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In our 622nd issue: The Secrecy Must Be Stopped: Congress Members Probe USTR on the Confidential TPP NegotiationsThe Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) threatens to regulate and restrict the Internet in the name of enforcing intellectual property rights around the world, but negotiators continue to deny the public meaningful access to the official text or even information about the proposals countries are pushing in this powerful multilateral trade agreement. Users have sent over 80,000 messages to Congress asking them to demand transparency in the TPP using EFF's action center, and now Congress members have started taking action to stop the secrecy. A Deep Dive into Facebook and Datalogix: What's Actually Getting Shared and How You Can Opt OutFacebook's entered a new partnership with marketing company Datalogix to assess whether users go to stores in the physical world and buy the products they saw in Facebook advertisements. We're glad to see that Facebook is taking a number of steps to avoid sharing sensitive data with Datalogix, but we've also provided instructions for users who are uncomfortable with the program on how to opt out. Hopefully, reporting on this issue will make more people aware of how our shopping data is being used for a lot more than offering us discounts on tomato soup. New Study Affirms Less Restrictive Copyright Policy Benefits the Economy, Amid Renewed Calls for SOPA 2.0A new study from Australia presents the latest evidence that loosening copyright restrictions not only enables free speech, but can improve an economy as well. The study, published by the Australian Digital Alliance, indicated that if Australia expanded copyright exceptions like fair use and strengthened safe harbor provisions, the country could potentially add an extra $600 million to their economy. EFF UpdatesCleanIT: EU-Funded Project Seeks to Erode Civil Liberties A new project dubbed CleanIT is aimed at "countering illegal use of the Internet" and is being funded by the European Commission in an attempt to eradicate the Internet of terrorism. Overall, the CleanIT project is a misguided effort to introduce potentially endless censorship and surveillance that would effectively turn Internet companies in Internet cops. India's Gargantuan Biometric Database Raises Big Questions The government of India has amassed a database of 200 million Indian residents' digital fingerprints, iris scans, facial photographs, names, addresses, and birthdates. Yet this vast collection of private information is only a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of data it ultimately intends to gather -- the personal and biometric information for each and every one of India's 1.2 billion residents. Payment Provider Stripe Levels Up on Transparency Fast-growing online payment provider Stripe has announced that they are embracing transparency around government requests. When the company receives a legal request to shut down a user’s account, Stripe will send a copy to the transparency website Chilling Effects, a site maintained by EFF and law school clinics that publishes take down notices from across the web. Former New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald’s new book provides yet more details about how the the NSA’s unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program came about, and confirms that even top Bush Administration lawyers felt there was a “strong argument” that the program violated the law. After years of being one of the most progressive regions in the world in terms of balanced copyright policy, Latin America is sliding into copyright maximalism, enacting increasingly restrictive copyright enforcement measures into their federal laws. These moves come as the result of top-down, harsh implementation of bilateral free trade agreements with the U.S. that require nations to enact far more restrictive language than what is found in the U.S. itself. Governor Brown Vetoes California Electronic Privacy Protection. Again. Location privacy took a hit in California over the weekend when Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB 1434, an EFF- and ACLU-sponsored bill that would have required law enforcement to apply for a search warrant in order to obtain location tracking information. Despite the bill's passing through the state legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support, despite local newspaper editorials in favor of the bill, and despite more than 1,300 concerned Californians using our action center to urge him to sign the bill into law, Governor Brown instead decided to sell out privacy rights to law enforcement. miniLinksDo patent and copyright law restrict competition and creativity excessively? Judge Richard Posner once again makes the compelling case for reform to patent and copyright laws, arguing that the protections afforded by each "may be excessive." Justice Department’s warrantless spying increased 600% in the last decade The Justice Department use of warrantless internet and telephone surveillance methods known as pen register and trap-and-trace has exploded in the last decade, according to government documents the American Civil Liberties obtained via a Freedom of Information Act claim. How a rogue appeals court wrecked the patent system Ars Technica reports: No institution is more responsible for the recent explosion of patent litigation in the software industry, the rise of patent trolls, and the proliferation of patent thickets than the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. AdministriviaISSN 1062-9424
EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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