> Founded in 1990, we defend free speech online, fight illegal surveillance, promote the rights of digital innovators, 
> and work to ensure that the rights and freedoms we enjoy are enhanced, rather than eroded, as our use of technology 
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