| In our 650th issue:  Last week Wikileaks published a secret draft chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), confirming our worst fears about the agreement: in the absence of public oversight, trade negotiators and corporate lobbyists have put together a Hollywood wish list of policies that threaten a free and open Internet. What's more, U.S. negotiators are working to bypass the last hope of public scrutiny by requesting that Congress grant "fast-track authority," giving up its own oversight role. We can't allow that to happen. Contact your legislators today, and tell them to oppose fast-track and honor their commitment to representing the public.
Over the last few weeks, we've been analyzing the USA FREEDOM Act, a bipartisan bill that would be a substantial improvement to United States laws regarding mass surveillance. It brings new levels of transparency to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, introduces a special advocate to champion civil liberties there, and appears to create new statutory limits on mass surveillance by the National Security Agency. We are proud to support this bill and urge others to join us in working to ensure its passage. However, we consider it to be a start, not the end, of needed reforms. After years of litigation, a judge has ruled that the Google Books project does not infringe copyright. Readers, authors, librarians, and future fair users can rejoice. For years, Google has cooperated with libraries to digitize books and create a massive, publicly available, and searchable books database. As the court noted (citing an amicus brief EFF filed jointly with several library associations), librarians use the service for a variety of research purposes. As a whole, the ruling is refreshing for its common sense analysis and its recognition of the key purpose of fair use: to make sure copyright serves rather than impedes the public interest. EFF Updates Victory: Government to Release More NSA Documents and FISA Court Opinions in Response to EFF Lawsuit As the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by EFF two years ago, the US Department of Justice was required to release to the public hundreds of additional pages of government documents concerning its use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision of law the NSA relies on to collect the call records of millions of Americans. FCC Phone Unlocking Fix Is a Good Start, But Consumers Need More After months of negotiations, Tom Wheeler—the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission—thinks it's about time for consumers to be able to unlock their phones without fear of breaking the law. Wheeler is right that consumers should be able to unlock phones that they've already purchased. But unfortunately, the problem runs deeper than an industry code or FCC guideline can address. DRM in Cars Will Drive Consumers Crazy Forget extra cupholders or power windows: the new Renault Zoe comes with a "feature" that absolutely nobody wants. Instead of selling consumers a complete car that they can use, repair, and upgrade as they see fit, Renault has opted to lock purchasers into a rental contract with a battery manufacturer and enforce that contract with digital rights management (DRM) restrictions that can remotely prevent the battery from charging at all. Generate Your Own Universal Surveillance Justification The government has invented a bold set of universal talking points, which can be used to justify any invasive surveillance program. Want to see just how formulaic these justifications are? We wrote a script to showcase how easy it is to write such a statement for any invasive program you can imagine. Try it out! Trademark Law Does Not Require Companies To Tirelessly Censor the Internet We've notice a big problem in the trademark world: there's a pervasive and unfounded belief that if you don't police every unauthorized use of a trademark you are in danger of losing it. We hope that some clarity on this point might help companies step back from wasteful and censorious trademark enforcement. miniLinks The New York Times Endorsed a Trade Agreement It Can't Read The Washington Post notes that the New York Times' conditional endorsement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership comes at a strange time: after the text has been in negotiations for years, but before any members of the public can read it. C.I.A. Collects Global Data on Transfers of Money Phone records may be just tip of the iceberg; new reports show the CIA secretly collected bulk financial records under the same authority. Our Government Has Weaponized the Internet NSA and GCHQ can exploit any target using packet injection—and universal encryption may be our best defense. Supported by Members Our members make it possible for EFF to bring legal and technological expertise into crucial battles about online rights. Whether defending free speech online or challenging unconstitutional surveillance, your participation makes a difference. Every donation gives technology users who value freedom online a stronger voice and more formidable advocate. If you aren't already, please consider becoming an EFF member today. Donate Today Administrivia Editor: Parker Higgins, Activist
editor@eff.org EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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