Others may not but I do…

“Two and a half years ago, EFF sued AT&T on behalf of its customers, seeking to hold the telecom giant responsible for its craven complicity in the White House’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program.
Since then, the phone companies and their allies in Washington have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying Congress to grant them retroactive immunity. They ran ridiculous fear-mongering attack ads against any politician who dared to oppose them. President Bush threatened to veto any bill that allowed EFF’s lawsuit to continue.”
Our rights as Americans are being wiped off the slate by this administration …read more

Reported by The Electronic Frontier Foundation;
A Free Speech Double Whammy: Flawed Anti-Phishing Bill Would Dilute Trademark Fair Use and Anonymity Protections
“Congress is contemplating a so-called “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act” (APCPA) that takes an odd view of consumer protection. In the name of stopping phishing schemes, Senator Olympia Snowe has introduced S. 2661, a bill that would expand trademark law, limit consumer access to information about competitive products, and eviscerate key protections for anonymous speech.”
Sounds worthy enough at first glance but – “Co-sponsors are Senators Bill Nelson and Ted Stevens (yes, THAT Ted Stevens).” More on that in a moment…

Which is exactly why I’m going to pass it on…
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, specifically Corynne McSherry and Eric Goldman, posted this today;
ABA IP Section Quietly Considering Anti-Consumer Proposals to Regulate Keyword Advertising
Think quickly! Don’t look down and then tell me what you think it is…
Anti-Consumer proposals to regulate keyword advertising? Who would do such a thing? Why – our own American Bar Association, who else? Corynne tells us;
“these efforts — not to mention the committee’s attempts to prevent public scrutiny of those efforts — are deeply misguided and could help undermine the very purpose of trademarks: to improve consumer access …read more

EFF Wins Fast-Track Release of Telecom Lobbying Records
Judge Cancels Friday Hearing, Orders Government to Comply by December 10
“San Francisco – Late Tuesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won the speedy release of telecom lobbying records from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The agency was ordered to comply with a new December 10 deadline — in time for the documents to play a role in the congressional debate over granting amnesty for telecommunications companies taking part in illegal electronic surveillance. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston vacates a hearing on the matter previously scheduled for Friday.”
In …read more

Under the sub-title “Six Concrete Guidelines Aim to Balance Free Speech Rights and Copyright” the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) and “a coalition of leading public interest groups issued a “Fair Use Principles” document that sets out six concrete guidelines designed to minimize the collateral damage that copyright enforcement efforts may inflict on video creators who are “remixing” copyrighted material into new video creations.”
This is an important step because it is designed “to protect creative videos that remix material from movies, TV and popular music,” said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann.
So, if you effectively quote a movie by …read more