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In our 648th issue: The NSA Is Making Us All Less SafeWe all live in an increasingly networked world. One of the preconditions of that world has to be basic computer security—freedom to use strong technologies that are fully trustworthy. That’s why the recent reporting on the NSA’s systematic effort to weaken and sabotage commercially available encryption used by individuals and businesses around the world is so important. By weakening encryption, the NSA allows others to more easily break it. By installing backdoors and other vulnerabilities in systems, the NSA exposes them to other malicious hackers—whether they are foreign governments or criminals. Lowering Your Standards: DRM and the Future of the W3CWe're deeply disappointed with the W3C announcement that its Director, Tim Berners-Lee, had determined that the "playback of protected content" was in scope for the W3C HTML Working Group's new charter, overriding EFF's formal objection against its inclusion. If the controversial "Encrypted Media Extensions" proposal goes through to become part of a W3C recommendation, you can expect to hear DRM vendors, DRM-locked content providers like Netflix, and browser makers like Microsoft, Opera, and Google stating that they can now offer W3C standards compliant "content protection" for Web video. Transparent Is The New BlackCloud storage provider Dropbox has done the right thing by joining Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn in their consolidated suit before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, demanding permission to publish—for the first time—complete statistics about the US government's national security requests. The government's tradition of secrecy surrounding data requests is no answer to the question before the court. What possible justification can there be to prevent companies from reporting the mere number of national security requests they receive? EFF UpdatesIn the Silk Road Case, Don't Blame the Technology The FBI has just arrested a man alleged to be the founder and operator of the Silk Road marketplace, where bitcoins were traded for a range of goods and services, including drugs. According to the criminal complaint, the site used anonymity technology like Tor and Bitcoin. It's important we remember not to blame these tools for the actions of a small portion of their users. The Law Belongs To Everyone, We Tell Standards Organizations In the latest salvo in the battle to defend the right to publish the law, EFF filed a counterclaim against three standards development organizations, asking a federal court in Washington to declare that the online publication of safety codes does not violate copyright or trademark law. NSA Tracked US Cell Phone Locations For Two Years, Senator Says More Is Still Secret The NSA finally has admitted that it ran a pilot project that collected the cell phone location information of an unknown number of Americans for two years. Polls Continue to Show Majority of Americans Against NSA Spying America seems to be waking up from its surveillance state slumber as the leaks around the illegal and unconstitutional NSA spying continue. Recent rounds of polls confirm that Americans are not only concerned with the fact that the spying infringes on their privacy but also want the spying to stop. 47 Prominent Technologists to NSA Review Panel: We Need Better Technical Oversight A group of prominent technologists submitted a letter to Obama's appointed NSA Review Group, which does not currently have a technologist as a member. The letter urges the Review Group to seek assistance from independent technologists and argues for greater transparency with respect to the technical mechanisms used to conduct surveillance. Everybody Let's Stop the TPP: Share These Videos and Spread the Word Even as the evidence mounts that the entertainment industry backed Trans-Pacific Partnership has become an unattainable goal for the lobbyists and negotiators supporting it, the total lack of transparency means we can't know for sure how far along the agreement is. Three new videos speak to the dangers that the TPP poses to Internet freedom. Patent Troll Lodsys Settles for Nothing to Avoid Trial A new case has shown just how determined the patent troll Lodsys is to avoid a ruling on the merits of its claims. When software security company Kaspersky Lab refused to surrender, Lodsys settled for nothing (yes, you read that right—absolutely nothing) rather than take its claims to trial. miniLinksLavabit, Snowden's former email provider, shut itself down this summer in the face of expansive government requests for user data. Now that related documents have been unsealed, its operator Ladar Levison can explain what happened. "Destroy All Patent Trolls" Song Jonathan Mann's new song takes on patent trolls and offers a plug of EFF's "Trolling Effects" site. Watch out—the song's catchy. How the NSA Attacks Tor/Firefox Users With QUANTUM and FOXACID Security expert and EFF board member Bruce Schneier has seen the Snowden docs, and explains here what they say about the NSA's efforts to attack Tor and Firefox users. One of the NSA documents published in the Guardian featured the image below on the left -- we've updated with the image on the right. Can you spot the differences? Supported by MembersOur 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. AdministriviaEditor: Parker Higgins, Activist EFFector is a publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Membership & donation queries: membership@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries: info@eff.org Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. MiniLinks do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. This newsletter is printed from 100% recycled electrons. EFF appreciates your support and respects your privacy. Privacy Policy. 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